3/31/2016

CATCH-PENNY-PRINTS & CHAPBOOKS IN LUND – SCHOOLBOOKS FOR SOUTH SUDAN

A VERY SPECIAL ILAB POP UP FAIR IN SWEDEN


Lund is one of the oldest and most charming cities in Sweden. It is famous for its historical buildings, for its University (founded in the year 1666), for numerous bicycles in the streets, its rich cultural scene – and for its bookshops. Pierre Dethorey, member of the Swedish Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association (SVAF) runs one of these bookshops. Akarps antikvariat at Kalkstensvägen 21 has one of the largest stocks of rare books in Scandinavia. And it is home to a very special treasure all book people will immediately fall in love with: a stunning collection of over 200 Swedish chapbooks and catch-penny-prints.



For this year’s UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day Pierre Dethorey will organize a special exhibition of this beautiful, funny, colourful and extremely rare bibliophile treasure. Right now he is preparing an exhibition of the highlights from his collection which he will show in his shop on 23 April 2016. While browsing the wonderful catch-penny-prints and enjoying the unique chapbooks displayed at Akarps Antikvariat, visitors will be invited to help buy another – highly important – sort of books for the children in South Sudan. For each symbolic “book” bought to fill an “empty bookcase" poster visitors are making a donation to the UNESCO and Forest Whitaker literacy projects in South Sudan.



Chapbooks are amazing, schoolbooks are essential! Help us to raise as much money as possible to help the children in South Sudan: at the ILAB Pop Up Fair in Lund or at any other venue where the antiquarian booksellers will pop up on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day, 23 April 2016!



JOIN US ... ORGANIZE IT ... ILAB POP UP BOOK FAIRS ... ACROSS THE WORLD ... ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY ... 23 APRIL 2016!


April 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO, the Organizers

COCKTAILS AND BOOK TALES ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY, 23 APRIL 2016

BOOKS, DRINKS, MUSIC, FINGERFOOD AND A LECTURE BY KLAUS G. SAUR ON THE 20th CENTURY ANTIQUARIAN BOOK TRADE IN GERMANY

If you are looking for a “typical” English club in Germany, you would do well to start in Munich. The Kaufmanns Casino has been hosting “tout Munich” – business people, artists, lawyers, physicians, authors, scientists – for conferences and cocktails since 1832, the year when Goethe died. It has become one of Munich’s institutions. Munich without the Kaufmanns Casino would not be the same for all who are living in the wonderful capital of Bavaria.

“Book Tales & Cocktails” was such a big success on 23 April 2015, that the Munich dealers and their customers immediately decided to celebrate UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day there once again. And so, the antiquarian booksellers invite their customers on 23 April 2016 to a five o’clock tea (without tea) with books, drinks, music and fingerfood:

Abeceda Antiquariat Christof Groessl · Hartung & Hartung · J. J. Heckenhauer · Eberhard Köstler oHG · Kunkel Fine Art · Antiquariat Kurz · Antiquariat Dasa Pahor · Thomas Rezek · Uwe Turszynski



The main course will be books. If you have received one of the coveted invitations, you will be personally welcomed by the butler Jürgen Goldfuß – very charming, in white gloves and tails. A Jazz piano player will tickle the ivories in the background. In the elegant rooms, with a view of the English Garden and a discreetly lit bar, the antiquarian booksellers will await their guests. They will display rare and beautiful books, prints and manuscripts on tables, ready and eager to show, to explain and to talk about them. If you feel inclined to buy, no-one will stop you, but the emphasis is on the conversation: “Cocktails and Book Tales” in the real sense of the word.

This year the Munich booksellers will even offer a delicate amuse-gueule. Before the cocktails and books will be served, the renowned, no: legendary collector and publisher Klaus G. Saur will hold a highly informative and entertaining lecture on the “20th Century Antiquarian Book Trade in Germany”.



“Cocktails and Book Tales” is only one of a great chain of events on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day, 23 April 2016, which are being held under the auspices of ILAB and UNESCO from Australia, Japan, Korea, South Africa to Europe and the USA. In busy and sometimes unexpected places – cabarets, clubs, museums, libraries, on markets and in the streets – ILAB booksellers will pop up showing rare and expensive books and, at the same time, raising money to buy school books for the children in South Sudan.

What is taken for granted in Munich and many places across the world, is a luxury in South Sudan: the access to books, to knowledge, and thus to a better and free life. Together with UNESCO's Forest Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI), the Munich antiquarian booksellers support the schools in South Sudan. They will fill the symbolic empty bookcases with symbolic book spines, and each donation will be spent by UNESCO to buy real school books for the children in Africa.



Munich is but one link in a worldwide chain of spontaneous bookish flashmobs spanning the whole world!   

JOIN US ... ORGANIZE IT ... ILAB POP UP BOOK FAIRS ... ACROSS THE WORLD ... ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY ... 23 APRIL 2016!


April 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO, the Organizers

ILAB POP UP BOOK FAIRS ALL AROUND THE WORLD ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY, APRIL 23, 2016

Popping Up In VERY Unexpected Places

By Sally Burdon



As one of the organisers of ILAB’s world of Pop Up rare book events on April 23 I find I spend quite a lot of time caught up in organising printing, answering questions of the inspiring ILAB affiliates worldwide who are the local organisers, writing material and also being a local organiser myself. It is difficult to keep clear focus on the true priorities of the day at times.

However one priority that keeps playing on my mind of late is raising enough money on April 23 to really make some significant difference to literacy in South Sudan. The Forest Whitaker Initiative for Peace and Development is the UNESCO backed program that booksellers around the world are working to raise money for. Of course I realised that if UNESCO said this programme was important and Forest Whitaker was their ambassador in South Sudan, it must be doing good but then I saw the video… This video says very clearly that literacy is at the root of justice and world peace and it really came home to me. Our work raising money for literacy was not just to change the life of a child or even a family but potentially a whole nation and beyond! I had to do my very, very best to make sure ILAB’s donations are greater this year than the laudable 10,000 Euros we raised in 2015.


I thought back to the discussions Barbara and I first had about how ILAB should celebrate UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day. We were charged with the brief of raising awareness of the antiquarian bookselling trade and decided that the best way to do this was to leave our “natural habitat” and show rare books to people who might not even realise that they exist. So why not go to a really unexpected place? 


My local gym, Curves Belconnen, in a local suburban shopping centre seemed particularly unexpected! They often run charity fundraisers but what would they make of ILAB and the Empty Bookcase poster? I talked to the owner Anita and asked her what she thought about it and she was very interested and keen. Two days ago the poster was attached to their wall, with some explanatory text about both ILAB and the Forest Whitaker Initiative for Peace and Development. Within minutes symbolic spines had been bought by the women who attend the gym, were attached to the Empty Bookcase and within just 2 days several hundred dollars has been raised. The enthusiasm of Anita and her staff is humbling. I have been very moved and impressed. People are asking questions about South Sudan of course but also asking about the antiquarian bookselling world. Sometimes taking the unexpected to new places has unexpectedly good results for all concerned! Maybe there is somewhere near you that is very unexpected too!

JOIN US ... ORGANIZE IT ... ILAB POP UP BOOK FAIRS ... ACROSS THE WORLD ... ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY ... 23 APRIL 2016!


April 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO, the Organizers, Curves Belconnen

3/29/2016

AUSTRALIA THE FIRST LINK IN THE CHAIN OF WORLD POP UPS ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY 2016



SYDNEY GOES SHAKESPEAREAN

Being the first in the world chain of rare book fairs is a pleasure and a responsibility. This year, being the 400th anniversary of both Shakespeare’s and Cervantes death, there is no better place for East Coast Australian booksellers to Pop Up than The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW). The State Library, justifiably proud of their collections of both Shakespeare and Cervantes – including 1,100 different editions of Don Quixote in many different languages – will  be celebrating all things Shakespearean on Saturday 23 April 2016. They will be inviting children and adults to come into the library for, dare we say, a dramatic day. There will be balloons, wandering players, a Sonnet Slam, the beautiful Shakespeare room will be open, and their first folios will be on display – and that’s just some of what is happening!


As the The State Library of New South Wales “goes Shakespearean” on April 23 the Sydney Pop Up Book Fair will fit in beautifully. At 11 am Dr Alex Byrne, State Librarian and a former President of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), will launch the 24 hours of rare book activities around the world. ANZAAB’s Rare Book Pop Up Fair will be open from 11 am to 4 pm on Saturday 23 April. That gives Sydney book people just five hours to come and see the highlights from the stock of booksellers many of whom will have come from a great distance. This is 5 hours not to be missed by any book lover!

The Pop Up Fair will display large posters showing an Empty Bookcase. We hope all visitors will buy a symbolic spine and place it on the bookcase. Each spine sold symbolises another world opening for children who need this help so badly.  Across the world book lovers will be filling book cases just like these in an effort to make a change in South Sudan, a country where literacy rates are shockingly low.  We think Shakespeare would definitely have approved.


DUNKELD BOOKSHOPS FEATURES EMPTY BOOKCASE POSTERS


In the beautiful country Victoria the desire to improve literacy rates in South Sudan is very strong indeed. Last year the owners of Roz Greenwood Old & Rare Books organized a great ILAB Pop Up Fair in a woolshed nearby, this year the Empty Bookcase posters will be prominently displayed at Roz and Marg’s lovely bookshop in Dunkeld. They are asking their customers, friends and neighbours to help turn around the life of many in South Sudan by purchasing a symbolic spine. In South Sudan 84 % of women are illiterate – and 70 % of the adult population as a whole. Something unimaginable to most of us, fortunately, but this is reality for South Sudanese and something that we can and will change.  Join Roz and Marg as book spine by spine they affect a change!  And as if this were not enough, they will pack their boxes with beautiful books right in time to travel the long way to Sydney to exhibit at the ILAB Pop Up Fair at The State Library of New South Wales. Bravo!


PERTH BOOKSELLERS POP UP UNDER THE BEAUTIFUL PERTH SKY


Perth, in Western Australia, is the most remote capital city in the world – and one of the loveliest. In 1962 Perth became world famous as the "City of Light" when the inhabitants lit their house lights and streetlights as American astronaut John Glenn passed overhead while orbiting the earth in his spaceship. This year Perth booksellers will shine a light on literacy. They will be joining the world celebrations and popping up together in the very large courtyard in front of the beautiful two story heritage listed stables where Muir Books is located. Here, in walking distance from the State Library, the Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia Robert and Janet Muir, Tara Surry and their colleagues will show an abundance of rare and fine books, maps and prints from all centuries, while raising funds for UNESCO’s literacy projects in South Sudan. Perth has enviably wonderful weather – so be prepared to enjoy an amazing bookish event as part of the great chain of worldwide ILAB Pop Ups on 23 April 2016. And just in case it should rain (or be too hot), Janet, Robbie and Tara from Muir Books have hired a marquee for the day.


Perth booksellers are a very collegiate group and a number of Muir Books bookseller friends are bringing their best books and coming along for the day to sell books and raise money for South Sudan, too, and – I have no doubt – have a lot of fun.  I just wish it wasn’t on the other side of the continent as I know that this would definitely be a great place to visit on UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day. 

JOIN US ... ORGANIZE IT ... ILAB POP UP BOOK FAIRS ... ACROSS THE WORLD ... ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY ... 23 APRIL 2016!


March 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO. Shakespeare Room, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Roz Greenwood Old and Rare Books, Dunkeld, Victoria, Muir Books, Perth. Courtesy: Sally Burdon and the organizers.

3/22/2016

ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLERS CREATE A UNIQUE ILAB POP UP STREET

FOLKINGESTRAAT - GRONINGEN - NETHERLANDS 
UNESCO WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY, 23 APRIL 2016


It was a big success in 2015, and they have decided to do it again on 23 April 2016: Antiquariaat Isis is the only ILAB bookseller in Groningen, Netherlands, but instead of thinking "there is only one of us and nothing can be done", Lyseth Belt and Theo Butterhof of Antiquariaat Isis, with the support of their local community, will organize the second edition of a rather special ILAB Pop Up celebration of UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day. Before the Second World War Groningen’s Folkingestraat with the beautiful Synagogue was the heart of the Jewish community. Today it is a lively and busy quarter, full of small and independent shops, full of bookish and cultural events, a must go to for every visitor in the Netherlands. And on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day 2016 Folkingestraat will even be something unique: with the ILAB flag flying high above the street it will become the worldwide only ILAB Pop Up Book Street!  


Groningen, a city located in the north of The Netherlands, is in a region long famous for its scholars. Among the better known are Rudolphus Agricola, the founder of northern Humanism and Ubbo Emmius who founded Groningen University in 1614.  Continuing this scholarly tradition today the vibrant city of Groningen  is home to over 50,000 students.


In the old centre of Groningen is the former Jewish neighbourhood where you will find Folkingestraat. It is surely the most surprising shopping street in the Netherlands! This most attractive small street is lined with about fifty shops and is home to a beautiful synagogue.  In an inspiring example of working cooperatively Antiquariaat Isis, the only ILAB affiliate and member of the Dutch Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association (NVvA) in this area, is organising a unique celebration of UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day. For eight hours this special 23 April the synagogue and every business in the street, whether they sell books or not, will work together to promote books and literacy.



In every window along Folkingestraat the business owners will create displays which celebrate the diversity and importance of books. Their windows will tell the story of what books mean to them, feature their favourite books, show books about the products they sell. Many will be very old and illustrated books. At the Halal butcher you will see, for example, books from the 18th century about cattle. In the nearby toy shop there will be an exhibition of old children’s books. And what will you be able to admire at the jeweler on UNESCO Word Book and Copyright Day 2016? Necklaces, rings and – books on jewelry.


Wandering along Folkingestraat on 23 April will be a treat for book lovers and an inspiration for those who have not had the opportunity to see such treasures before. On reaching the synagogue passers-by will be invited to see an exquisite exhibition of Jewish books documenting the history of Folkingestraat, of the Jewish people and an important part of the history and power of literacy. And finally, at the three bookstores on Folkingestraat - Antiquariaat Isis, Albert Hogeveen, De Wijde Wereld - the public will be invited to join the fight for literacy by donating to UNESCO’s Forest Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI).  

The businesses of Folkingestraat want to shine a light on the problem of illiteracy, both globally and within their own community. It is easy to take literacy for granted when you have it. On 23 April 2016, Folkingestraat in Groningen will demonstrate how diverse and beautiful books are. The community of Folkingestraat believes that the power and beauty of the written word is something everyone is entitled to enjoy.

Be there, and be a part of their celebrations on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day, 23 April 2016!

JOIN US ... ORGANIZE IT ... ILAB POP UP BOOK FAIRS ... ACROSS THE WORLD ... ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY ... 23 APRIL 2016!

March 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO, the Organizers, Folkingestraat

3/18/2016

ILAB GOES DADA AT THE CABARET VOLTAIRE IN ZURICH

ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY, 23 APRIL 2016

For bookish people 2016 is a year to celebrate and to commemorate in many respects. 400 years ago Shakespeare and Cervantes died, and a hundred years ago one of the most innovative artistic movements – which, in fact, denied to be an artistic movement at all - was brought to light in Zurich: Dada. On 5th February 1916 Hugo Ball and Emmy Ball-Hennings opened their “Künstlerkneipe Voltaire” in Zurich, Spiegelgasse 1, together with artists like Tristan Tzara, Marcel Janco, Richard Huelsenbeck and Jean Arp.


Dada was the first art movement where the focus of the artists was not on crafting aesthetically pleasing objects but on making works that often upended bourgeois sensibilities. Influenced by Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, and Expressionism it arose as a reaction to World War I and the nationalism that many thought had led to the war. Dada’s output was wild and wildly diverse, ranging from performance art to poetry, photography, sculpture, painting, and collage. Its aesthetic, marked by its mockery of materialistic and nationalistic attitudes, proved a powerful influence on artists in many cities, from Zurich to  Berlin, Hanover, Paris and New York.


The Dada members were so strong on opposing all norms of bourgeois culture that the group was barely in favor of itself, and so they said: "Dada is anti-Dada!" The founding of Dada in the “Künstlerkneipe” or Cabaret Voltaire in the centre of Zurich was appropriate: the Cabaret was named after the 18th century French satirist, Voltaire, whose novella Candide mocked the idiocies of his society. As Hugo Ball, one of the founders of both the Cabaret and Dada wrote: "This is our Candide against the times."


Right there, at Cabaret Voltaire, where artists like Hugo Ball, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, André Breton, Jean Arp, Tristan Tzara, Hannah Höch and Kurt Schwitters accompanied by his beautiful “Anna Blume” made their first steps to world fame – although they did not want to be famous at all - the Swiss antiquarian booksellers will gather a hundred years later on 23 April 2016 from 2 pm until late at night.


Right there, where words were formed to Dada performances celebrating literacy in its very literal and sometimes highly absurd sense a hundred years ago, the Swiss booksellers will hold an ILAB Pop Up Book Fair on UNESCO World and Copyright Day 2016 to celebrate literacy once again with (maybe) more Dada performances, (certainly) a great show of rare books and (definitely) a gorgeous fundraising to help UNESCO’s Forest Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI) fill the empty book-shelves in the schools of South Sudan.

DADA IS ANTI-DADA!


CELEBRATE WITH US!

AT THE CABARET VOLTAIRE ...  23 APRIL 2016, 2 pm ... ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY!


March 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO, the Organizers, Wikipedia, Cabaret Voltaire

3/14/2016

TWELVE ILAB BOOKSELLERS AT CHICAGO'S HISTORICAL "MILLIONAIRES' ROW"

ILAB POP UP BOOK FAIR ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY, 23 APRIL 2016

"Sweet home Chicago" is worth visiting for its architectural gems. Glessner House, for example, was designed for the family of famous industrialist John Jacob Glessner by noted American architect Henry Hobson Richardson. A radical departure from traditional Victorian architecture, the structure served as an inspiration to architects such as Louis Sullivan, Mies van der Rohe and the young Frank Lloyd Wright, and helped redefine domestic architecture.

 


The Glessner family lived in this house for fifty years, through the heyday and decline of the Prairie Avenue neighborhood, once known as Chicago’s “millionaires’ row” . John Glessner cherished his home as a symbol of happy family life, and the interiors demonstrate the nearly perfect collaboration between the architect and his clients. Designed during the so-called Gilded Age, when America’s newly rich industrialists were living in modern-day castles, Glessner House represents architect Henry Hobson Richardson’s response to the Glessners’ desire for a simple, comfortable, and cozy home.



Completed in 1887, Glessner House is today an internationally-known architectural treasure. As early as 1960, it was named an honorary Chicago landmark, in 1970 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1976, the former home of the Glessner family was honoured as a National Historic Landmark. The 17,000 square foot home now houses a museum and hosts highly-class cultural events – lectures, exhibitions – in its premises.



On UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day, 23 April 2016, twelve Chicago booksellers will hold an ILAB Pop Up Book Fair at this wonderful historical venue. All members of the Midwest Chapter of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA), they will show a fine selection of rare books, manuscripts, prints, autographs and ephemera from all centuries and for all tastes at Glessner House to take part in the worldwide ILAB/UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day celebrations and to raise funds in support of the great work of UNESCO’s Forest Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI) in South Sudan. The following ILAB booksellers invite you to enjoy a day among beautiful books in the former beautiful home of  Chicago’s famous Glessner family: 

Jeff Hirsch (Jeff Hirsch Books), James M. Borg (Borg Antiquarian), Paul and Elizabeth Garon (Beasley Books), Owen Kubik (Kubik Fine Books Ltd), Larry Van De Carr (Bookleggers Used Books), Annette Kolling-Buckley (Columbia Books), Bradley A. Jonas (Powell's Bookstore), William L. Butts (Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts, Ltd.), Sammy Blade Berk (Harlan J. Berk, Ltd.), Daniel Weinberg (Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Inc.), Rob Rulon-Miller (Rulon Miller Books), and the organizer of this great event: Kurt D. Gippert (Kurt Gippert Bookseller).

All dealers have agreed to donate 10 per cent of the proceeds of any sale made during the ILAB Pop Up Fair to UNESCO. Their generous support for literacy will be echoed by main sponsor Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, represented by Mary Kohnke, and co-sponsor The Caxton Club, represented by Jackie Vossler. Several other organizations have agreed to also attend and promote this amazing Chicago contribution to the ILAB Pop Up Celebrations 2016: the Cliff Dwellers Club, the Union League Club, the American Institute of Architects-Chicago Chapter, the Society of Architectural Historians-Chicago Chapter, the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, the American Writers Museum, the Glessner House and their association of house museums, as well as the local Midwest Antiquarian Booksellers Association (MWABA). Other organizations are expected to join.


Take a virtual tour through Glessner House, and be prepared for a really big event!

WHERE AND WHEN?

CHICAGO, GLESSNER HOUSE, 1800 S. PRAIRIE AVENUE, 23 APRIL 2016, 10 am to 5 pm.

Meet the ILAB booksellers there, admire their excellent rare books on display, buy some schoolbooks for the children in South Sudan by making a donation to UNESCO, and have a glass of wine or beer or – maybe – champagne to celebrate the very heart of our culture: literacy.

JOIN US ... ORGANIZE IT ... ILAB POP UP BOOK FAIRS ... ACROSS THE WORLD ... ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY ... 23 APRIL 2016!


March 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO, the Organizers, Glessner House

3/10/2016

CERVANTES, UNESCO WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY AND THE INTERNATIONAL RARE BOOK & AUTOGRAPH FAIR IN PARIS 2016

POP UP - CELEBRATE CERVANTES

While ILAB booksellers gather across the world to celebrate UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day on 23 April 2016 with Pop Up fairs, lectures, exhibitions, and book parties at many busy and unexpected places from Australia to Asia, South Africa, all over Europe and the United States, there will be a REALLY BIG event – the elegant, refined Parisian book fair held in the sophisticated surroundings of the Grand Palais.


WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY AT THE GRAND PALAIS

The International Rare Book & Autograph Fair at the Grand Palais in Paris, now in its 28th year, is one of the most prestigious fairs in the world, attracting nearly 200 exhibitors and over 20.000 visitors who enjoy the opportunity to browse, buy and admire more than 100.000 historical documents, rare books, manuscripts, autographs, prints and ephemera from all centuries. In 2016, this international high-class event becomes even greater as the French antiquarian booksellers will join in ILAB’s celebrations on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day by granting free entry to the fair on Saturday, 23 April.
   
Instead of paying an entry fee visitors will be invited to donate money in support of UNESCO’s Forest Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI) – a literacy project in South Sudan, where ILAB booksellers help UNESCO to set up school libraries and thereby bring books to the people where they are really urgently needed. In South Sudan 70 % of all adults and 84 % of all women are illiterate. By raising money for the people in South Sudan at the Paris Fair as part of ILAB’s worldwide celebrations on 23 April, the French booksellers give an impressive sign of support to ILAB’s and UNESCO’s initiative to raise funds to buy books for South Sudan and to raise the awareness of the importance of literacy for everybody in our modern world.


CERVANTES ON WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY 2016

In 2016, the UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day will be celebrated for the 26th time on 23 April. This is a symbolic date for world literature. On this day in 1616 two of the world’s greatest men of literature died: William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Published in two volumes in 1605 and 1615, Cervantes’ El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha is considered one of the most influential works of literature. In fact, it is regarded as the first European novel, and its author is widely esteemed as the world's pre-eminent novelist. His influence on the Spanish language has been so great that the language is often called “la lengua de Cervantes”. Born in Alcalá de Henares near Madrid, Cervantes enlisted as a soldier in the Spanish Navy and continued his military life until 1575, when he was captured by pirates. After five years of captivity, he was released on payment of a ransom by his parents, and subsequently returned to Madrid where he worked as a purchasing agent for the Spanish Armada. Discrepancies in his accounts landed him in the Crown Jail of Seville, until the immediate success of the first part of his Don Quixote signalled his return to the literary world in 1605. During the last nine years of his life, Cervantes wrote, among others, the second part of Don Quixote in 1615. At that time he had already gained world renown. Cervantes had become immortal.



CERVANTES AT THE GRAND PALAIS 2016

Inside the Grand Palais running concurrently with the International Rare Book & Autograph Fair, the French booksellers will celebrate Cervantes with an impressive exhibition. A selection of some of the rarest and most original documents from the personal collection of René Cluzel, a former member of SLAM, will honour the great Spanish author. The exhibition will include two of the oldest Don Quixote editions from the years 1607 and 1611, the first complete French translation published in 1622, the original Italian edition of the Novelas ejemplares printed in 1626, along with  illustrated English 18th century editions, the famous Ibarra edition from the year 1780, the most attractive 19th century illustrated editions by Doré, Johannot, Urrabieta Vierge as well as modern editions by Lemarié, Dubout and Dali. On show will also be unique copies, such as an unknown series of gouaches from the end of the 18th century, the handwritten model illustrated by Louis Icart which had never been published, next to plates from the Second Empire, glass plates painted for a magic lantern, bronze and wooden sculptures, puppets, comics, and many other rare items related to the life of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and his story of Don Quixote de la Mancha.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a presentation “Cervantes and the Metamorphoses of Don Quixote” on Sunday 24 April at 3 pm by Jean Canavaggio, editor of Cervantes in the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade.



CERVANTES, RARE BOOKS AND LITERACY WORLDWIDE

Why such a fervour for Cervantes? At some time in our lives we have all met Don Quixote. We learn about his life and adventures in children’s books or at school, in movies, and most of all in printed books, many of them old and rare and beautifully illustrated, in all languages, in the original text or in contemporary adaptations. There is hardly a literary life without any notion of Don Quixote. That’s why Quixote and his creator Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra belong to the past, present and future of literacy more than any other author. Could there be a better reason to celebrate Cervantes on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day 2016 as with a worldwide fundraising to support literacy?

Throughout the Parisian Book Fair and in solidarity with their French colleagues, ILAB President Norbert Donhofer, Michael Steinbach, President of the Austrian Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association (VAO), and many other ILAB dealers will set up the ILAB/UNESCO Empty Bookshelf Posters in their own stands. From Paris to the world they join their colleagues at the numerous local ILAB Pop Up Fairs by raising funds for the UNESCO projects. Visitors at the International Rare Book & Autograph Fair in Paris and passers-by at the ILAB Pop Up Fairs across the world will have a wonderful opportunity to see an abundance of books and a rich diversity of Don Quixote editions.



SEND US PICTURES OF YOUR FAVOURITE CERVANTES BOOKS!

Over the 24 hours of World Book and Copyright Day ILAB will present the pictures of Cervantes editions on the ILAB Pop Up Book Fair Blog. We would love to feature your personal favourite Cervantes books too! 

Send us pictures of your favourite Cervantes book and celebrate with us! Email pictures to editor@ilab.org.

The world of books unites us, on UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day 2016, on the 400th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, and on every other day, as long as we read and love books.

Join the ILAB booksellers on Saturday April 23 and celebrate with them UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day 2016: at the International Rare Book & Autograph Fair at the Grand Palais in Paris, and all across the world at the ILAB Pop Up Book Fairs from Sydney to Seoul and Tokyo to Cape Town, Europe and the United States.


March 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO, the Organizers

3/02/2016

POP UP IN VIENNA, AUSTRIA, ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY, APRIL 23, 2016

THE "HEART OF DARKNESS" ...

… lies next to Vienna at Dr. Paul Kainbacher Rare Books on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day 2016. With a Bibliophile Evening dedicated to lectures and books on travel and exploration from Austria into the world the Austrian antiquarian booksellers will launch the ILAB Pop Up Week on 16 April 2016, from 5 to 7 pm. Paul Kainbacher invites colleagues and collectors to his bookshop in Baden (Vienna), where Walter Sauer and Martin Peter Pfitscher of the University of Vienna will talk about famous 19th century travels of Austrian adventurers to Africa. Joseph Conrad’s well-known novel “Heart of Darkness” leads directly into Central Africa during the time of the Belgian colonization. Walter Sauer, Professor of Economic and Social History, compares Conrad’s stories with the experiences of Austrians, who travelled to Central Africa or lived there at that time. By chance, the Vienna born explorer Oscar Baumann became a photographer in 1892 through a generous gift: he was given a Kodak camera which enabled him to take pictures of the country and the people he met on his travels in search of the source of the Nile, and later during his time as an ambassador in Sansibar. In the second lecture, Martin Peter Pfitscher, specialist in Ethnology, will show Africa through the lense of Oscar Baumann, while Paul Kainbacher will close the Bibliophile Evening with a book presentation and a fundraising to support the great work of UNESCO's Forest Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI) in South Sudan.


A HIGH-FLYING BOOK PRESENTATION ...

… in the Giant Ferris Wheel of the world-famous Prater will be the next step in the ILAB Pop Up Celebrations in Vienna on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day 2016 – certainly one of the ultimate highlights of the day. The Giant Ferris Wheel is Vienna at its best. Built in 1897 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Emperor Franz Josef I., a circular trip on one of the most significant and fascinating steel constructions worldwide with a unique view of the city of Vienna, is an absolute cultural and architectural must for every visitor to Austria's capital. So if you haven't taken a ride on the Giant Ferris Wheel and enjoyed the breathtaking views over the roofs of Vienna, this is your once in a lifetime experience.



On 23 April, from 10 am to noon, the members of the Austrian Antiquarian Booksellers' Association will take you on a trip high above Vienna while offering rare and fine books in one of the wheel cabins and raising money to buy school books for the children in South Sudan.



And who knows who will be sitting in the wheel cabin next to you? A Viennese woman like Marie Kindl who hung herself outside a cabin during a ride on a rope she held between her teeth in the year 1898? Madame Solange d`Atalide, a late 19th century horsewoman sitting on a horse on the roof of one of the cabins? Or, maybe, Orson Welles' Third Man meeting Holly Martins aka Joseph Cotton and listening to the famous zither tunes by Anton Karas ...



JOIN US ...  ORGANIZE IT ... ILAB POP UP BOOK FAIRS ... ACROSS THE WORLD ... ON UNESCO WORLD BOOK & COPYRIGHT DAY ... 23 APRIL 2016!



March 2016 – For immediate release. Pictures: ILAB, UNESCO, the Organizers, www.wienerriesenrad.com/de