The November seminar in the new book-collecting series organised jointly by the Institute of English Studies (London University) and the ABA Educational Trust will be given by Jolyon Hudson of Pickering & Chatto, who will try to demystify the Indian rope trick of the economics of the rare book trade – from the point of view of the dealer and the auctioneer as well as the collector.

Jolyon started as an auction porter in 1976, eventually becoming a director and auctioneer for Christie’s. In 1992 he left Christie's to become manager of Pickering & Chatto, who have been dealing in rare books for the best part of two centuries, and in 2006 he also became manager of Marlborough Rare Books. No-one can bring a wider variety of experience of the vagaries of the rare book trade’s finances. Website links are here - www.pickering-chatto.com and marlboroughbooks.com.

Make a note in your diary: 6pm on Tuesday 13 November 2012 – Room 270 (Stewart House), Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU. All are welcome.

All the seminars will be aimed at a broad audience including book-collectors, book-dealers, historians of all kinds, librarians, indeed at anyone with an interest in collecting any sort of text from the sixth former to the retired professor. The atmosphere will be informal, as will the presentations. We hope and expect that many of the talks will be illustrated by actual examples.

They will all be held in the University of London’s Senate House Library (Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU) and will run from 6.00 to 7.30 pm, usually on the second Tuesday of the month.

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