The following item has been reported missing from California, last seen on July 31, 2015. Bohemian Club Ledger. Manuscript ledger of the Bohemian Club from its founding in 1872 to 1899, roughly three hundred pages of manuscript minutes and records along with relevant printed material from the period. The notes include mention of founder Ambrose G. Bierce, Henry George, Ina Coolbrith, Mark Twain and others. The cover is a black “pebbled” ledger style cover, approximately 8” by 11”, 250 - 350 pages. If you have any information on this item, please contact Richard P. Koch at rpkoch1@sbcglobal.net or (415) 397-1060. [more Missing: Bohemian Club Ledger]
Sally Burdon, ILAB President, has announced that The B.H. Breslauer Foundation is investing another $25,000 in the Breslauer Foundation Prize Fund, meaning that “this important prize for bibliography can continue to be awarded for many years to come.” “We owe a great debt to The B.H. Breslauer Foundation for their generosity and support,” said Burdon. Felix de Marez Oyens, President of the B.H. Breslauer Foundation, commented that: “My fellow trustees and I are pleased to make this additional donation in order to enable the ILAB to award every fourth year not only the main bibliography prize of $10,000, but also second and third prizes of $5,000 and $3,000 respectively. The discipline of bibliography is not usually a lucrative pursuit. It is important therefore that the practitioners of this branch of scholarship be encouraged as much as possible by institutional libraries and also by the rare-book trade, which profit from it. We hope that these prizes, which are not inconsiderable, will continue to play a major role in that encouragement.” The ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography honors the most original and outstanding published work in the field of bibliography. It is awarded every four years. The most-recent winner is Dutch scholar Ina Kok, whose Woodcuts in Incunabula Printed in the Low Countries (Brill, April 2013) was awarded the prize in 2018. The next prize will be awarded in 2022. The ILAB Prize for Bibliography was founded in 1964. In 2008, its name wa... [more New Investment in ILAB Breslauer Prize]
I was thrilled recently to learn, via John Windle, of the philanthropic activities of ABAA member Phillip Pirages and his wife Ellen Summerfield. The couple formed the Give a Little Foundation in 2007 with the mission to provide assistance to individuals and families in Yamhill County, Oregon who are experiencing financial adversity and to alleviate hardship and enhance the quality of life of those on very limited budgets. The foundation offers one-time grants of up to $500 to help residents in crisis, and it has other special outreach programs in place to help school children, job seekers, and seniors. Phil and Ellen were moved to give back to their local community after identifying a need through their professional acquaintances and social services organizations. From the beginning, they have worked with existing organizations who had the infrastructure in place to identify and evaluate individuals who were on the cusp—that is, people who perhaps needed equipment, tools, licenses, school supplies, or even rental deposits to bridge a gap to gainful employment, success in school, or other needs. Working with these front-line agencies allowed the foundation to respond quickly by assisting the neediest cases. To be certain that funds are used properly, grants are made directly to the vendor or service provider involved, rather than the applicant. In recent years, ABAA members John Windle, Chris Loker (of Children's Book Gallery), and Lawrence O'Shaughnessy (of Franklin Books)... [more ABAA Member Phillip Pirages Gives Back to his Oregon Community]
The ABAA's Woodburn Fund provides financial support for scholarly research and education relevant to the antiquarian book trade. This includes annual scholarships to Rare Book School, California Rare Book School, and the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar. Ezra Tishman of Aardvark Books/Ezra the Bookfinder was the recipient of a Woodburn Fund scholarship to Rare Book School this year and had the following to say about his experience. I wanted to take moment to officially thank the ABAA for the scholarship assistance I received to attend a Rare Book School course in Bloomington, Indiana. The assistance allowed me to take the time off from work, and I spent an amazing week at Indiana University's Lilly Library, learning from the legendary "Master of Bibliographical Resources", Joel Silver. His encyclopedic knowledge of available references -- and his folksy delivery of just a slice of his vast body of knowledge — rather blew me away. In the first two days of the course — despite twenty-five years fulltime in the trade, I truly wondered about what I really knew, and how I could have worked so long without the benefit of some of these resources. I've no doubt at all that what I gained from attendance at Joel's course will prove indispensable, in both my capacities as bookseller and appraiser. Again huge gratitude to our organization for its commitment to help members grow and thrive in the trade. Scholarships to Rare Books School and California Rare Book School are awarded ann... [more Woodburn Fund Scholarship Recipient on Rare Book School]
We have received a report that the items pictured below were lost in transit in July 2017. They were originally purchased at auction and listed under the lot "'Shabbat Shuva' sermon in the handwriting of the Chatem Sofer." If you have any information on these items, please contact ABAA Headquarters at hq@abaa.org or (212) 944-8291. First Item: Second Item: [more Missing Items Lost in Transit]
ABAA-member Claudia Strauss-Schulson, her son Todd and daughter Caren, have written a book -- Scrawl: An A to Z of Famous Doodles -- based on the extensive collection of illustrated letters and sketches built by the late David Schulson, founder of David Schulson Autographs, Ltd. (now Schulson Autographs). We asked the three Strauss-Schulsons to tell us about the book and the collection on which it draws. ABAA: How did this collection come about? Claudia Strauss-Schulson: The collection began with the intent to combine art with history. The collection built out from illustrated letters to include drawings of all sorts from the full range of human endeavor. The criteria for selecting a letter or drawing for the collection had to do with adding diversity and curiosity as the collection grew. ABAA: How large is it? Claudia: Larger than the number of pieces in Scrawl. ABAA: You must come across doodles and marginalia all the time in your area of specialty. What gave you the idea to turn the collection into a book? Todd Strauss-Schulson: In the months after Dad died, Caren and I had the idea of turning the private collection into an art book. Dad loved this material, and we grew up with it. The exciting part was not to do another historical book of letters, not academic or stuffy. We wanted to do an art book that contextualized this material as art objects, as we had learned from him. Caren Strauss-Schulson: Our dad was the perfect balance of serious and playful, and Rizzoli comple... [more Collection: Famous Doodles]
A copy of The Maltese Falcon was reported stolen from Rhode Island. We were provided with the following details on this particular copy: Inscribed on the upper right-hand corner of the first page was "R Stackpole” and written just below was "to Carol” The book had no stains, no rips, no other writing, no fringe tears, and was wrapped in white tissue paper. Regarding the wrapping: #1) the colorful book-cover lightly enclosed in airy white tissue paper in its own box-the lid was exteriorly taped shut on all for corners and # 2) the book itself was loosely wrapped in white tissue paper and placed in its own airy lidded box; which was taped the same way. Both containers had written on the exterior tops, "VERY VALUABLE BOOK DO NOT OPEN" and underlined. If you have any information on this item, please contact Carol Cummings at (401) 846-2126 or her attorney Gordon Cleary at (401) 523-7726. [more Stolen: “The Maltese Falcon”]
In his day, Horatio Alger, Jr. (1832-1899) was one of the most-famous authors in America. While his books have largely fallen out of print today, everyone is familiar with his main idea, because Horatio Alger, Jr. popularized the “pulling oneself up by the bootstraps” ideal that permeates so much of American life. It's not too much of a stretch to say that Alger gave America its great national myth, that hard work (and clean living) can allow anyone to achieve success — although people often seem to overlook the amount of sheer luck that comes into play in his fiction. A more-jaundiced reading of Alger's oeuvre would assert that success for Alger was usually defined as social advancement or preferment, and it was usually achieved by finding a wealthy patron through performing a selfless deed or some service (returning a lost wallet or proving ones virtue in some way). Of course, the only individuals who could achieve this social advancement were white males, and the agent of this change was invariably an older white male. Nevertheless, his books were popular after the Civil War, and achieved a huge surge in readership in the early decades of the Twentieth Century. It wasn't an easy road to success for Alger, the son of a Unitarian Minister and descendant of Puritan ancestors. After attending Harvard -- where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was part of the faculty -- he published fitfully, and none of his varied early books really found an audience. After a brief attempt to w... [more Horatio Alger, Jr.]
Meet the latest members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America. New Members Lillian Fraker, Savoy Books (Lanesboro, MA) Lillian Fraker was born in New York, grew up in Westchester County and met her husband-to-be, Robert Fraker in college. In 1971 they settled in a rural town in Massachusetts' Berkshires where they started Savoy Books, later moving home and business to Lanesboro, Mass. They kept a general stock of pre-1900 books and paper, specializing in antiquarian horticulture/agriculture, and 19th-century American popular music, and putting together various quirky subject collections -- history of Shorthand, American education, etc. Savoy Books joined the ABAA under Robert Fraker's name in 1974, exhibiting in every Boston ABAA book fair since then, and in the 1970s and '80s participating in a few New York and California fairs. When Robert died in 2017, Lillian Fraker applied for ABAA membership under her own name. She still has a medium-sized stock of antiquarian books, pamphlets, broadsides, graphics and other ephemera for sale and is happy to be able to continue her 45-year connection with the ABAA community. Elena Gallego, Elena Gallego Rare Books (San Antonio, TX) Elena Gallego Rare Books LLC operates from its offices in Madrid and Texas and aims to get professionals, collectors, and lovers of unique artworks closer to the exciting world of the rare books and manuscripts. They specialise in Spanish books, Central and Latin America, and México. Their d... [more New Members]
UPDATE: This item has been located! 5/31/2019. Becker, George F. Atlas to Accompany the Monograph on the Geology of the Comstock Lode and the Washoe District. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1882. First edition. 21 sheets. Elephant Folio Very good. Small paper label on backstrip and front board. Contents clean and complete. This is the atlas to accompany the third monograph from the USGS. If offered, please contact: Ken Sanders Rare Books, ABAA at (801) 521-3819 or www.kensandersbooks.com. [more Atlas Missing from Chicago Map Fair]