Where do you start with a place like Vegas? Bally's Hotel and Casino is hosting the 2014 Moose International convention and dealing with a chronic shortage of aquatic plant life, willow shoots, and other forage. Hairy guys with backwards baseball caps. Old men and their leisurewear. Fatties in mobile chairs work away, tethered to slot machines. A Bally's credit card at the other end of the line drips the money in and out. The tether prevents the card from being stolen, lost, or forgotten. Sorry, sir, no photographs. What is the plural of Moose ? Do the International Moose employ it? There is a convention in noir cinema – someone has slipped the detective a mickey, or the alcoholic is in the middle of a lost weekend, or an innocent party has received a life altering shock. “Sorry, honey. I'm leaving you for a Moose.” The movies represent this state of psychic distress by means of flashing lights, carnival midway noises, and squirming, spinning shapes. Everything is out of focus. Voices come in and out, layered with hallucinogenic visuals and shreds of pop songs. Places and times jam together like a freeway pileup. This is the lobby at Bally's Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The mickey is optional, but the lights, noises, voices, and ghastly visuals surrounding me leave no doubt that I'm in someone's grade B detective flick, or lost weekend, or that the life altering shock is Las Vegas itself. A line in one of my aural hallucinations croons, “It's just too marvelous, too ma... [more Not This Time]

On June 17th, join ABAA members George Koppelman and Dan Wechsler for an evening at Swann Auction Galleries, where they will be speaking about their recently published book Shakespeare's Beehive and recounting "the story of how two antiquarian booksellers would acquire and conclude that it is William Shakespeare's own personal dictionary." Full details below. [more Lecture on Shakespeare’s Beehive at Swann Galleries]

Last December, the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at The Library of Congress held an excellent symposium on authenticity. “Authenticity,” was a day-long program that looked at one of the most difficult subjects facing libraries, private collectors, and booksellers today -- judging the genuineness of printed materials. The symposium focused on the research which curators, scholars, and conservators have been conducting regarding all elements of printing and book production. The speakers included specialists who are at the cutting edge of research on printing techniques, paper manufacture, binding construction, and typography, as well as scholars, conservators, scientists, and booksellers who are dedicated to establishing methods for determining authenticity in the field of rare books, prints, and manuscripts. The Library of Congress has released a webcast of the symposium, which you can view below or on their website. [more Library of Congress Releases Webcast of Symposium on Authenticity]

The Midwest Chapter of the ABAA has just announced a new annual scholarship to the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar! Details for 2014 applicants are below. The Florence Shay/Midwest Chapter CABS Scholarship In memory of long-time member Florence Shay (1922-2012), the Midwest Chapter of the ABAA offers a $1500 educational scholarship to attend the 2014 Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar. It covers tuition, room and board for one attendee at this year's Seminar. This scholarship is offered to booksellers who are from the Midwest Chapter region, which includes the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Applicants should provide the following: • A completed copy of the application form. • A personal statement or essay (no longer than two pages) in which you describe your past or current experience in the world of antiquarian books, your goals for the future, and what you hope to gain from the studies afforded by this scholarship. If you have attended an antiquarian book fair in the past, please offer an observation or impression gained from that experience. • Letter of support written by a professional bookseller or rare book librarian. Applications will be accepted until midnight, June 15, 2014. The NCC/ABAA will notify scholarship applicants of its award decision via email by June 30, 2014. Those interested in applying for the scholarship should send an email to Kurt Gippert at b... [more Midwest ABAA Chapter Offers Scholarship to CABS]

Registration for the 2014 Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar is in full swing! In its 36th year, CABS "provides an opportunity for leading specialists tot share their expertise and experience with booksellers, librarians, and collectors in a comprehensive survey of the rare book market, both antiquarian and modern." I've attended myself and can attest that it is a wonderful program, lovingly referred to in the trade as "bookseller boot-camp". This year the seminar runs from August 3-8th. The keynote speaker is Michael Zinman and the speciality dealer is ABAA member Brian Cassidy (Brian Cassidy, Bookseller). The rest of the faculty this year includes ABAA members Lorne Bair, Nina Musinsky, and Rob Rulon-Miller, Jr., Terry Belanger, Sally Burdon, Daniel De Simone, Dan Gregory, and Steven Escar Smith. It's been said time and time again: CABS is a must for anyone entering the antiquarian book trade or those interested in taking their bookselling business to the next level. Interested in attending but money is tight? There's a $250 savings for participants who enroll prior to 5/31. In addition, there are a number of scholarships offered including the ABAA Woodburn Fund's Ed Glaser Scholarship, which you can apply for at apply.abaa.org. [more 2014 Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar]

Here's some exciting bibliographic news to start the day! The Bibliographic Society of America has awarded member Joseph J. Felcone (Joseph J. Felcone Inc.) the 2014 St. Louis Mercantile Library Prize for outstanding scholarship in the bibliography of American history and literature for his book Printing in New Jersey 1754-1800: A Descriptive Bibliography (American Antiquarian Society, 2012). The prize, established in 2008 and awarded every three years, includes a cash prize and a year's membership in the BSA. From the BSA press release: Printing in New Jersey 1754-1800: A Descriptive Bibliography is a detailed catalogue of 1,265 books, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers, and broadsides – all of the known products of every eighteenth-century New Jersey press. About of quarter of the imprints described are recorded here for the first time and the extensive annotations are full of new information gleaned from archival sources. The book also includes items that may have been printed in New Jersey, works which had been incorrectly attributed to New Jersey presses, and rich back-matter including three appendixes, an extensive list of sources, and three indexes. Thanks to the design by Jerry Kelly, this bibliography is both beautiful and easy to use. Joseph J. Felcone has spent a lifetime collecting, studying, and writing about New Jersey books and the early New Jersey book trade. To compile this comprehensive work, he visited and fully surveyed 115 libraries, from the major repo... [more Joseph J. Felcone Awarded 2014 St. Louis Mercantile Library Prize]

Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books & Manuscripts is seeking a detail-oriented individual with strong writing, organizational, and personal skills as well as sophisticated understanding of computer technology for full-time employment, working with a small staff. The person's chief responsibility would be to assist with writing catalogue descriptions of rare books and manuscripts (see pirages.com for examples); other tasks might include administrative office work (processing acquisitions, orders, and payments as well as preparing invoices and tracking inventory), responding to customer inquiries, handling general correspondence, assisting with the company's social media marketing, representing the business at book fairs, and other duties as assigned. We do not have a store front; client visits are by appointment. To apply, please email cover letter and CV to info@pirages.com. Required Skills and experience: • Significant writing experience, preferably for pay and/or publication • Knowledge of and/or interest in rare books • Strong editing and proofreading skills • Strong attention to detail in general • Experience with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook/Exchange) • Experience with database and web searching Desired Skills: • Reading knowledge of languages besides English • Familiarity with Microsoft Access • Familiarity with QuickBooks • Experience with Adobe InDesign Required Education: • Bachelor's Degree (B.A. or B.S.) Desired Education: • Advanced deg... [more Philip J. Pirages Fine Books & Manuscripts Seeks Antiquarian Bookseller]

George Koppelman and Daniel Wechsler have been waiting for this day for six years– the day the world will discover they are in possession of a book they claim was owned by William Shakespeare. Koppelman and Wechsler purchased a copy of Baret's Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionarie (1580), on eBay in 2008. While other books have more famously earned the designation of Shakespeare source texts, works by Florio and Holinshed's Chronicles of England (1587) among them, Baret's Alvearie has been somewhat overlooked. While they initially believed their dictionary to be important and valuable because of the Elizabethan-era annotations it contained, Koppelman and Wechsler soon found themselves making the case for Shakespeare himself as its owner and annotator. Knowing their find would be met with both excitement and skepticism at once, Koppelman and Wechsler spent the last six years researching the life and times of Shakespeare, studying his canon, and connecting with Shakespeare scholars. Through their devoted study, they have unearthed evidence through careful analysis of the paleography and “personal markers” of the annotator, such as stylized “W” and “S” letters, and biblical “IHS” monograms penned next to entries for yew tree. The majority of their case for Shakespeare's dictionary lies in their analysis of the annotations themselves, a dense network of interrelated references that show shocking parallels to the unique and inventive language of Shakespeare, the wo... [more Waiting for the Coming of Shakespeare]

J & J LUBRANO MUSIC ANTIQUARIANS LLC is seeking an ANTIQUARIAN MUSIC CATALOGUER Primary duties would be to research and catalogue: - rare printed music and books about music and dance - original autograph musical manuscripts and letters of composers - music- and dance-related iconography Our firm, established in 1977, has an international clientele of both private and institutional collectors of original source material dating from the 15th through 21st centuries. The ideal candidate will possess the following attributes: - a graduate degree in music history - a Masters degree in Library Science or previous employment experience in the rare book and manuscript trade - some experience in original antiquarian music and/or rare book and manuscript cataloguing and a good knowledge of relevant bibliographical resources - an appreciation of, and enthusiasm for handling, original sources - an interest in the history of music printing and publishing - an interest in the commercial dimension of antiquarian bookselling - a good reading knowledge of one or more European languages, preferably German, French or Italian - strong writing and oral communication skills - good computer skills - good organizational skills - the ability to adapt to changing work priorities - the ability to work well both individually and as part of a team - the ability to occasionally lift and carry boxes weighing up to 30 pounds We are located in private premises on the north shore of Long Island, approximatel... [more J & J Lubrano Music Antiquarians LLC Seek Cataloguer]

ABAA Member Marc Selvaggio recently spoke at the opening of an exhibition he curated at Southern Methodist University's DeGolyer Library on Parables of Promise: American Advertising Fiction, 1856-2014. The exhibit aims to cover how American companies have used fiction and storytelling in this genre to sell "material goods, whether plows, windows, patent medicines, cereals, the telephone, bicycles, railroad travel, or insurance". The exhibit will be on view until May 23, 2014. More highlights are here. [more Marc Selvaggio Curates Exhibit on Advertising Fiction at SMU’s DeGolyer Library]