ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography 2022 Winners Announced

London — The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) announces winners of the 2022 ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography:

1st Prize worth US$10,000:
Jack Baldwin, A Catalogue of Fifteenth-Century Printed Books in Glasgow Libraries and Museums, 2 vols (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2020).

This catalogue of the substantial collection of 15th-century printed books at the University of Glasgow Library concentrates on copy-specific aspects of incunabula such as provenance, use, binding and decoration. The University Library has one of the richest rare book collections in the UK with 1,062 incunabula, including many unique items. Descriptions of a further 62 incunabula from five other Glasgow libraries and museums in Glasgow complete the catalogue.

"I am truly astonished and profoundly honoured to learn that I have been awarded the ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography for my Catalogue of fifteenth-century books in Glasgow libraries and museums. When I looked some months ago at the list of titles submitted for the prize, I realised just how enormous the competition would be – the titles embrace such a wide range of scholarly research – and I never for a moment expected that my catalogue might be chosen. For me, the jury’s decision comes as a wonderful celebration of some sixty years working with books." —Jack Baldwin

The ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography

The origins of today’s leading international prize in the field of bibliography and book history go back to the founding days of the League. Awarded for the first time in 1967, this year sees the 18th edition of a unique, world-leading award honouring outstanding work in the field of bibliography and book history in a 4 year cycle.

99 publications were submitted for the 2022 prize, nearly doubling the received submissions in 2018.

The ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography is sponsored by the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers with the generous support of the B. H. Breslauer Foundation and will be awarded on 14 September 2022 during the ILAB Symposium at the Weston Library (Bodleian Libraries), Oxford.

An exhibition of all submitted books and the 2022 winning titles will run from 15 – 18 September 2022 during the London rare book fair FIRSTS, at London’s Saatchi Gallery.

A second and a third prize and an Honourable Mention are awarded in 2022:

2nd Prize worth US$ 5,000:
Ernst Fischer; Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels – Historische Kommission, ed.: Geschichte des deutschen Buchhandels im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert
Band 3 Drittes Reich und Exil. Teil 3: Exilbuchhandel 1933–1945 / 1; Teil 3: Exilbuchhandel 1933-1945 / 2; Teil 3: Exilbuchhandel / Supplement, 3 vols (Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2020-21).

3rd Prize worth US$ 3,000:
Renaud Adam, Vivre et imprimer dans les Pays- Bas Méridionaux (Des Origines à la réforme), 2 vols (Turnhout: Brepols, 2018).

Honourable Mention
Frank Romano (with Miranda Mitrano), History of Desktop Publishing (New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press, 2019).

“Serving as secretary to the ILAB Breslauer Prize for two terms has been a great opportunity for me to keep an eye on the development of bibliographical studies. By receiving and examining about 160 publications over a period of eight years from specialised publishing houses and private presses, I was able to accumulate a thorough sample of what is happening in the field and what the new trends are. … The most striking aspect of all these publications I received is their variety. There is really no limit to the range of subjects they deal with or of the perspectives through which such different topics are seen and studied.” —Fabrizio Govi, ILAB Breslauer Prize Secretary in 2018 and 2022