Our members list new acquisitions and recently cataloged items almost every day of the year. Below, you'll find a few highlights from these recent additions... The Violent Bear It Away by FLANNERY O'CONNOR New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1960. Boards. Near Fine/Near Fine. A lovely, bright copy of the 1960 1st edition of Flannery O'Connor's 2nd published novel (and 3rd published book overall). Clean and Near Fine in an unsually crisp, price-intact, Near Fine dustjacket, with just the faintest trace of very light wear at the spine ends and one tiny closed tear to the rear panel's bottom-edge. Attractive and very presentable. Offered by Appledore Books. The Bloody Record of Nazi Atrocities - The Crimes, by Burnet Hershey; The Punishment by Johannes Steel appeared after the World War II, this seems to be the first of its kind issued during the war. Divided into sections with titles such as "Biological Warfare - Germany vs. Europe"; "Nazi Slaughter Pens for Europe"; and "Yugoslavia: Land of Corpses. " Johannes Steel is best known for his 1934 book "The Second World War", in which he predicted the war based on an assessment of Nazi intentions and historical parallels. Contents include early information on the numbers of Jews and Poles killed by the Nazis. Given the poor quality of the paper, it is unlikely there are many copies of this work still around. Offered by Nicolas D. Riccio, Rare Books. Biblia Sacra; Vulgatae Editionis by Milan: Rizzoli, 1967. Limited Edition. Full le... [more Weekly Highlights]
The ABAA Gender Equity Initiative is proud to announce the fourth year of the ABAA Mentorship Program, designed to further the ABAA's mission to promote ethical standards and professionalism in the antiquarian book trade, encourage the collecting and preservation of rare and antiquarian books and related materials, and facilitate collegial relations within the trade. Goals Ď Further the mission of the ABAA. Ď Provide dealers early in their careers with the opportunity to advance their professional development. Ď Build a recruitment pipeline for the Association that enhances the number of qualified applicants. Ď Advance the diversity of new members. Ď Allow mentees to build a relationship with an ABAA member. Ď Educate potential candidates about a career in the trade (for example, graduate students looking for a profession outside of academia). Structure With the assistance of the Gender Equity Initiative, mentors and mentees will be paired with consideration of a variety of factors such as any specific requests, specialization/area of focus, and business structure. Location could also be a point of consideration. Once paired, mentors and mentees will commence a one year period of mentorship (May 15, 2024-May 1, 2025). Over the course of the year, mentors and mentees are required to have face-to-face communication for a minimum of 1-2 hours each month (this could be completed electronically). The schedule structure to meet this requirement will be determined by the pair. We e... [more 2024 ABAA Mentorship Program]
The ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair returns to the Park Avenue Armory in New York City from April 4-7, 2024, for its 64th Edition. Here are some of the highlights that exhibitors will be offering at this year's Fair! Decorative Wood Panel with State Seal of Delaware. 7-1/2” x 10” x 1-1/2”; 2-1/2” metal connecting plate with screws on each side; dowl opening from top to bottom. Though in rough condition, it nonetheless carries emotional solemnity and significance as a witness to the Lincoln funeral journey, for it lay watch over Lincoln's coffin for the entire twenty days. Though a bit dulled, the panel still easily shows the seal for the State of Delaware; the panel must have aged gracefully, along with the car itself. The railroad coach that carried Lincoln's body from Washington to Springfield for twenty days in April 1865 was originally built as a private railroad car -- a “presidential coach”-- named The United States, for the use of the president and his cabinet. When the car was completed in early 1865, it had been more than a year in the making, and with its upholstered walls, wood paneling, decorative painted panels, and etched-glass windows, it was one of the most lavishly appointed railroad cars ever built. Its 16 broad-tread wheels could travel over nearly all gauge railroads, and its sides were ironclad, with armor-plating between the outer and inner walls. The car was 42.5 feet long and 8.5 feet wide and had a newly developed heating... [more New York Book Fair Highlights]
Browse the latest catalogs, newsletters, and e-lists of rare books, fine bindings, incunabula, print ephemera, and much more from the members of the ABAA below. (Also includes podcasts, blog posts, and other digital formats.) *New* indicates any catalogs brought to our attention since mid-February 2024. AARDVARK BOOKS/EZRA TISHMAN BOOK APPRAISALS March Exit Stage Left List *New* March Lion List (March 2024) *New* Featured item: Mitchell, Samuel Augustus MITCHELL'S NATIONAL MAP OF THE UNITED STATES; (Leather, with Brass Clasp and Two Foldout Maps) Philadelphia, PA: Samuel Augustus Mitchell, 1843. First Edition. Leather-bound. 12mo. (7 1/4 in. x 4 1/2 in.) Rich dark-brown leather, double ruled in blind, brightly lettered and ornamented in gilt. Rays of the sun in an arch above the lettering to front board; this repeated to rear board with the addition of an eagle, with wings outspread holding an American shield in its beak, grasping an olive branch with his right talon, and a brace of arrows in its left. All this above ta cloud-construct with a large banner ("E. Pluribus Unum" above and "United States" below. Recent conservator's touch-up to previously lightly rubbed extremities. Two lovely colored mounted folding MAPS in clean, bright condition. The first map (34 1/2 in. x 25 1/2 in, and bordered in lovely rose and yellow) is entitled: "A CONCISE VIEW OF THE NUMBER, RESOURCES, AND INDUSTRY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, IN THE YEAR 1840: Comprising the Different Classes of the Inhabi... [more Latest Catalogs of Rare Books]
The ABAA is accepting entries for the 2024 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest where more than $6,000 in prizes will be awarded to student collectors! The National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest is jointly administered by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), the Grolier Club, and the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress. The contest is open to all prizewinners of college contests, whether or not first prize, and to interested students whose institutions do not offer contests. More information can be found here... All entries should be submitted here (in PDF) by June 10, 2024. For more information on the contest, please visit contest.abaa.org... 2023 NCBCC winners... [more 2024 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest]
View the recording of this event here: To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the ABAA, the March Brown Bag Lunch Series will feature a panel discussion with veteran and young ABAA members. They will share their experiences with book scouting, memorable moments as a dealer in the trade, the ups and downs of a book dealer, and much more! Treasure Hunt Stories Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 2pm ET Advance questions can be submitted to xin@abaa.org by noon ET Monday, March 18th. Moderator: Lizzy Young, Lizzyoung Bookseller (member since 2016) Lizzyoung Bookseller sells rare books, ephemera, and manuscripts with a focus on food and drink History, women's history, cultural history, children's books, and anything else that makes her smile. A former pastry chef, Lizzy caught the bookselling bug when she started working for her father, Roy Young Bookseller. The rest is history. Panelist: Jim Cummins, James Cummins, Bookseller (member since 1981) A lifelong collector, Jim started James Cummins Bookseller in 1978 after running the rare book department at Brentano's. He is a prominent and well respected figure in the antiquarian book world and a fixture at auctions. His expertise is wide and is reflected in the breadth of stock at his namesake firm. You can see Jim in action in the 2019 documentary, The Booksellers. Panelist: Megan Bell, Underground Books (member since 2024) Megan Bell is the co-owner, along with Josh Niesse, of Underground Books, ABAA in Carrollton, Georgia. One of the ne... [more Brown Bag Series: Treasure Hunt Stories]
The ABAA and Sanford L. Smith & Associates are proud to announce that the British Library will be the institutional partner for ABAA Connect at this year's New York International Antiquarian Book Fair. A program resurrected from the early 2000's, ABAA Connect will allow our 2024 institutional partner, the British Library, to request items at the NYIABF from exhibitors, and have those items purchased for the Library as recommended by tax-advantaged contributions from donors to the American Trust for the British Library (ATBL). British Library curators will browse a list of items exhibitors will bring to the fair and choose items they are interested in acquiring. Our British Library and ATBL colleagues and donors will attend the fair and discover these items together in person, and donors can either contribute the value of an item in its entirety or make a gift in part to the acquisition value for a particular item. Unique to the 2024 ABAA Connect program: the ATBL will guarantee the acquisitions requested by British Library curators. The NYIABF hopes this program will expose curators to exciting items, connect booksellers with the British Library and their curators, entice donors to attend the fair and purchase items that will benefit both the British Library and their personal collections, and inspire any fairgoer to become a donor. Location Park Avenue Armory 643 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065 www.armoryonpark.org Preview: $75 (Includes one daily re-admission) Single-Day A... [more ABAA & British Library Bring ABAA Connect to New York Book Fair in April]
The Celluloid Paper Trail: Film Script Identification Course at UCLA August 5-9 2024 Kevin Royal Johnson and Erin McGuirl will teach the first west coast Master Class on film script identification from August 5-9, 2024 at UCLA's California Rare Book School (CalRBS). Kevin Johnson has been a rare bookseller and appraiser for nearly 30 years. He is the author of the first book on film script identification, The Celluloid Paper Trail, published in 2019 by Oak Knoll Press and is the owner of Royal Books in Baltimore. Erin McGuirl/has been the Executive Director of the Bibliographical Society of America since 2018. She is trained as a special collections librarian, and has worked for over a decade with institutional and private collections in New York City. Course overview: What kind of text is a screenplay? How were they made, and by whom? How did their form and function change over time? In hands-on exercises with archival film scripts and through course lectures, students will explore these questions by learning about the history, development, and bibliographical identification/of the American film script, from the silent era to the end of the twentieth century./ Screenplays are guides to the creation of another work of art: a motion picture. Students enrolled in/The Celluloid Paper Trail/will learn to see scripts as “blueprints” for films and to identify the material cues that tell how they fit into the larger filmmaking process, revealing the contributions of both credite... [more The Celluloid Paper Trail: Film Script Identification Course at Cal-RBS Aug 5-9]
Meet the latest members of the ABAA. Full Membership Robin Beck, Primary Sources, Uncharted Americana Born and raised in the foothills of western North Carolina, Rob Beck came to bookselling after twenty years of deep and focused collecting in a very narrow slice of the Americana pie. In 2017, he and his wife, Laoma, launched Primary Sources, Uncharted Americana, specializing in rare, unique, or unusual American paper, whether printed, manuscript, or visual. Primary Sources is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and operates primarily through catalogues, having issued seven to date. Rob received his BA in Political Science from UNC-Chapel Hill, his MA in Anthropology from the University of Alabama, and his PhD in Anthropology from Northwestern. He has been a professional archaeologist for more than thirty years and has worked in Bolivia, Peru, China, and much of the eastern United States. He continues in that career as a university professor, but he's always on the hunt for exciting new material for Primary Sources. Scott Givens, Crooked House Books & Paper Scott Givens founded his first bookstore in 2001 and opened a second in 2006. After twenty years in the retail trade, he sold his bookstores and started to specialize in more rare, collectible, and vintage books at Crooked House, although he still keeps a decent inventory of books priced under ten dollars just for fun. Scott exhibits at book fairs along the West Coast, and is delving into printing single-subject “creative cata... [more The Latest Members of the ABAA]
How does one shop an ABAA Virtual Book Fair? Our Virtual Book Fairs combine the convenience of online commerce with the community of in-person book fairs. Just like at an physical book fair, you will be able to: browse the inventory of many exhibitors, but now with the advantage of only having to check out once no matter how many exhibitors you purchase from! speak with the exhibitors in real time, via digital tools like FaceTime and Zoom. be among the first to have the opportunity to buy newly acquired or cataloged items from the most-reputable dealers in the business. shop the fair for a set time only. Our virtual book fairs last for 2-4 days. So arrive early, make a plan to visit the exhibitors you know, and find the material you want! Browsing Options By exhibitor — Browse your favorite booksellers first (organized alphabetically) By aisle — It's a big fair, and you'll want to see every exhibitor. In this case our aisles correspond to geographic region. By product type — Are you particularly interested in maps or photographs? In search of autographs or ephemera? Hunting certain modern first editions? — This is another way to zero in on the items of most interest to you. By budget — Shop items under $500 and don't get distracted by the big-ticket items (as amazing as those may be). By specific item — A keyword search will quickly show you the item(s) you want without having to spend hours walking the show floor! How is an ABAA Virtual Book Fair different from a... [more How to Shop a Virtual Book Fair]