THE BENEFITS OF ABA MEMBERSHIP

Founded in 1906 and the oldest organisation of its kind in the world, the ABA is the senior trade body in the British Isles for dealers in antiquarian and rare books, manuscripts and allied materials.  Its membership also extends to many leading booksellers overseas. Run by a professional secretariat under the overall control of a democratically elected President and Council, the Association is the antiquarian book trade’s professional and regulatory body.Its ethos is one both of high professional standards and the provision of continually expanding support and services for its members.

The ABA has introduced a new type of membership to be known as Associate Membership. At £120 a year – or £10 a month – it represents an ideal opportunity for booksellers at all levels to join the ABA at modest cost. 

There are three main categories of eligibility. The first is for newer booksellers who have been buying and selling books for at least two years, but are not yet qualified for full membership under our five-year rule. Booksellers in this group will be offered help from the ABA in developing their skills through mentoring schemes and will be eligible for ABA grants and bursararies to attend the London Rare Books School and other courses. They will also have full access to the large ABA reference library.

This Code for Members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association applies to all commercial transactions in which they are engaged. It is intended to regularise such transactions and to ensure that they are conducted according to the highest professional and ethical standards. 

President: Brian Lake (Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers)

Vice-President: Michael Graves-Johnston

Treasurer: Rob Shepherd (Sangorski & Sutcliffe)

COMMITTEES FOR 2012-13

Secretary: John Critchley
Events Manager: Marianne Harwood
Administrator: Clare Pedder
Accounts: Ester Nardizzi
Book Fair Marketing: Rachel Aked and Silke Lohmann, Exclamation!PR
Website Editor: Beatie Wolfe

Honorary Membership of the ABA is occasionally granted either to members who rendered "exceptional service" to the Association or to non-members who have in the opinion of Members of Council rendered "signal service" to the antiquarian book trade.

The current Honorary Members are: Brian Alderson, Sir David Attenborough, Nicolas Barker, Tony Campbell, David Chambers, Martin Hamlyn, Anthony Hobson, Mervyn Jannetta, Raymond Kilgarriff, Eric Korn, Giles Mandelbrote, Michael Meredith, Bernard Middleton, Robin Myers and Barry Shaw. 

THE COMPANIES ACT 2006

COMPANIES LIMITED BY GUARANTEE AND

NOT HAVING A SHARE CAPITAL

MEMORANDUM OF ASSOCIATION OF THE ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLERS’ ASSOCIATION (INTERNATIONAL)

The Companies Act 2006
Company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital

[These “Articles of Association and Rules” are the result of the integration of the former “Articles of Association” and “Rules of the Association”.  They also contain minor changes made to conform with the 2006 Companies Act.  The document was adopted at the ABA’s 2010 Annual General Meeting and revised by the ABA Council in October 2012.]

The present ABA regional branches, with their convenors and committee members are listed below.

Scottish Branch: (Cooper Hay), (Alan Grant), (Andrew Pringle), (Elizabeth Strong)

South Eastern Branch: (Nigel Garwood)

South West Branch: (Christopher Saunders), (Steve Liddle), (Graham York)

Northern Region: Roger Treglown.

The ABA library commemorated its fiftieth anniversary by making the catalogue accessible online. Download a searchable PDF catalogue file.

Arrangement is by author (or editor) throughout except in the case of catalogues of libraries or other collections which are normally listed under owners.

The Library is accommodated at Roger J. Treglown, Antiquarian and Rare Books, Sunderland House, Sunderland Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 6JF.  Phone / fax number 0044 ( 0 )1625 618978. e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (International) Benevolent Fund has a single object:

To relieve cases of need, hardship, financial distress, sickness and infirmity for persons who are or have been antiquarian booksellers and the widows and other dependants of such persons. 

The Patrons of the ABA are:

Keith Fletcher, Raymond Kilgarriff and John Wilson.

By Dudley Massey and Martin Hamlyn

This short survey of the British Antiquarian Booksellers' Association consists of the account of its first half-century prepared by Dudley Massey for the fiftieth anniversary in 1956 (slightly revised) with a continuation to the present year by Martin Hamlyn. It was published in the ILAB Newsletter 36.

By Dudley Massey and Martin Hamlyn

At this point - except for a tributory bow towards all those, named or not, who had set and kept the ABA in motion, and a passage on the then imminent fiftieth anniversary and tenth Congress - Dudley Massey's account concludes.