Dear Members,

It’s now two weeks since the 52nd ANZAAB Fair held at Wilson Hall at the University of Melbourne. For those of you unable to attend I can report that the weather was delightful and the Fair well organized and well attended.

The efforts of Fair Convenor Tim White with the support of Tira Lewis, the quality of the exhibitors, the support of Melbourne University and its Library Services, and the return of Melbourne Rare Book Week with its engaging program of free events all contributed to the fair’s overall success.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Tim White again for his tireless efforts to make the Melbourne Fair as effortless as possible for the exhibitors and an outstanding event in the city’s cultural calendar. Tim is preparing a full report for our membership but in the meantime please find attached Rare Book Week Director Chris Brown’s review of the fair, illustrated with Alyssa Duke’s quick sketches that aptly capture the event : https://mcusercontent.com/b71f...

Melbourne Rare Door Prize and ANZAAB Voucher

This year’s winner of the Melbourne Rare Book Fair door prize was Annette Holland. Annette has a letter from the President to present to any ANZAAB member for purchases to the value of $500. As in previous years, if the whole amount is not redeemed in one transaction, a credit note for the balance due should be issued, and the original letter annotated to this effect. An invoice for the item/s chosen by the recipient should be sent to the ANZAAB Treasurer, Sue Treloar. Naturally, a ‘best trade price’ to ANZAAB is part of the spirit of this promotion.

This year we have also offered an ANZAAB gift voucher to the value of $250 to the manager of Wilson Hall, Ashleigh Carr, to say thank you for his outstanding efforts on behalf of the Melbourne Rare Book Fair. While Ashleigh is paid for his work, each year he goes over and above the call of duty in supporting the fair and we thought it time to offer an acknowledgement. Ashleigh also has a letter from the President and if presented please annotate and invoice the Treasurer as above.

The 2023 AGM

The sitting Board was returned unopposed at the AGM which was held on the Friday morning, 27th July, at 8.30am. Douglas Stewart resigned as President but remains on the Board as Immediate Past President. Dawn Albinger has stepped into the President’s role and Tim White is now Vice President. Sue Treloar continues as Treasurer and Dafydd Davies continues as Secretary. Yarran Jenkins has taken over the Membership Officer’s role and Thomas Baker-Stimson will be supporting Tim in the running of the new website.

ILAB Presidents’ Meeting

Douglas Stewart will be attending the 2023 ILAB Presidents’ meeting in Stockholm as Dawn’s proxy, and with the special task of presenting the ANZAAB plan for hosting the 2025 ILAB Presidents’ Meeting in Melbourne. The 2025 meeting will take place just before the Melbourne Rare Book Fair that year with the reasonable expectation that many national association presidents will remain to participate either by taking a stand or by
purchasing from those that do.

As Immediate Past President Douglas Stewart has taken on the special portfolio of organizing this event on behalf of ANZAAB. This will be the third time we act as host nation and is an exciting opportunity for us to welcome National Association Presidents from around the globe, repaying hospitality that has been extended to past ANZAAB presidents and their representatives, and showcasing our trans-national
association to the world.

The New Website

In the two weeks since the Melbourne fair the new website has migrated to a platform where the Board has been collectively checking its functionality and appearance. This led to a few final tweaks needing to be made, which we are nearly finished ironing out. We plan a soft launch for next week and instructions on how to login and create your profile will be forthcoming on Monday or Tuesday.

Tim has expressed his willingness to help anyone that requires stepping through the process. Once we have everyone on board, we will look at the best way to promote the various aspects of the website that members will wish to access and utilize.

New Members

It is my pleasure to welcome two new members to ANZAAB: Jader Sartoni of Sartoni Antique Prints (Brisbane, QLD) and Clayton Smith of Barclay Books (York, WA).

Jader Sartoni is a second generation print dealer from Italy, living in Australia since 2006 and now based in Brisbane. He specializes in old European master prints and modern post 1880 European prints. Jader maintains a business presence in Europe but wishes to become actively involved in our Australian and New Zealand association and has expressed a desire to exhibit at the Sydney Fair this year. Jader was nominated by two
ANZAAB members and two ILAB affiliates.

Clayton Smith has been living and breathing books for twenty-one years, first in new books for Dymocks, but since 2015 in second hand and antiquarian books for himself at Barclay Books in York. Clayton is keen to continue developing skills specific to our trade and was unambiguously supported by our ANZAAB members in Western Australia.

I invite all our members to visit the websites and places of business of these two new members and make them feel welcome.

Sydney Rare Book Fair

The Sydney Rare Book Fair is fast approaching and will be an expanded fair running from Thursday evening to Saturday, October 26-28. It will be held again in University of Sydney’s iconic MacLaurin Hall. Fair convenors Peter Tinslay and Paul Feain will be calling for expressions of interest from membership later this week and I encourage all members to take a stand and help make this Fair a great success.

Whether or not you are able to attend, there are bookmarks, flyers and posters available to help promote the event, and social media tiles will also become available. I would encourage all members to promote the ANZAAB fairs, whether exhibiting or not, as flagship events for our entire association. The better the fairs, the better the flow-on for all of us by association. I look forward to seeing those of you that can attend in Sydney at the end of October.

In the meantime, look out for your invitation to log-in to the new ANZAAB website to create your profile. The sooner we all do this the better the website will look. We would like to see everyone listed within a week or two.

And again, please reach out to Tim if you are at all unsure how to proceed. Let’s proudly promote our association and sell some books!

With best wishes,
Dawn Albinger
ANZAAB President.