4 pm, Chicago, United States - TWELVE ILAB BOOKSELLER'S AT CHICAGO'S HISTORICAL "MILLIONAIRES' ROW"

The Chicago booksellers are having a great day! Since 10 am 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 Kurt D. Gippert (Kurt Gippert Bookseller) have been holding an ILAB Pop Up Fair at the historical Gessner House.

All dealers will donate 10 per cent of the proceeds of any sale made during Fair to UNESCO's Forest Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative to help fill the empty bookcases for the school children in South Sudan. Bravo!

 

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

2 pm, Portland, United States - BOOKSELLERS, LIBRARIANS AND TEACHERS SAY NO TO ILLITERACY IN SOUTH SUDAN

Further on from Europe to America - the great chain of ILAB Pop Up Fairs has now reached the fifth of five continents where the ILAB booksellers have been popping up on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day 2016. What started nearly 20 hours ago this morning in Perth, Dunkeld and Sydney, Australia, has become a worldwide celebration of books, reading and literacy.

And here we go! The Portland ILAB Pop Up Book Fair is about to begin. Come on out to the West Linn Library to see some amazing books & ephemera, bring your books for appraisal and help the Portland booksellers -  Elisabeth Burdon, Nat des Marais, Charles Seluzicki - raise funds for the UNESCO literacy projects. Help UNESCO's Forest Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative bring literacy to South Sudan!

 

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

POP UP IN JAPAN AND KOREA

EXPLORE THE ASIAN WORLD OF BIBLIOPHILY

As the sun goes on 23 April 2016 – across the world, for 24 hours, on 5 continents, in 16 countries, 30 cities and various languages bringing the books to the people at most busy and sometimes unexpected places: this is ILAB on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day!  This year the antiquarian booksellers in Asia will play a decisive role in the worldwide celebrations to promote the book and to support literacy. While the ILAB Pop Up Fairs in Sydney and Perth will be in full swing, the Asian antiquarian booksellers will prepare to join their colleagues in the great chain of events. For the first time ever, the rare book dealers of the Republic of Korea will be a part of it.

THE KOREAN BOOKSELLERS will organize Pop Up Fairs in prominent places all over the country, beginning in the capital Seoul, handing the torch over to the book dealers in the second biggest Korean city Pusan and further on to Daegu, the Korean city of books owing the most antiquarian bookshops throughout the country. Meet the booksellers in Seoul, Pusan and Daegu, and explore the fascinating world of bibliophily with books, manuscripts and works on paper which are rarely seen on the international book market! An amazing opportunity booklovers should not miss.

THE BOOKSELLERS IN JAPAN contribute in several ways to the worldwide celebrations on 23 April 2016. At their general meeting on 14 April, shortly before UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day, the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of Japan and their President are going to officially launch the ILAB Pop Up Celebrations in Japan. From Tokyo to Kyoto, Sapporo, Osaka and Kumamoto the Japanese dealers will decorate special Pop Up Book Fair Windows in their shops on 23 April. On display will be a fine selection of rare books and Empty Bookcase Posters to raise money for the UNESCO literacy projects in South Sudan. ABAJ Secretary Naoyuki Seki of Maruzen-Yushodo Co. will show around students, members of the reading circle of the Yokohama National University and other interested people in Jimbocho, the central Tokyo bookish area. He will lead them to the Jimbocho booksellers and further on to the World Antiquarian Book Plaza.

Is there a place in the world where you can browse the shelves filled with modern firsts from the United States, incunabula from Europe, woodcut books from Asia, and children’s books, first editions, illustrated books, precious bindings or rare travel accounts from Australia, the United Kingdom, the Americas, Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Austria and the Netherlands? Yes, there is such a place. The World Antiquarian Book Plaza is located in Tokyo’s city centre, only five minutes away from the central station and the famous Ginza. The elegant rooms of this very special bookshop on the third floor of Maruzen is open to visitors 364 days a year. It is the ultimate destination for bibliophiles – an amazing venture which combines Western and Asian arts, culture and history through the cooperation of antiquarian booksellers from all parts of the world. This bookish paradise will be the venue for an ILAB Pop Up Book Fair on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day. Japanese rare book dealers will welcome all who are interested in books, prints and manuscripts all over the day to browse the real bookshelves and to fill a symbolic “empty bookcase” with symbolic books by donating money for the UNESCO’s Forest Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative (WPDI).

Remember: A donation of 3 US $ will send one book to a child in South Sudan, 15 US $ purchase a set of 12 school books for a classroom, and 500 US $ provide 45 school book collections for a rural community in Africa. Each symbolic book bought in Japan or Korea and across the world on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day will be turned into real books for schools in South Sudan!

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, AbeBooks, the Organizers

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

Chicago, 23 April 2015 - A review in pictures

Who knows? Maybe Frank Lloyd Wright and Carl Sandburg already had drinks at the elegant premises of the Cliff Dwellers Club. On 23 April the Club high above Chicago and overlooking Lake Michigan was a busy place filled with Chicago's antiquarian booksellers, Cliff Dwellers, Caxton Club members and numerous booklovers who had climbed to the 22nd floor of the skyscraper to enjoy books and bookish talks, to have a drink and to donate money to help UNESCO support literacy in South Sudan.

Pictures courtesy of Kurt Gippert:

 

Chris Rohe, Kurt Gippert

Brad Jonas, Garrett Scott

Sylvia Castle

David Mesnard, Garrett Scott, Susan Hirsch

Garrett Scott

Jan  Lawrence Van de Carr Bookleger's

Jeff Jahns

Paul Garon, Kurt Gippert

Sammy Berk

Virginia Harding, Kurt Gippert, Susan Hanes

Good Morning from Germany, Good Night to Seattle – Pictures from the ILAB Pop Up Book Fair 2015, at Seattle’s Sorrento Hotel

Finally, after 23 joyful hours of blogging the day, I had been falling asleep for a moment. So please excuse that the pictures from the ILAB Pop Up Book Fair in Seattle, taking place from 4 to 8 pm, local time, at the Sorrento Hotel, are posted with a short delay.

The ILAB Pop Up Book Fairs have been “a huge success”, Sheppard’s confidential writes in its last night issue (thank you Richard), the fairs had a great media coverage with an excellent article – and a picture gallery – in The Guardian, to mention only one of many mentions worldwide, and an abundance of posts and tweets in the social media. 

Back to Seattle’s Sorrento Hotel, home to artists, intellectuals and business travelers. ABAA/ILAB booksellers Boris Bruton, Taylor Bowie, John Lang, Ed Smith and Priscilla Anne Lowry presented a wonderful array of antiquarian books, maps, prints, and ephemera, and they continued the work of their colleagues around the world filling Empty Bookcase posters with “symbolic book spines” to raise money for UNESCO and the school children in South Sudan. (By the way, if you had not the chance to visit an ILAB Pop Up Fair and wish to show your support, go to the UNESCO website and click the “donate” button.)

A while ago, Ed Smith wrote: “We don't have to tell you how great Seattle is, or its environs, we just might mention the home of the Seahawks and Mariners, Microsoft, Boeing, an historically great music scene – where Jimi Hendrix was born and Ray Charles played his first piano lines -, The Seattle Aquarium, University of Washington, The Space Needle, the Great Wheel at Colman Dock, Starbucks, the EMP Museum, The Seattle Art Museum, the Tate Museum, Bill Gate's house …”

Now we may add: Seattle is also the home of the final event of an amazing and exciting series of ILAB Pop Up Book Fairs across the world on 23 April 2015. See the pictures:

 

By Barbara van Benthem, ILAB Web Editor

11.30 to 4 pm, Portland, Oregon - Bridge City, Beer City, BOOK City: a brew pub hosts one of the final ILAB Pop Up Fair on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day 2015!

24 hours of ILAB Pop Up Fairs across the world on April 23, 2015 – this is ILAB’s contribution to the UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day! As the earth turns, book fairs "pop up" in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. The day started with an ILAB Pop Up Fair celebrating Shakespeare’s birthday at the State Library of New South Wales followed up by antiquarian booksellers showing amazing books, prints and manuscripts in the most unusual and unexpected locations: in woolsheds, restaurants, museums, libraries, a synagogue, in the streets of New York, in Groningen’s Folkingestraat or on a boat cruising the canals in Amsterdam.

Here in Portland, Oregon local ILAB dealers Elisabeth Burdon, Nat Des Marais, and Charles Seluzicki present a display and sale of antiquarian books and ephemera to highlight the cultural heritage of the book. Recognizing the important place that books hold in the dissemination of knowledge, they continue the work of their colleagues around the world to fill a "virtual bookcase" as participants and visitors donate money to buy books for schools in South Sudan.

To make the event authentically “Portland," - the home of "more breweries (and bookshops) than any other city on earth," - they are gathering at a brew pub, the Lucky Lab on Hawthorne Boulevard, a short walk over the Hawthorne Bridge from downtown Portland.  Whether you think of this beautiful city on the Willamette River as Book City, Bridge City or Beer City, Portlanders are mixing fun with the serious purpose of the international community of booksellers of promoting literacy around the world.

Thanks to Jessica Doyle from AbeBooks for representing them and their generous donation.