16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography Update

A prize with prestige and tradition, and a strong support for scholarship!

The ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography of $10,000 US is awarded every fourth year to the authors of the most outstanding works on the history of the book. Famous scholars like Jean Peeters-Fontainas, Claus Nissen, Wytze Hellinga, I. C. Koeman, Francois Weil, Gerhard Dünnhaupt, Anthony Hobson, Lucas Heinrich Wüthrich belong to the prize winners alongside Lotte Hellinga and Jan Storm van Leeuwen who were honoured with the 15th Prize during an official ceremony on the occasion of the 39th ILAB Congress in Bologna in September 2010. Both, Lotte Hellinga's monumental "Catalogue of Books printed in the XVth Century now in the British Library, BMC. Part XI – England" and Jan Storm van Leeuwen's opus magnum on "Dutch Decorated Bookbinding in the Eighteenth Century" are shining examples for the enormous amount of knowledge - and work - which stands behind such brilliant studies in a scientific field that is essential for every kind of academic research, and for the rare book trade: bibliography.

The 16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography will be awarded in 2014 to one or more bibliographies or books about books published between 2009 and 2012. Seven books have already been submitted, among them bibliographies, biographies, library catalogues, studies on bookbinding and conference papers about "Early Printed Books as Material Object". They come from France, Italy, the United States, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom:

Paul ARON and Jacques ESPAGNON: Répertoire des Pastiches et Parodies Littéraires des XIXe et Xxe siècles. Paris, PU Paris Sorbonne, 2009. (Collection “Histoire de l’Imprimé”).

G. CANTELE and R. SBIROLI: Roberto Ridolfi. Bibliografia. Firenze, Leo S. Olschki, 2010. (Biblioteca di Bibliografia Italiana CLXXXIX. Diretta da Luigi Balsamo).

Valeria GAUZ: Portuguese and Brazilian Books in the John Carter Brown Library 1537 to 1839. With a Selection of Braziliana Printed in Countries Other than Portugal and Brazil Complied and edited by Valeria Gauz. Published by the John Carter Brown Library, Providence, Rhode Island, 2009.

M. KRISTENSEN: Bogbindernes bla Bog. Kunstfaerdige danske bogbind ca 1880-2000. Dansk Forening for Bogbind, 2010.

G. ORR and B. TORREY: Jim Harrison, A Comprehensive Bibliography, 1964-2008. Lincoln & London, Univeristy of Nebraska Press, 2009.

J. SHEFRIN: The Dartons. Publishers of Educational Aids, Pastimes & Juvenile Ephemera 1787-1876. Los Angeles, Cotsen Occasional Press, 2009.

B. WAGNER and M. REED (Eds.): Early Printed Books as Material Objects. Proceedings of the Conference Organized by the IFLA Rare Books and Manuscript Section, Munich, 19-21 August 2009. De Gruyter, Saur, 2010. (IFLA Publications 149).

How to submit books?

A book may be entered until April 2013, by sending a single copy to the Prize Secretary:

Arnoud Gerits
Distelvlinderweg 37 d
1113 LA Diemen
Netherlands

Any aspect of bibliography (e.g. enumerative, textual, history of the book, design, binding, book trade, etc.) is admitted. Manuscripts, catalogues of books intended for sale and translations of works appearing in another language are not eligible. Any book submitted to the Prize must be a published book and available for sale.

>>> For more information see the official website www.ILABPRIZE.org or contact the Prize Secretary.