London dealer Sam Fogg is probably the most glamorous and successful of the new generation of British dealers, dominating the market for manuscripts. He tells Beatie Wolfe the secrets of his success.

As long as you have an open mind you can use the money to buy something else and make money on that. You’ve got to keep rolling the dice.

A Life in Books (…in 3 minutes) with Mick Stone, Camberwell Books and Collectibles, Australia

How did you get started in the book business?

By becoming mates with Bill Mathews who taught me heaps - e.g. Books like Wodehouse, Joan Butler, Fleming, Blyton, Johns at fetes and op shops were just like picking up 5 and 10 dollar notes sticking out from the shelves. I "ran" to shops, (Bradstreets, Grants, even old Evans), and fielded weekend market stalls. Then in 1976, I started the eponymous "Weekend Bookshop" with Bill and Nick Dawes.

By Beatie Wolfe. Published in Rare Book Review in 2008

Brian Lake became Vice President to Laurence Worms in 2011. He has managed the London International Antiquarian Book Fair at Olympia for two years and edited the ABA’s Newsletter for six years – both posts from which he will be standing down later this summer. He is an ex-Chairman of the other UK trade association, the PBFA.

During his presidency Brian intends to build on the reforms and improvements that have taken place under Laurence Worms and to increase the practical cooperation with other like-minded associations within the UK and around the world for the good of ABA members and the book trade as a whole.

The ABA is very pleased to welcome nine new members, elected by Council in March and April 2013.  Our congratulations to the following on their election:

Simon Patterson of Hyraxia Books is an associate member of the ABA and the PBFA. Simon, with his wife Gail, has been running Hyraxia since 2010 after a decade of collecting. 

Hyraxia Books specialise in speculative fiction, but sell a wide range of modern first edition fiction along with Fine Press publications and the ocassional photobook. The business operates from a private residence in Leeds, where clients are more then welcome for a cup of tea in the book room - if they don't mind being hassled by the resident toddlers. Hyraxia Books can be found at most of the premier PBFA fairs throughout the country and always online on Twitter and Facebook. We take particular interest in new collectors, helping them build collections and make the right decisions. 

Marc Harrison has been a full time bookseller and member of the PBFA for over ten years. He had a bookshop in Salisbury (Ellwood Books) for a number of years, which sadly had to close. Currently, as well as selling books online, Marc regularly attends fairs around the country – particularly in the South and West where he is the regional PBFA Chair. He is based in Wimborne, Dorset, with an office there and a warehouse near Romsey in neigh-bouring Hampshire.

Having recently married, Marc has added his wife’s maiden name into the business: hence “Harrison-Hiett”.

In reading and listening to stories how many booksellers started in the trade there is possibly one common thread and that is that it was not a planned career move. Having spent most of my life at the commercial sharp end of distribution companies with a previous era spent sitting at a drawing board in the architectural and landscape worlds it did not cross my mind that bookselling would call. Yes, I collected books, Switzerland and angling, and a few years ago I started attending a bookbinding workshop little realizing that these were providing the environment that would spawn another bookseller. The person who suggested I “did a book fair” he was organising suggested it would “make some more room on my shelves”. I did it and was out buying some more stock immediately.

A series of high-profile book sales, making record sums, such as Hesketh, Arcana, Macclesfield, Wentworth et al., along with a series of stratospheric prices for art at auction, can easily distract us from some comparable achievements made more than a hundred years ago.

Even though the exact figure is still unknown, the estimated price Mrs Rylands paid for the collection is £255,000, making it the greatest book sale of its time, and in real terms, probably of all time.

By Beatie Wolfe (published in Rare Book Review, 2008)

The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (ABA) is delighted to announce that the St Bride Foundation will be the official charity of the London International Antiquarian Book Fair which opens on Thursday June 13 and runs until Saturday June 15.

The St Bride Foundation was created in the 1890s originally as a social, educational and cultural centre and housed both a technical library and printing school providing tuition for local printers and students. The school eventually outgrew its premises and relocated, ultimately becoming part of what is now the London College of Communication. Much of the equipment remained on site and a new Printing Workshop re-opened in 2010 bringing the teaching of printing back to Fleet Street. The Foundation still provides the only library in the UK entirely devoted to the history of printing and allied crafts.

For more information please visit www.olympiabookfair.com

The 2013 Melbourne Rare Book Fair is fast approaching. The fair will be held at Wilson Hall, University of Melbourne, from Friday July 26 to Sunday July 28 and runs in conjunction with Melbourne Rare Book Week 2013 (Thursday July 18 - Sunday July 28). Melbourne Rare Book Week proved to be a powerful promotional tool for the Book Fair last year.

If you have any enquiries about any aspect of ANZAAB's Melbourne programme, please don't hesitate to contact book fair organiser Kay Craddock. Applications and enquiries should be sent to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

For more information please visit: http://www.anzaab.com/

The July 2013 seminar in the book-collecting series organised jointly by the Institute of English Studies (London University) and the Rare Book Society will be given by Rob Shepherd of Sangorski & Sutcliffe, founded in 1901 and one of the oldest surviving hand bookbinding companies in England.

The business, which merged with the even older Zaehnsdorf bindery in 1988, was founded by Francis Sangorski and George Sutcliffe, who met at bookbinding evening classes taught by Douglas Cockerell ...

The dates for the London International Antiquarian Book Fair, Olympia 2013 are now confirmed for Thursday 13th to Saturday 15th June 2013. 

 Last year’s move to the superior and larger National weHall at Olympia was hailed a great success by exhibitors. Take a look at the following highlights and improvements planned for the 2013 Fair, including; new exhibitor discounts, more PR covering the fair and extensive guided tours. Website