Many people now collect J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. In fact, the major book collectors of tomorrow will likely bond over their memories of midnight-release parties and argue the merits of Mary GrandPré versus Thomas Taylor's cover illustrations. My own book shelves host two complete sets (so far), one American (hardcover) and one British (paperback), and one set-in-progress (the illustrated editions). My children are lobbying for the addition of a set of the American paperbacks illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi, because the spines of each form an image of Hogwarts Castle when displayed in sequence (known as a "linked-spine binding" in the trade). Naturally, the hardcovers are no longer in great shape, having been read by every family member multiple times, but replacing them with pristine copies is stangely unappealing. It's in-part their hard-earned imperfections that make these books so beloved by us. 20th Anniversary Covers by Brian Selznick To mark the end of Harry Potter's 20th-anniversary celebrations, Scholastic released new paperback editions with covers by Caldecott Award-winning illustrator Brian Selznick (The Invention of Hugo Cabret) on June 26, 2018. Unlike the previous edition, which featured the linked-spine binding by Kazu Kibuishi, the Selznick covers form a mural when shelved in order face-out (see animation below). Another exciting aspect of this edition is the addition of a map of Hogwarts at the beginning of each book! The Harry Potter phenomen is cred... [more Collecting Harry Potter]

It is January 4, 2019. Payroll Friday. This morning I stopped into my accountant's office to pick up the checks. I signed a number of forms and checks for the various taxes and fees and other government necessities that were due. I've been going in to that building almost every other Friday for 35 years. Before that I calculated the taxes for the few employees I had myself. That would be impossible today. The complexity has become legend. I can't imagine starting a business from scratch today—with no experience. In the last couple of weeks, we've been setting up sale tax accounts in over 30 states. Insanity. Payroll Fridays: 35 x 26 weeks per year = 910 visits. Occasionally I've asked someone else to pick up the payroll. But I'm sure with my other visits for various reasons, I have crossed that threshold over a thousand times. I love the people there. They are old friends. But each time I go, it's like a dentist visit. It will be expensive and it will hurt. They connected two neighboring two-story bungalows and made them one building just as I began my relationship with them all those years ago. Otherwise, the building and routine has been virtually unchanged. They mail the forms and the government checks for me. I can't be trusted to do that myself. My life is a paper life. There are so many papers in this place it is easy to lose things. I've dissociated myself from external and internal accounting. There are people there and here that are much better at it than I. The th... [more Dandelion Wine]

The Northern & Southern California Chapters of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America would like to announce The California Young Book-Collector's Prize. UPDATE: Deadline extended until December 15. Submissions should be sent as a .pdf file to Ben Kinmont, Chair of the Northern California Chapter of the ABAA, at bkinmont@gmail.com. Most great collectors started when they were young, and most great collections started with a passion for a particular object or subject. When these objects are books and manuscripts, the collectors are called bibliophiles, or lovers of the book. Curiously, the love of books continues unabated today, despite their increasing rarity and the rapid growth of digital media. Some might even argue that the printed page has taken on a new meaning and cultural resonance in our era of computers and electronic texts. In recognition of the next generation of bibliophiles, we have created The California Young Book-Collector's Prize. The competition is open to collectors aged 35 and under who are living in California. All collections of books, manuscripts, and ephemera are welcome, no matter their monetary value or subject. The collections will be judged on their thoroughness, the approach to their subject, and the seriousness which with the collector has catalogued his or her material. The winner of the competition will be awarded: 1. A gift certificate of $500 to spend at the 2019 California International Antiquarian Book Fair 2. An exhibition of... [more ABAA’s California Chapters Launch Book-Collecting Prize, Deadline Extended!]

In the Jim Crow era, travel was fraught with difficulty for African Americans. The growing black middle class could afford to buy cars and travel for leisure, and throughout the South, the purchase of a car was an important goal for black families as it allowed them to avoid segregated public transport. However, traveling by car to new towns and cities, African Americans did not know which restaurants would serve them, which gas stations would fill up their car, and where it was safe to spend the night. Enter Victor H. Green, a mail carrier in Harlem, who had the idea for a guide book for African Americans to help them navigate the country without injury or harassment — based, in part, on similar guide books from Jewish publishers. The Negro Motorists Green Book (later renamed The Negro Travelers Green Book, but known colloquially as the “Green Book”) was first published in 1936, and initially focused on the area Green knew best, New York; but he quickly expanded it, drawing on the knowledge of his fellow postal workers, who knew their neighborhoods intimately. The guide covered the obvious essentials of travel — where to stay, where to eat, where to buy gas — as well as the less obvious ones — where to find a doctor, a tailor, or black-owned businesses. As the guide book became established, both white and black business owners would seek out Green hoping to be included. At its peak, the guide sold over 15,000 copies a year, and was sold in Standard Oil (later Ess... [more What was a Green Book?]

In the spring of 2016, I set up a Facebook group called 'We Love Endpapers'. My idea behind it was to create a forum where like-minded people—booksellers, librarians, collectors, book designers—could share, or just drool over, pictures of particularly unusual or beautifully patterned endpapers as and when they came across them. I have always enjoyed the surprise of discovering a hidden gem of an endpaper when opening a book, and thought there may well be others out there who might like to join me in such a group. Sure enough, there are now over 2000 members, and I regularly get people coming up to me at book fairs thanking me for setting it up and saying how much they enjoy it! One thing I have realised since setting up the group is how confusing the terminology of decorated paper can be. With that in mind, here's a brief outline of the kinds of decorated papers you might come across when looking at books from the hand-press period. Many of the examples below have been taken from posts in the We Love Endpapers group (which, I should say, features books from all periods, including modern publications); I hope fellow group members don't mind if I share them here. Marbled Paper The technique of marbling paper was developed in Asia (the oldest examples, from Japan, have been dated to the 12th century) before travelling west, to Persia, Turkey, and Europe. The decoration is achieved not directly onto the sheet of paper itself, but on a liquid called the marbling 'size' ('a glu... [more Decorated Book Papers: a Beginner’s Guide]

The National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest is sponsored 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 (the Library of Congress), with major support from the Jay I. Kislak Foundation. The 2018 winners are: First Prize: Samuel Vincent Lemley, University of Virginia: Biblioteca Genealogica: Sicilian Printing, 1704-1893 Second Prize: Paul T. Schwennesen, University of Kansas: Borderlands: A Manifesto on Overlap Third Prize: Hanaa J. Masalmeh, Harvard University: Far From the Eyes, Far From the Heart: My Life as a Syrian-American Muslim Essay. Ena Selimovic, Washington University in St. Louis: Ja, Ben, I, Je: A Book Collection in Translation We asked each some questions about their respective collections and their path to becoming a book collector. ---- First prize-winner Samuel Vincent Lemley of the University of Virginia collects items printed in Sicily between 1704 and 1893. Read his bibliography and essay here: Biblioteca Genealogica: Sicilian Printing, 1704-1893. Q: Could you give us a brief description of your collection? Samuel Vincent Lemley: My collection is an experiment in what might be called 'biblio-genealogy': it tells the story of my Sicilian ancestry in the form of books printed in Sicily during the years for which genealogical records of my ancestors survive. The chronological limits of my... [more Meet the 2018 NCBCC Winners]

Books "catch the eye" for many reasons: a colorful cover, a pithy title, or that rare moment of synchronicity that seems to conjure the perfect book at the perfect time. This week, a 1926 biography of Walt Whitman caught our eye for its magnificent title and a rare cut-out book celebrating Walt Disney's Snow White invoked childhood very strongly. Browse these and other items that leaped off the virtual shelves at us below... The Magnificent Idler: The Story of Walt Whitman by Cameron Rogers; illustrated by Edward A. Wilson Garden City: Doubleday, Page & Company, 1926. First edition of this earnestly humanizing popular biography of Walt Whitman, which "seeks neither to whitewash its subject nor exhume old scandals." The double-page landscapes by illustrator Edward Wilson, which depict Whitman communing with nature throughout his life, match the contemplative, gently comic prose of Cameron Rogers. Characteristic is the dialogue between the printers at work on the first edition of Leaves of Grass: "'Andy, this is crazy stuff.' 'Mebby.' 'Is this poetry, Andy, do you figure?' 'Mebby.' 'Anybody going to buy this stuff, Andy, do you figure?' 'Mebby.'" A near-fine copy, evidence of a mainstream readership grappling with Whitman's uncategorizable legacy in the decades after his death. Single volume, measuring 8 x 5.5 inches: , 312. Original full green cloth, yellow pictorial pastedowns to front board and spine, yellow pictorial endpapers, original unclipped color pictorial dust jacket... [more Books of the Week]

The ABAA Glossary of Book Terms defines a first editon, in part, as "all of the copies printed from the first setting of type," which can "include multiple printings if all are from the same setting of type." So, the term is rooted in the physical act of printing the pages of a book. But, the term also has a second meaning, specifically the first form given to a book, i.e. before any later changes (which could include corrections, additional copy, introductions, etc.) These changes, if minor, are referred to as the second (or later) "state" of the book, if major, they constitute new editions of the book. The phrase "modern" is more difficult to define, as it has been often used as a synonym for "contemporary," thus what was considered a modern first editon in the 1940s might not be regarded in the same way in the second decade of the 21st Century. Noted bibliophile John Carter observed that the term modern first edition "is, and probably always will be, quite unstandardised" in his classic guide to the terminology of the rare book trade, ABC for Book Collectors. For our purposes, we've culled a selection of first edition novels from the 20th century to showcase some of the first appearances of some of the canonical works from the past century. You can browse our members' full catalog of first editions here... The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Hardcover. First Edition, Matches all points on pages 60,119,165,205 and 211. Has a new wrappe... [more Modern First Editions]

Among the eye-catching items newly listed on abaa.org or featured in members' catalogs this week are some signed first editions, an inscribed photo of everyone's favorite princess from a galaxy far, far away, and a clever artist's book that captures the Beaufort Scale memorably. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Scale] by Stephanie Wolff & Sir Francis Beaufort Norwich, VT, 2015. Artist's book, one of 13 copies, all on Somerset Velvet Radiant White paper, each copy hand-numbered and signed by the artist on the colophon. Page size: 5 x 9-3/4 inches; 26pp; + colophon. Bound by the artist: compound structure, primarily non-adhesive, tabbed single pages sewn onto a concertina of French paper and then inserted into strip of Tyvek folded into Hedi Kyle's crown binding structure, reinforced covers of white Somerset paper sewn onto the concertina and sealed with adhesive at edges, housed in custom-made grey cloth over boards clamshell box lined with white paper, the front tray with THE BEAUFORT WIND SCALE printed letterpress in 14pt. Perpetua, each number with its corresponding word / words descriptor, i.e. 0 Calm, 1 Light Air through 12 Hurricane. The front cover of the book is printed letterpress, Perpetua 30pt., printed in light gray ink throughout. The text, in Perpetua 18pt., each line printed on a separate page, and that page with the word descriptor for the Beaufort Wind Scale number appearing in all caps perpendicular to the text in Perpetua 30pt, the BWS number which is printed bl... [more Books of the Week]

The World's Most Beloved (and Criticized) Family of Bears! If you are a '90s child like myself (or a '70s child, or an '80s child, or a 2000s child… or even a 2010s child), I can guarantee that you know a family of bears… that live in (pretty much) the coolest treehouse ever… and whose sister and brother magically (almost) always get along. I grew up envying this small family and their adventures in pumpkin patches and at school. (So get to the point, you say?) Well today we thought we'd do a short feature on our favorite (fictional) family of bears… the Berenstain Bears. The Berenstain Bear family and franchise was created by Janice and Stanley Berenstain in 1962, and has since become a series of over 300 titles. Since his mother's death in 2012 (Stan Berenstain died in 2005), the couple's youngest son, Mike Berenstain, has continued the family tradition by authoring the titles. A full family project, in a sense! Let's see how it all came about… In 1941, Janice Grant and Stanley Berenstain met on their first day at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art and became close very quickly. At the onset of World War II, they took up different war effort posts (as a medical illustrator and riveter), but were eventually reunited and married in 1946. They found work as art teachers, then eventually became co-illustrators, publishing works like the Berenstain's Baby Book in 1951 followed by many more (including, but not limited to Marital Blitz, How To Teach Your Ch... [more Children’s Books: The Berenstain Bears]