ABAA News

Collecting the Physical Book in the Digital Age

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

ABAA member Ken Karmiole offers his perspective on how the Internet has affected the rare book business.

VIdeo of the 35th Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

The 2011 Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair was a blast for exhibitors and attendees alike. Here is a video that I think will get any book lovers excited about attending a fair, and certainly puts us in eager anticipation for the upcoming California International Antiquarian Book Fair, which will be held in Pasadena this coming February (labookfair.com). Enjoy!

The Promise and Peril of Universal Libraries

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

A transcript of Professor Adrian Johns' lecture at the San Francisco Antiquarian Book Fair in February 2011.

The American Gift Book

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Learn about the origins and nature of the American gift book, and follow its evolution over time.

Ken Sanders on NPR Discussing the Sale of Joseph Smith's Personal Bible

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

ABAA member Ken Sanders on NPR discussing the sale of Latter Day Saints founder Joseph Smith's personal Bible.

Louisa May Alcott: A Checklist of First Editions

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

A collector's checklist for Louisa May Alcott, including pricing and correct edition sizes.

A Virtual Tour of Mark Twain's Last Home With a Glimpse of His Library

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

An introduction to Stormfield, Mark Twain's last residence, and a virtual tour of the home through captions of forty-one original photographs.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Trade Card Designs

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

The author shares his research on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's trade card designs.

Mark Twain Redux

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

A ten year update of the author's 1998 Twain articles.

A Checklist Of Hawthorne's First and Major Editions

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

A collector's checklist of major Hawthorne editions, including information about price and condition.

A Checklist Of Herman Melville's First and Major Editions

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Information and advice to those interested in collecting the major works of Melville, including description and price ranges for various editions.

Collecting Henry David Thoreau

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Insight into the man who was Henry David Thoreau. His life, his times, his legacy.

Audio Interview with Allen and Pat Ahearn: On Books to Collect

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

The Quill & Brush owners Allen and Pat Ahearn speak with Nigel Beale about their history with book collecting. Click here to listen.

Tryst With the Masters

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

The Hindu, an online version of India's National Newspaper, offers a positive and enthusiastic look at the 2010 New York Book Fair. Tryst With the Masters

Audio Interview with Bob Fleck, Founder/President of Oak Knoll Books

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Oak Knoll Books, Between the Covers, The Kelmscott Bookshop, and The Old Bookshop of Bordentown have teamed together to establish The Book Shop, opening in New Castle, DE on May 1. Click here to listen to an interview conducted with Bob Fleck about this endeavor.

Ten Years Ago: MARK TWAIN REDUX

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

A CHECKLIST OF HERMAN MELVILLE'S FIRST AND MAJOR EDITIONS

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

THE JOY OF PUBLISHING (An Unbridled Adventure)

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

A Bookseller details his years as a publisher.

The Cartographic Impact of MacDonald Gill’s Wonderground Map of 1913

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

An interesting article on MacDonald Gill and his Wonderground Map of the London Tube.

Selling Civilization

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

A look at a life in bookselling by Canadian dealer David Mason. It isn’t easy being a bookseller these days. We are being assaulted from every side, by what seems to be progress, or at least that’s what people call it. A few years ago I referred in print to the current explosion of instant world-wide communication technology as the Electronic revolution, comparing it to the Industrial revolution of the 19th century. More

John Windle discusses Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Dwell Magazine has done a piece on Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott. ABAA member, John Windle, discusses a very unique edition printed in the 1980s.

Members in the News: John Doyle

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

John Doyle, proprietor of Crawford Doyle Booksellers, is featured in an article about New York City's Carnegie Hill neighborhood. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/nyregion/02stop.html

Stuart Lutz talks to NPR about Presidential Autographs

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

New Pacific Northwest Chapter Website

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

BLOGGING WITH THE ABAA

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Links to various blogs on the book trade.

Interview with Larry McMurtry

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Interview with Kenneth Gloss

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

The Baltimore Antique Show

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker on William S. Burroughs Collecting

A Collector’s Primer to the Wonders of Fore-edge Painting

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

One of the most unusual types of book decoration is fore-edge paintings.

The Rare Life

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

An article about Priscilla Lowry-Gregor and David Gregor, two ABAA members in Washington state.

Check out the new MAC Chapter website!

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Madeleine B. Stern, Bookseller and Sleuth, Dies at 95

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Snippets from Madeleine Stern's Obituary

A Writer Finds the Rare Lives of Two Rare Book Dealers Worth Singing About

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Snippets from a NY Times article regarding "Bookends" - the play about Madeleine B. Stern and Leona Rostenberg.

The ABAA and You

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

A brief essay on what the ABAA is. We are a trade association of over 450 members located throughout the United States. Our members specialize in fine and rare books, maps, documents, autographs, illuminated manuscripts, ephemera and prints which span the economic spectrum.

Rare Books. Rare Brothers. Rare Chance to Profit. Closed

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Snippets from the NY Times article about Heritage closing.

The Libraries of Power

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

"Personal libraries have always been a biopsy of power" says Harriet Rubin in her New York Times piece C.E.O. Libraries Reveal Keys to Success.

Collecting Mark Twain: A History and Three New Paths

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Collecting Mark Twain; A History and Three New Paths Mark Twain's world-wide appeal endures because his writings appeal to very different people in very different ways. Many of his contemporary readers saw him as a sort of genial corn-pone clown, a grandfatherly figure with a benign wit, and for better or worse, this is the image that persists in the popular mind today. By Kevin MacDonnell

Collecting Herman Melville

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

1991 marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Herman Melville. Numerous observances were held to commemorate the work of that remarkable American writer, so widely forgotten a century ago and so widely celebrated today.

Texts of Choice; The Books of the Modern Library

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

"No army on earth can hold back an idea whose time has come," Victor Hugo is supposed to have said, and he ought to have been speaking of the Modern Library.

Radical Novel: 1900-1954

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Rideout defined the radical novel as "one which demonstrates, either explicitly or implicitly, that its author objects to the human suffering imposed by some socioeconomic system and advocates that the system be fundamentally changed."

John Henry: The Ballad and the Legend

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

When we talk about "John Henry," we may be referring to a ballad, a work song, a folk hero, or a legend. Most familiar is the character John Henry, the man who drove steel on the C & O Road and died with his hammer in his hand. His feat(s) have been memorialized in the ballad.

Collecting Movie Source Books

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Many of the stories being played out on movie screens were not written specifically for movies but based on books-usually novels. These stories are movie source books.

Books on the Blues

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Few people realize that a decent size literature on Blues has accrued over the last century and that many of the books are quite collectible and intensely sought after.

100 Years/100 Books: Highspots of Collectible Children's Books from 1863-1963

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

The world of collectible children's books has come of age.

Early Southeast Asian Geographic Thought

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

To medieval Europe, the East was the source of silks, spices, and other exotica. It was the environs of Paradise, the place of the original Garden but also of the original Sin. It was the horizon from whence the sun rose, the point from which humankind dispersed throughout the inhabited earth, and the subject of much philosophical speculation.

Earnest Lives and Fearless Words: The Literature and Ideals of the Women's Rights Movement

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

The modern women's rights movement arose in a time of revolution and culminated in the winning of suffrage in a world shaken by war.

A Tale of Two Cities

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

This is the best of times. A worst there isn't, not if you are lucky enough to earn your living by dealing in books.

Why Collect Proofs?

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

In first edition collecting, "the earlier the better" is the rule.

Splendors and Miseries of being an Author/Bookseller

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

An address delivered to the ABAA annual meeting by Larry McMurtry

The First Hundred Years of Printing in British North America: Printers and Collectors

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

This year marks the 350th anniversary of printing in what is now the United States

Antiquarian Book Collecting in Southern California

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Very few of us will contest the role of the book in the history of Western culture, yet it is surprising that very few people actually own any antiquarian books at all.

Books at the Limit

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Scarcity often makes a book desirable, and it plays an important part in the definition of an entire class of collectible books: private-press or fine-press books, limited editions, livres d'artiste, and artists' books.

Evaluating Books

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Individuals with old books or manuscripts in their possession often wonder how to ascertain the value of such material.

Want to learn more about terms used in the bookselling trade? Click here!

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Introduction to Book Collecting

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Book collectors start as readers. This may seem obvious but is important to keep in mind, for the majority of book collectors collect authors or subjects that they are currently reading or have read and enjoyed.

View Back Issues of the ABAA Newsletter

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

The ABAA publishes a quarterly Newsletter aimed at Members, Collectors, and Booksellers. To subscribe or see what's happening in the world of rare books, click here.

Pastures of Heaven, a Film

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Nearly everyone interested in John Steinbeck can reel off a string of his books that have been made into films. But The Pastures of Heaven, you ask?

Armed Services Editions

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

It is the middle of World War II. Soldiers are on their way to the front lines of both the Pacific and European Theaters. Other soldiers are already there. Still others have bee

Bookmarks

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

A. W. Coysh in his work Collecting bookmarkers, a history of English bookmarks, states: The need for some device to mark the place in a book was recognized at an early date. "The need for some device to mark the place in a book was recognized at an early date. Without boo

Paper Dolls

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Genealogical research reveals that the ancestor of today's paper dolls were pantins, first popular in France during the mid-1700s.

My World of Ephemera and Welcome to It

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

I am not your average collector as I collect a very wide range of items. My interest in collecting antique papers and postcards postcards dates back to my childhood. My mother was interest

Benjamin Franklin's Job Printing

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Benjamin Franklin was one of the most remarkable figures in colonial America. His accomplishments were considerable even before he represented the American colonies

Valentines - The Language of Love

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

For more than twenty-five years, Valentines have been a passion for me - and I have constantly sought examples of virtually every kind that exists! Each acquisition seemed to lead to another, and each was a piece of the puzzle that I was assembling.

The Poster Wave Reaches America's Shores

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

The last 10 years have seen a renaissance in vintage poster collecting in the United States. The last time that posters were so avidly collected, they weren't "vintage" at all.

The Secret Life of Victorian Cards

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Like other forms of mass-produced ephemera, cards of all types proliferated with the new technologies of the mid-1800s, allowing for increased social interaction and the regulation of social standards which characterized the Victorian era.

Why Collect Proofs?

Wed, 16 May 2012 22:10:43 -0400

Proof copies, if you follow your nose and are willing to take small risks, can be great investments--because even if the author doesn't "hit" and the monetary values don't go sky-high, you've still got a scarce, unusual, often textually significant version of the author's work.