International League of Antiquarian Booksellers
Encyclopedia
The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers is a non-profit umbrella organization of bookseller associations, with its legal location in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, Switzerland. It federates 22 National Associations of Antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...

 Booksellers, representing nearly 2000 dealers in 32 countries. Antiquarian booksellers affiliated to the League adhere to the ILAB Code of Ethics, and the League aims to server as a global network for the rare book trade.

History

The idea of forming an international organization of antiquarian
Antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...

 booksellers that would beneficially link national associations of antiquarian booksellers was originally conceived by the former president of the Dutch Association, Menno Hertzberger. As a Jew, he had spent part of the Second World War hiding from the Nazis. To quote him:
In 1947 representatives from five countries, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, Holland and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, met in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 to discuss the formation of such an organization, with the aim of establishing open markets, to foster friendship and understanding, and to counteract the animosity and suspicion engendered by World War Two. The president of the British Association
Antiquarian Booksellers Association
The Antiquarian Booksellers Association is the senior trade body in the British Isles for dealers in antiquarian and rare books, manuscripts and allied materials.-History:It was founded in 1906 and is the oldest organization of its kind in the world...

, Percy H. Muir, chaired the first conference and became a major role player in the evolution of the League; Muir also assembled the important scientific library of Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...

, later author of the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 novels - through Muir, Fleming himself became a director of the London booksellers Elkin Matthews. The ILAB was formally incorporated in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 in September 1948, with ten participating countries, among them Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Holland and Denmark. William S. Kundig from Switzerland was elected the first ILAB President in the history of the League. In his opening speech the Danish bookseller Einar Grønholt Pedersen defined the universal aims and ethics of all ILAB antiquarian booksellers:

Present status

22 national associations and some 2000 rare booksellers in 32 countries under one roof: Members of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers are the national associations, their members are affiliated to the League, and known as ILAB booksellers or ILAB affiliates.

ILAB Congresses and ILAB Book Fairs are important market places of the rare book world. The ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography is awarded every fourth year to outstanding academic works on bibliography
Bibliography
Bibliography , as a practice, is the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology...

 and the history of the book. The ILAB Stolen Book Database aims to prevent book thefts worldwide.

ILAB's website contains information on books, manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...

s, autograph
Autograph
An autograph is a document transcribed entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by an amanuensis or a copyist; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.Autograph also refers to a person's artistic signature...

s and prints. Each national association affiliated to the League has its own website, all of which are brought together under the umbrella of ILAB.

Code of Ethics

The League publishes, and upholds, a code of ethics and good practice based on the wide experience of all its member nations. ILAB affiliated booksellers are expected to follow this code. The display of the ILAB logo, and those of national associations, pledges to maintain authenticity of all material offered for sale, correct description of all such material, disclosure of all significant defects or restorations, accurate and professional pricing of all material, clear marking of all prices and care in the conduct of appraisals or valuations.

ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography

The ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography was founded in the early days of the League. The Prize of $10,000 is awarded every fourth year to the author(s) of the most original and outstanding published work in the broad field of bibliography worldwide. Any aspect of bibliography
Bibliography
Bibliography , as a practice, is the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology...

 (e.g. enumerative, textual, history of the book, design, binding, book trade, etc.) is admitted. Certain categories are not eligible, notably manuscripts, catalogues of books intended for sale and translations of works appearing in another language. Apart from the Prize, the jurors may at their discretion award Honourable Mentions to other deserving entries.

The purpose of the Prize is to draw attention to what it regards as the best academic work being done in the field, to reward and honour it in appropriate terms, and to publicise the League's support for original scholarship.

The panel of judges (or jurors) consists of three professional scholars or librarians and three antiquarian booksellers. They are chosen with an aim to represent the widest possible range of nationalities so that the panel is qualified to adjudicate on books in various languages and on all aspects of bibliography and the history of the book.

Georges A. Deny (of Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

) was appointed as the first Secretary of the ILAB Prize for Bibliography. He laid down the ground rules and supervised the first and second Awards. He was succeeded by Dr. Frieder Kocher-Benzing (of Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

) who was the longest serving Secretary presiding over the third to eleventh Prize, then by Konrad Meuschel (Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

), Raymond Kilgarriff (Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

), and Mitsuo Nitta (Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

). In 2008, the name of the Prize was changed into ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography to honour a generous gift granted by the Breslauer Foundation which was set up by Dr. Bernard H. Breslauer (1918-2004), an ILAB dealer who had a life-long passion for bibliography. The first ILAB Prize for Bibliography was awarded in 1967 to Jean Peeters-Fontainas, followed by famous scholars like Claus Nissen, Wytze Hellinga, I. C. Koeman, Francois Weil, Gerhard Dünnhaupt
Gerhard Dünnhaupt
Gerhard Dünnhaupt, FRSC is a German bibliographer, literary historian, emeritus professor of the University of Michigan, an honorary life member of the Modern Language Association of America, and an Elected Fellow of the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada...

, Anthony Hobson, and Lucas Heinrich Wüthrich. The 15th ILAB Breslauer Prize was awarded in 2010 to Lotte Hellinga and Jan Storm van Leeuwen for the “Catalogue of Books printed in the XVth Century now in the British Library, BMC. Part XI – England“ (Hes & De Graaf Publishers BV, 2007) and “Dutch Decorated Bookbinding in the Eighteenth Century” (Hes & De Graaf Publishers BV, 2006). The 16th Prize will be awarded in 2014 to one or more bibliographies published between 2009 and 2012, with Arnoud Gerits (The Netherlands) as Prize Secretary.

ILAB Congresses and International Book Fairs

ILAB Congresses and International Antiquarian Book Fairs are open to all antiquarian booksellers affiliated to the League through their national associations. They are cultural and social events held every two years in another country, where the delegates have the possibility to study the treasures of book printing and arts, and to deepen business contacts.

The first congresses were held in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 and Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, followed by London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...

, San Francisco, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 and many other cities. In 2008, the 38th ILAB Congress and the 22nd International Book Fair took place in Madrid, while in 2010 antiquarian booksellers and bibliophiles met in Bologna for the 39th Congress and 23rd International Antiquarian Book Fair. The next congress and fair will be held in Switzerland in 2012.

ILAB also sponsors international book fairs organised by the national associations, as for example in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, San Francisco, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 or in the Scandinavian capitals. These fairs provide members the opportunity to exhibit for sale books, prints and manuscripts.

National associations

  • The Australian & New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers (ANZAAB)
  • Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Austria
    Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Austria
    The Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Austria, formed in 1949, includes those Austrian antiquarian booksellers who exclusively or primarily buy and sell antiquarian books, magazines, prints, autograph letters or music....

     (Verband der Antiquare Österreichs), formed in 1949, includes those Austria
    Austria
    Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

    n antiquarian booksellers who exclusively or primarily buy and sell antiquarian books, magazines, prints, autograph letters or music.
  • La Chambre Professionelle Belge de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne (CLAM)/Belgische Beroepskamer van Antiquaren (BBA)
    Belgian Antiquarian Booksellers Association
    La Chambre Professionelle Belge de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne /Belgische Beroepskamer van Antiquaren , is the Belgian professional chamber of antiquarian booksellers....

  • Associação Brasileira de Liveiros Antiquarios (ABLA), established in 1945 by Walter Geyerhahn, his brother Stefan Geyerhahn and Erich Eichner. They were proprietors of the "Livraria Editora KOSMOS", located in Rio de Janeiro
    Rio de Janeiro
    Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

     since 1935. Among the dozens of important 19th century works re-edited by Livraria Kosmos and many of 20th century works edited, was the "Bibliografia Brasiliana", written by Rubem Borba de Moraes and published in association with "Editora Colibris", Amsterdam. The Brazilian Association joined the League in 1954.
  • Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of Canada (ABAC)/Association de la Librairie Ancienne du Canada (ALAC)
    Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Canada
    The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of Canada is the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers’ affiliated organization of professional antiquarian booksellers in Canada...

  • Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of the Czech Republic or Svaz Antikváru CR (SACR) has 16 rare booksellers from Eastern Europe as its members. It was founded in 1992 and became affiliated to the League in 1994.
  • Den Danske Antikvarboghandlerforening (ABF)
    Danish Antiquarian Booksellers Association
    The Danish Antiquarian Booksellers' Association , is the premier Danish organization of professional antiquarian booksellers. It is the oldest league of antiquarian booksellers in Scandinavia as well as one of the oldest of its kind in the world, only preceded by the English ABA and the French SLAM...

  • Finnish Antiquarian Booksellers Association Suomen Antikvariaattiyhdistys (SAY), was founded in 1941. Its first and long-standing chairman was Erik Olsoni during whose presidency SAY became a member of ILAB in 1948. The association started with 10 members in the early 1940s, and has 24 members at present.
  • Syndicat National de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne (SLAM)
    Syndicat National de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne (SLAM)
    Syndicat National de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne , the national antiquarian book association of France, was created in 1914.Its primary objectives is to make the public aware of the world of antique books...

  • German Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (Verband Deutscher Antiquare, VDA) was founded in 1949 and unites some 260 antiquarian booksellers, auctioneers, autograph, art and print dealers who adhere to the ILAB Code of Ethics. This provides customers with guarantees of adherence to the ILAB code of ethics. The VDA organizes the Stuttgart Antiquarian Book Fair which is held every year in January, and runs an online database for book auction records: Auktionspreise Online.
  • Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA)
    Antiquarian Booksellers Association
    The Antiquarian Booksellers Association is the senior trade body in the British Isles for dealers in antiquarian and rare books, manuscripts and allied materials.-History:It was founded in 1906 and is the oldest organization of its kind in the world...

    , United Kingdom
  • Hungarian Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (Magyar Antikváriusok Egyesülete, MAE) became an ILAB member in 2010. The MAE was founded in 1992 and has 15 members at present.
  • Associazione Librai Antiquari d'Italia
    Associazione Librai Antiquari d'Italia
    The Associazione dei Librai Antiquari d'Italia , the national antiquarian book association of Italy, was founded in 1947 as Circolo dei Librai Antiquari....

     is a founding member of the ILAB, having joined it in 1948, during the first Congress in Copenhagen.
  • Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Japan
    Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Japan
    The Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Japan was established in November 1964 by ten major antiquarian booksellers from Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto...

     (ABAJ)
  • Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Korea
    Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Korea
    The Antiquarian Booksellers Association of Korea , the national antiquarian book association of Korea, was founded in 1989 and joined the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers in 1990 during the Tokyo Congress, thus becoming its 18th member....

     (ABAK), founded in 1989 and joined ILAB in 1990 during the Tokyo
    Tokyo
    , ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

     Congress
    Congress
    A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different nations, constituent states, independent organizations , or groups....

    , thus becoming its 18th member.
  • Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Antiquaren
    Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Antiquaren
    Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Antiquaren , the Dutch antiquarian booksellers' association, was founded in 1935 with the object of promoting reliability in the trade of old books and prints.-History:...

     (NVvA), founded in 1935 with the object of promoting reliability in the trade of old books and prints
  • Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of Norway or Norsk Antikvarbokhandlerforening (NABF) was established in April 1942 by Jørgen W. Cappelen of Cappelens Antikvariat. The NABF joined the League in 1948 and counts 19 affiliates at the *
  • Russian Antiquarian Booksellers' Assocation, Forum Antikvarov Bukinistov (Russia) (FAB) is a relatively young organization, and was admitted to the League as its 22nd member in 2009.
  • Spanish Antiquqarian Booksellers' Association or Asociación Ibéria de Librerias Anticuarias (AILA) was founded in Barcelona in 1990 and became an ILAB member in 1993. Currently 56 rare booksellers are members of AILA. The association organizes annual fairs alternating between Madrid and Barcelona.
  • Svenska Antikvariatföreningen (SVAF), the Swedish Association of Antiquarian Booksellers, was established in 1936, and belongs to the League since its beginnings. Today SVAF has 64 members nationally.
  • Vereinigung der Buchantiquare und Kupferstichhändler in der

Schweiz (VEBUKU)/Syndicat de la librairie ancienne et du commerce de l'estampe en Suisse (SLACES)
Vereinigung der Buchantiquare und Kupferstichhändler in der Schweiz
Vereinigung der Buchantiquare und Kupferstichhändler in der Schweiz , the antiquarian booksellers association of Switzerland, was founded in 1939 and has been a member of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers since 1947....

, Switzerland
  • The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA)
    Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America
    The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America is an organization of rare and antiquarian book dealers.-History:Founded in 1949, the ABAA is the benchmark for professionalism and ethics in the rare book trade in the US...

    in the United States

External links

International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB)
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