The new bibliomaniacs
Key takeaways
- Rare book collecting is booming as young people raised in the digital age seek tangible connections to the past.
- A man searches for a book outside a shop in Cecil Court.
- Then, in 1949, a group of fifty American booksellers met at the Grolier Club in New York City.
Rare book collecting is booming as young people raised in the digital age seek tangible connections to the past.
A man searches for a book outside a shop in Cecil Court. Credit: Ruby / Alamy In 1947, booksellers from five countries – Denmark, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Sweden – gathered in Amsterdam ‘with the aim of establishing new hope for international peace through open markets, to foster friendship and understanding, and to counteract the animosity and suspicion engendered by the Second World War.’ A year later, at a second meeting in Copenhagen, the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) was officially incorporated. Since 1953, the ILAB logo has proudly borne the motto ‘Amor Librorum Nos Unit’: the love of books unites us.
Then, in 1949, a group of fifty American booksellers met at the Grolier Club in New York City. More focused on ethics and promotion of the trade itself, they agreed to form a league of their own. Their first official meeting was held at Parke-Bernet Galleries – now Sotheby’s – and thus the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA) was born.