Competition
Rare Book Review Awards Winners Announced
Voted for by a panel of experts, industry giants, visitors to the ABA
Chelsea Book Fair and the readers of Rare Book Review, we are finally able to announce the winners of the inaugural Rare Book Review Awards…
If you disagree with any of the choices and you didn’t vote – well you only have yourself to blame. If you did vote and you still disagree – that’s democracy. We will be holding the same awards next year so be sure to get your thinking cap on for who you want to vote for then.
FAVOURITE ONLINE BOOKTRADING SERVICE OF THE YEAR
Winner: Abebooks.com/Abebooks.co.uk
A popular choice in a crowded market place, for sheer accessibility, accuracy and breadth of content our readers cannot fault it. Special mention also to Biblion, Antiqbook and Americana Exchange.
‘This is a tremendous honour,’ says Hannes Blum, CEO of AbeBooks. ‘True bibliophiles, like the readers of RBR, are our core customers, so it’s very satisfying to hear that we topped the voting. Thanks to all the readers who voted for us.’
THE BOOK WORLD’S HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR
Winner: Macclesfield Sale, Sotheby’s
A veritable mixed bag here with a plethora of unique answers from many recipients. Everything means something to someone, it seems. Plenty of multiple replies, however, headed by the continuing success of Sotheby’s record breaking Macclesfield Sale.
In second place was the incredible sale of the Bishop of Truro’s library, snapped up by John Thornton for a song (as reported in these pages last issue). Other sales of note for our voters were the Streeter, the Hattersley at Bonhams Oxford, the private sale of Dennistoun’s Collection of Financial Work by Bernard Shapero (following a reader’s chance notice of its mention in these very pages), and the ADAA sale. Less specifically the opening of Bloomsbury Auctions’ New York office won plaudits from many voters while the closing of Heritage Book Shop attracted an equal number of condolence messages.
Stephen Roe, Head of Sotheby’s European Book Division, says, ‘We at Sotheby’s are deeply appreciative of the honour given to us by the readers of Rare Book Review. The Book Department is privileged to handle the Macclesfield library which, even as we are approaching Sale 11, contains as much fascinating material as at the beginning of the project. It is a landmark series of sales and a collection of catalogues which will be consulted and treasured in years to come.’
FAVOURITE RARE BOOK STORE OF THE YEAR
Winner: Maggs Bros
Perhaps there should have been a disclaimer along the lines of ‘votes will not be accepted for organisations run, owned or in any way represented by writers for Rare Book Review’, but that would have been doing a disservice to some of the most wonderful sites in London’s book landscape. Not many people enter the hallowed Berkeley Square halls of Maggs, but those who do remember the experience and are happy to put pen to paper and record it for posterity. The late lamented Heritage won similar fanfare from American voters, with Manhattan also picking up votes, while Sam Fogg, Marlborough, the Old Cinema Bookshop, Shapero and Brighton Books garnered the lion’s share of the rest of the votes.
Accepting the shop’s award, MD and scion of Maggs, Ed said: ‘We’re delighted with the news. I know we can be thought to present a somewhat intimidating facade to the world, but once you get through the door we try hard to be friendly and helpful. Maggs is a collaborative enterprise, and we’re lucky to employ some brilliant and diverse people: sometimes it seems that the only house style is that there is no house style.’
FAVOURITE DEALER OF THE YEAR
Winner: Peter Harrington
One of the most pleasurable aspects of the rare book
world is the relationships engendered between customer and dealer. One
hunts for personal pleasure, the other hunts for his client. For many
collectors the pleasure is in tracking down books for themselves but
even on those occasions there is respect for vendors whose
descriptions, quality – and prices – they can trust. Many multiple vote
recipients in this category, and often for individual staff. For the
purposes of this list, however, company
names will suffice. And those shortlisted companies are: 19th
Century, Bernard Shapero, Maggs, William Reese, Hordern House,
Broadhurst, Rick Gekoski, Nigel Williams, the Map House, Paul Foster
and EM Lawson.
‘We at Peter Harrington are delighted to be named Favourite Dealer by the readers of Rare Book Review,’ Adam Douglas told us. ‘We're thrilled to receive this recognition of our continuing efforts to raise our standards. We have been working hard and in the last couple of years have added new dealers and new departmental strengths in Adam Douglas (ex Simon Finch) and Glenn Mitchell (ex Maggs) to our existing team of Pom Harrington, Adam Blakeney and Kevin Finch.’
AUCTION HOUSE OF THE YEAR
Winner: Sotheby’s London
One of the categories where a few names dominate, but interesting to see how various international branches pick up votes. Sotheby’s Paris, Sotheby’s New York, Christie’s New York, Christie’s South Kensington, Sotheby’s New York, Bonhams London and Oxford. Too early for Bloomsbury NY to top anyone’s charts, but their London office attracted plenty of acclaim, as did Swann and PBA Galleries. Nods too for John Nicholson and Dominic Winter.
‘This means a lot to the Book Department at Sotheby’s,’ says Stephen Roe, Head of Sotheby’s European Book Division, ‘We have a great team and they all deserve it. We try to be strong in every area of our endeavour and the award of this prize shows this.’
BEST CATALOGUES OF THE YEAR
Winner: Bernard Quaritch
A split in this category from voters judging purely on quality of stock and those finding merit in the production standards – let’s call it love – gone into manufacturing the items in the first place. It is an award purely for paper catalogues – this year at least – which indicates the latter thought in most voters’ minds. Special mention to the good humour always found in the catalogues of Between the Covers and Lame Ducks and the book-like excellence in the works from Marlborough, Shapero, Maggs and Peter Harrington, and the quality of Nigel Williams, Howes, Ken Spelman, Hordern House and William Reese.
‘We are, of course, delighted to hear that we have been awarded Best Catalogues of the Year,’ says Quaritch’s Detlev Auvermann, ‘especially as we brought out more specialised catalogues than usual, with Anthony Payne's Rights of War, Rights of Peace, Ian Smith's Wittgenstein catalogue, the Music catalogue and Photography among others. It is always nice to hear that someone (still) reads them!’