Report from the trenches: Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair 2009 (and related bits)

The dust has finally settled on the 2009 Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair and I am back in Portland and more or less recovered. I'll start with an apology for not posting while there, but the days were very long and I was stretched a bit too thinly.

We headed down on Thursday to drop our cases off, check into our hotel, check out the preview at Skinner and attend the cocktail event at the Boston Athenæum. The highlight of the day was unquestionably the wonderful even at the Athenæum.

I've included two images of from the BA's remarkable fifth floor. Membership (an extremely reasonably deal) is entirely justified by the privilege of spending some quite time in Boston in this extraordinary space. One image tries (and fails) to capture the beautiful design and execution of the bowed room at the end of the hall. The other shows one of the several alcoves and upper areas (this with Ken Sanders gazing down upon all he commands). Note the stairs built into the alcove face...there are many of these.

The evening at the BA was co-sponsored by the BA and the New England Chapter of the ABAA. Rum punch, various wines and (thankfully) water was served in copious amounts and the food was wonderful. Little mushroom puffs, Peking duck, smoked salmon, and lobster on endive were a few of the options. The food was, in fact, so good (and plentiful) that Suzanne and I ended up heading back to the hotel without going out for dinner (a real treat, as it allowed us about 2 or so extra hours of sleep...much needed over the next few days).

We arrived early (around 8ish) the next day at the Hynes Convention Center for set up. Kelmscott Bookshop and we merged two full booths into one 24 foot long booth. This makes a huge difference in the "feel"of the booth...with a trophy case at each end and two counter cases centered at the front, it allows for a very open and inviting space for people. Every bit as importantly, it allows for people to more or less "flow" in and out and avoid having people pass by because a booth is too crowded. Fran and I have similar enough tastes that everything hangs together nicely while different enough that I do not think we have ever had duplicative material.

While I managed to bring some wonderful things, the bell of the ball (I think) was in James Cummins booth, an 1813 edition of Hans Holbein's, Dance of Death bound in human skin. There were, needless to say, countless other gems.

We were surprised and pleased at how the fair went. Last year, we started Friday with a lot of interest, but no immediate sales and things picked up Saturday and we trickled through Sunday. This year, Friday had every bit as much interest with the lovely side benefit of several good sales. Saturday was strong on all fronts and Sunday proceeded as Sunday's usually do...interest and follow-ups. The comparison to last year was quite striking. Suz summed it up best, last year at this time, people were still shell shocked...that seems to have, at least in part, passed. That said, many of the institutional collectors are still/increasingly reeling and this has major implications for many of us.

We picked up some interesting things at both our fair and the Shadow Show at the Radisson. A nice copy of Gaylord Schanilac's Farmers; a wonderfully strange little volume on automatons, and a great Dada item with a long inscription/critique by G.E. Picabia. My personal favorite is a copy of Paroxysmes inscribed by Musidora (the pseudonym of silent film star Jeanne Roques, aka Irma Vep (an anagram of vampire)). We tried to be very good about our buying...limiting ourselves to items for clients and/or with the San Francisco and LA ABAA fairs in mind.

The New England Chapter of the ABAA also hosted a very nice brunch on Sunday. In many ways, the highest and best use of these fairs is to meet or remeet not just customers but also one's compatriots in the trenches. This brunch is always a nice place to do the latter (particularly as Suz tends to seek out a table where I/we don't know anyone ).

We had one other better than average meal during the weekend. On Saturday night Lisa and Hosie Baskin, Ken Shure, Jessie Rossa, Suzanne and I took all the tables across the back of Cafe Jaffa and ordered a fair bit of the menu. The food was good, the company was better and it was a great way to wrap up the day.

Overall, it was a very good weekend for books in Boston. I have yet to decide if we are going to do NY in January...our next definite show is in San Fran followed the next weekend in LA. Chaos reigns supreme.

RBMS09: Seas of Change: Navigating the Cultural and Institutional Contexts of Special Collections

What follows is a quick overview of our first trip to the annual "Preconference" event held by the Rare Book and Manuscript Section (RBMS) of the American Library Association (ALA). It was a very interesting week. The event was extremely well run, especially given the numbers involved (368 attendees, 450 total with speakers and booksellers).

I drove down Saturday with Thing 1 and 2, leveraging the drive with some educational bonus stops. We spent Sunday in Philly, visiting Declaration House, the Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin's printing press and, best of all, a good long tour of The Rosenbach Museum. We left Philly and headed down to Annapolis for a night with my in-laws.

Monday found us in Washington, DC. I met with a client early in the morning (and sold the entire box I brought down for review) and then we were off to the museums. The boys had a great time at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and the Air and Space Museum. We did a bit of vehicular site seeing on the way out of town and headed to Charlottesville to settle in for the week.

Tuesday started with a wonderful seminar by Dan Gregory and sponsored by the Southeast Chapter of the ABAA. He tried very hard to instill in attendees the usefulness and value of taking pictures of books and how to do so with a minimum of errors. Lorne Bair co-ordinated this seminar and the following tour of the Small Special Collections. Set-up for the next day's "Bookseller Showcase" began at 4pm and before we knew it, we were done and ready for the main event.

We decided some time ago to stay on UVA campus. With the four of us (Suzanne flew in Thursday morning), the dorms offered a rather nice, very inexpensive (and air-conditioned) option. We had an entire quad to ourselves, everyone their own bed and a private bath. One of the great surprises was the water pressure in the Peters building...stunningly good. All UVA based events were only a building or two away. It turned out to be a very nice choice and we were all very pleased with it.

The Bookseller's Showcase ran from 9am to 730pm...a very long day. The boys were remarkable all day. T1 was very pleased with himself. He picked out a wonderful "Bloomsday" tshirt at the Rosenbach with a sketch of Joyce on the front and "Read" "Joyce" in his glasses. It looked very good under his blazer. T2 was, if possible, even more pleased with himself, as this was the first time he was able to wear his "real" bowtie (black with skull and cross bones)...even his older brother admitted that he looked very cool. They spent the day at the edge of the booth playing with their DSs and politely answering questions posted by bemused librarians.

This was a great event for us. We sold some good things, which was nice...but really it was all about meeting and learning about Special Collections librarians. We are still young and foolish enough that we know far less than we should and this was a great way to meet a lot of great librarians in one convenient (and lovely) site. I had signed up for the entire seminar, in part as there were some interesting seminar/speaker/events and in part as it offered a longer time with this interesting group of bibliophiles.

There were some really fun/interesting moments. Marvin Taylor (NYU's Fales Library) was so pleased to discover I had a copy of Your House is Mine that he held not one but two impromptu walkthroughs of each print, offering context and background on the pieces and the artist(s). He uses the book in courses at NYU. I love the book...Marvin loves it even more and it was such a treat to turn the pages and listen.

Also at the Showcase, a person entered and very politely told me that they were really just looking, as they were only seeking early Italian travel books and I wouldn't have anything for her. When I told her I had a nice copy of the very scarce "The Italian Sketchbook", her first response was "no you don't". This was and especially fun sale because, in addition to putting a scarce book in the hands of the "right" owner, the *only* reason I had brought the book (of exceedingly narrow appeal) is that it had "fit" a void in one of my cases and had been added for that specific purpose. Sometimes things just work out as they should.

The Preconference itself was very interesting and well run (details here). Of particular interest was an afternoon session of 3 seminars, each with three very young Spec. Coll. librarians presenting papers. As one who spends a lot of time thinking about and working with young collectors, it was great having an opportunity to listen to a few such professionals.

Another highlight, personally, was listening to Sarah Thomas wrap up the event. She is, for those who might not know, is the American Spec. Coll. librarian (last of Cornell) who is now the head of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, a double first (first American, first woman to head the Library). She was brilliant and funny and it was a great end to the formal Preconference.

Saturday night capped the week with a wonderful, if somber, event: Terry Belanger's Farewell event. Terry founded the Rare Book School (based at UVA) and, after 26 years as Director, is stepping down. There was a tribute, where many who know and love Terry spoke followed by a very nice reception. The tribute was wrapped up by RBS's newly anointed Director, Michael Suarez (ex of Fordham and Oxford). It was one of the best written, best presented and funniest toasts I have heard in a long time. I regret I did not record it (Jesuits are just better at such things than most *g*). RBS is, it appears, in very good hands. This is good, as both Suzanne and I will be back in C'ville soon for RBS classes and we look forward to taking many more in years to come.

We drove back in a more more direct fashion. We had planned to take two days, but after getting up to Philly early and touring Independence Hall and the exceptional Mutter Museum, we found that we were really ready to sleep in our own bed and made it home just before midnight on Sunday. It was a very long, intense and very interesting week. The boys were wonderful. We met a lot of great people and really look forward to next year.

Tragic loss in PA - Humans fine, books and cats less so...

As some may know, David and Cynthy of The Philadelphia Rare Books and Manuscripts Company suffered a tragic loss recently. On March 9, 2009, a fire tore through the shop consuming books and taking their two shop cats, Sessa and Thalia. The silver lining is that no humans were hurt, many of the books were unharmed and/or will be salvaged and the building itself appears to be structurally sound.

Our thoughts and best wishes go out to them. I can thinks of few things worse and hope all goes as well and as smoothly as possible. 

Please note, they have indicated that their internet connection is currently flakey. That said, words of support and commiseration are seldom a bad thing and can be directed here.

A short article, image and video can be found here.

AOL video can be found here.

Some images from the Young Book Wonks Running Amok evening...

Here are some pictures from the "Young Booksellers Out on the Town" during the SanFran ABAA fair. For a complete set, see Kent's FB album "The Cartel" [N.B. We must be careful with the term "The Cartel", as we do not

 wish to imply membership in the original and famed "The Cartel" of SF ABAA book fair fame (comprised, I believe, by Mr.s Stern, Sanders and

  Rulon-Miller as made famous in a "Flatsigned" Press Release. We can only hope to, one day, wield such awesome power. In the interim, asCBL said, we must settle for wielding hefty alcoholic beverages at various pubs.]

Those captures include [but are not limited to]: Katie Tschanz, Cassandra Joffre, Brian Cassidy Suzanne Hamlin, Chris Bunje Lowenstein, Brian Cassidy, Jennifer Zabriskie, Brad Johnson, Andrew Gaub (and me...and others). I love the picture of Suzanne... I also love the image of Brian on the street...he has this great expression of a boy who has just done something wicked...

Two days down...one to go...quick update...

Day one and two are over. It has been a good show, overall, thus far. Lots of people, very engaged, asking great questions and, best of all, buying books. I've found some good things to buy, have sold rather well and have had some great conversations, at least one or two of which are likely to lead to interesting projects. It's been great fun thus far.

Update with food and day by day to follow...just too tired at the moment. Long days, very intense.

Good news: we have been picked to do the RBMS event

We have just been notified that we were selected (by lottery) to be one of the 28 ABAA members to exhibit at the 50th Annual RBMS Pre-conference. The RBMS (Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association...hence the convenient acronym) holds these meetings yearly, this year's topic being "Seas of Change: Navigating the Cultural and Institutional Contexts of Special Collections".

We tried to go last year, but were not able to get off the wait list. We are very excited to be able to attend this event. 

If we were very smart, we would coordinate this trip with taking classes at the RBS, but it is unlikely we will be that clever. Both Suzanne and I have been awarded scholarships (me last year, Suz this year...they are good for a two year period)...but I think we are planning to go in the fall. 

Big news in the Bookfair world...economic trickle down?

I just received an email from Bruce Gventer announcing that due to feedback from exhibitors and potential exhibitors and the economy in general, he is putting his New York bookfairs on hiatus. This would appear to mean that there will be no shadow show to the NY ABAA Bookfair. This would be a great shame, on many fronts...especially as the new location at Hunter College was quite wonderful.

I hope things change in the near term and that the shadow show is able to go forward. It would be a real loss for the weekend as a whole...

NÉ ABAA Holiday gathering...

Last night was the N.E. Chapter of the ABAA holiday dinner. In attendance was John Rutter (Ars Libri), Ken Gloss and Joyce Kosofsky (Brattle Books), Joe and Susan Phillips (Commonwealth Books), Chuck Vilnis and Helen Kelly (Boston Book Company), Barry Scott (and his wife whose name, I am embarassed to admit, I can not recall), Tom Boss, John Waite and Suzanne Hamlin and your humble blogger (Lux Mentis).

The dinner was at Oceana in Boston. The food was very good, the service was inexplicably slow...and would have been annoying had we not been having such fun chatting (and drinking). We were there from about 6 to nearly 1030pm. The lobster bisque was particularly good. The company, however, made the evening. The cost of the dinner was very reasonable and was donated entirely to the ABAA's Benevolent Fund... It is always nice when you can spend time with friends, eat well and feel like you are doing something useful. We would like to thank the NE Chapter for sponsoring such a nice evening (and for picking up the proverbial tab).

It's Offical...we will be in SF in February.

Applications went out today for the 2009 ABAA San Fransisco Book Fair. I have already returned mine and am, officially, the third one to be received. WooHoo! We loved doing the SF fair last year and they share the same venue (though this one is, apparently, twice as big or so). I think my parents may head out with us, which will be very fun. Then again, being able to spend a week in SF in mid-February (not a great time in Maine) is quite a treat by itself.

On a related note, I have become convinced that having Acrobat Professional is entirely justified by its ability to take any .pdf document and automatically create an editable form from it...and then digitally sign it. The days of typewriters are pretty much gone (we do not have one in the house...so you really can only hand-write forms like this (a sad proposition when one's handwriting looks like mine does...). I just love being able to fill in these contracts, "sign" then and email them off. Slick. Slick. Slick.

Fall Show Schedule more or less set...

Below, please find where we will most likely be hiding out this Fall. Come visit. The usual offer re blueberry jam stands.

Baltimore Summer Antique and Antiquarian Book Show
Baltimore Conv. Center, Baltimore, MD - Aug. 28-31st

Maine Antiquarian Book and Paper Show
Wyndham Hotel, Portland, ME - Sept. 28th

Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair and Book Arts Show 2008
Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, Seattle, WA - Oct. 11-12th

West Side Antiquarian Book & Ephemera Fair
Altman Bldg., New York, NY - Oct. 17-18th

ABAA Boston Book Fair
Hynes Conv. Center, Boston, MA - Nov. 14-16st

The last will be our first ABAA fair. I've squirreled away some reasonably special things and I'm hoping for a special treat...more to follow if it comes to pass.

Hope to see you at one or more...

Sunday at the Armory and home....

We came back into the city on Sunday to spend the day at the Armory show and catch up with people (rather, some people...there really just isn't enough time in the day...). We managed to find a few other things for various clients and I managed to arrange for someone to pick up a Kelmscott on vellum from an auction house on Monday (as we would be back in Portland) and bring it to Boston for the show next weekend (thank you, Joe).

Bryan Bilby of Appledore Books and I had great fun (as always) talking about books and the business. I managed to buy a nice book from him and plan to pick up several more when I see him next (Boston?!?). Bryan is a great young dealer and has a gift for finding really wonderful books.

We stayed until the bitter end, took our new toys and began the journey home. We made our traditional stop at Rein's Deli for dinner...I had a very healthy First Cut Corned Beef Reuben Fresser...even with the lean, I could pretty much feel the artery in my chest harden as I ate it. Yum. Several cups of coffee later, we were back on the road. The drive was uneventful. We are listening to Heinlein's, Stranger in a Strange Land. It's the first time in years I've read (well, listened to) the book and it is Suzanne's first time...great fun.

Home by 11pm, unloaded the van. Twitched for a little bit. Crawled into bed and were lost to the world. It has been a very long week...exciting and great fun...but very, very long. Nice to be home...cataloging new finds and shipping things off.

Oh...yeah...and getting read to next weekend's MARIAB fair in Boston. I need to pack books. And prepare for the seminar I am supposed to give. I am going to bed. I may or may not get up in the morning.

First ABAA meeting and getting hit in a cab...

Saturday morning was the ABAA breakfast and annual meeting at The Morgan Library. I somehow managed to get my wires crossed as to the start time, as I thought the breakfast was at 8 and the meeting at 9...when it was 9 and 10. Luckily, I was not the only one to make this mistake...strangely comforting. They kindly let us in early and it was, in the end, just extra time to enjoy the Morgan and the exhibit in the hall we were eating in...not a bad thing.

Breakfast and the meeting were nice. I had a very nice chat with one of the curators there and was able to catch up with several people and meet several new (to me) dealers. There appears to be some consensus that the ABAA needs to focus on both young dealers and young collectors...two things I could not agree with more strongly. I look forward to see where this focus leads and hope I can be involved...we shall see.

Bob & Lynne Veatch kindly offered me a ride back to the Armory/Hunter College after the meeting. Little did I know it was to provide extra padding... We were having a nice, if stilted, chat...stilted as the cab ride was slightly more "exciting" than is typical. Every now and then you get a cabbie whose sense of place on the road (and that of other movable and immovable objects) seems slightly...er...off. We were chatting, but all the while trying to anticipate where the hit was going to come from so we could brace appropriate. As it turned out, it was from the right hand side as our cabbie chose to ignore the massive Muni bus that was clearly pulling out into the lane. He hit (ok, rubbed) us from about my door (passenger side) down the rear quarter panel. He waved out the window, I assume the bus driver waved back...and we all went on our merry way. Mind you, the three of us in the back were a bit taken aback. This is why Muni bus bumpers and cab panels are mostly made out of plastic...they rub, they slide, they don't actually crumple.

Apropos of nothing, it was a nice "full circle" event. When I did my very first "real" show, the Radison shadow show to the Boston ABAA event, Lynne Veatch came into my booth and spent a bit of time looking around and then gave me two very nice compliments. First, she told me that my booth and books were lovely and then she gave me a very serious look and said, "you will join the ABAA when you are eligible, won't you?" (or words to that effect). I told her that I was planning to do so as soon as I was able and she was pleased. Our wee run-in with the bus notwithstanding, it was very nice to ride back from my first ABAA meeting with the Veatchs,
four years later.

Set-up and ABAA Morgan Lib. Event

Well, one would think that setting up a single glass case would take almost no time at all. Then again, clearly "one" has never met me *sigh*. It did take a bit longer to get set up than we had hoped, though part of this was just the cleaning of the glass...by "cleaning", I am not only referring to a bit of glass cleaner to get the fingerprints off, but having to take a razor to the remains of duct tape on several of them...urgh.

We did add a small, 4 foot table...in part to hide my computer and printer, in part to give us a bit more space to display two very nice 1790 and 1792 French atlases. In the end, we were able to get everything looking as we wanted. The case is see-through, which is nice as I am able to display items in both directions...effectively doubling the usable space. We had a potential minor disaster when, during set up, one of the brackets holding a shelf failed (having been checked more than once by...well...me). Luckily, Natalie Bauman's quick reflexes saved the day and no harm was done to any of the handful of books on the shelf (or Natalie).

I have pictures to post, but the hotel apparently blocks FTP ports. Well thought out security structures are a good thing...the "let's block everything, that way we'll be safe" is really quite lame (and annoying). I'll update with images tomorrow, with luck.

I attended the ABAA Fair's preview evening benefiting the Morgan Library. The usual suspects were all out in force. There are some simply amazing items in NY this weekend. I picked up a nice Wyeth item from a Bryan Bibly of Appledore Books fame and have my eye on a few other things...we shall have to see how the weekend progresses.

Pretty big news for strange little me...

I just received official word that I was voted into the ABAA (and, thus, ILAB) at the meeting during the ABAA fair in LA. I am, needless to say, pretty excited and pleased by this.

I am in the midst of recovering from plague, and this news has made my day (admittedly, it also would have made my day were I well, but it is especially nice to get really good news when feeling punky). I think I am going to make a nice pot of tea and bask in (or wallow in, as the case may be) my warm, fuzzy feelings.

I would like to thank my sponsors: Priscilla Juvelis (primary), Dennis Melhouse and Jim Logan. I truly appreciate their support, encouragement and mentor-ship. It has meant (and will continue to mean) a great deal to me personally and professionally. I will do my best not to make them regret their support *laughing*.

Congradulations to the two other new members voted in at the LA meeting: John Kuenzig and Joseph Bray. Bully for us all!