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ABAA
Connect
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The ABAA and Sanford L. Smith & Associates are proud to announce that the British Library is the institutional partner for ABAA Connect at this year’s New York International Antiquarian Book Fair.
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A program resurrected from the early 2000's, ABAA Connect allows our 2024 institutional partner, the British Library, to request items at the NYIABF from exhibitors, and have those items purchased for the Library as recommended by tax-advantaged contributions from donors to the American Trust for the British Library (ATBL). British Library curators had the opportunity to browse the list of items exhibitors are bringing to the fair and have chosen items they are interested in acquiring (see list below). British Library and ATBL members and donors attending the fair will discover these items together in person, and donors can either contribute the value of an item in its entirety or make a gift in part to the acquisition value for a particular item.
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The NYIABF created this program to expose curators to exciting items, connect booksellers with the British Library and their curators, entice donors to attend the fair and purchase items that will benefit both the British Library and their personal collections, and inspire fairgoers to become a donor.
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For more information ABAA Connect, please contact the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America at hq@abaa.org.
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The British Library's Wishlist
After Two Years by Graham Greene
Jonkers Rare Books Booth C2
Handpicked by famed British author and journalist Graham Greene from the effusion of poetry that he wrote about his affair with American-born Catherine Walston, this booklet celebrates a relationship of great literary importance. As few as six of the twenty-five published copies of After Two Years survive, and none are housed in a UK institution. This significant acquisition would critically support the extraordinary Greene materials currently at the British Library.
$39,500
Collection of 22 works on mental health hospices in England
Librairie Paul Jammes Booth E18
Gathered by the French psychiatrist Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol, this bound collection of scarce 18th and 19th-century pamphlets describes the state of mental health treatment in England and Scotland, from its financing to the abuses happening in hospices. In documenting UK mental healthcare in this period, this acquisition would help the Library broaden its documentation of underprivileged and less well-represented groups in its collections.
$13,000
1833 Broadside of An Authentic Account of the Proceedings of the Coroner's Inquest on the Body of Robert Cully
The Lawbook Exchange Booth C29
Broadsides are a major area of interest to the Library as they often chronicle the experiences of those who are less privileged, and scarcely survive due to their ephemeral nature. This document details the inquest into the death of a police officer in 1833 following the suppression of a protest of working-class people.
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Held on May 16, 1833, the Coldbath Fields Riot began as a public meeting of the National Union of the Working Classes at Coldbath Fields in Clerkenwell, an area of central London. Batons drawn, the police marched on the 1,000 attendees at the meeting. In the violence that followed three policemen were stabbed. One of them, Robert Culley (or Cully), died from his wounds. The subsequent inquest showed that the protestors were overwhelmed in number by the police. More important, no officer issued a call to disperse. Based on those facts, the jury returned a verdict of lawful homicide. This broadside advertises a subscription for a series of medals to be minted for the men of the jury “as a testimonial of their firmness and integrity.”
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The Library holds other broadsides which document this event, giving this item excellent research value as a companion piece for those studying these historic moments. Having collected newspapers from the UK and overseas for over 200 years to preserve everyday accounts of life in Britain and beyond, this item would strengthen the Library’s archive of over 60 million individual newspapers.
$2,000
Pamphlet on the Public Opinion in India of the Trial of Captain T. N. Howard 
The Lawbook Exchange Booth C29
This pamphlet has extremely high research value in what it can tell us about colonialism in India and the attitude of the English at that time. It contains extracts from Indian newspapers discussing the flashpoint case of Harward, a decorated officer who was accused of disposing of weapons in an improper manner. This would be the only copy available in public institutions in the UK, and the Library is eager to have it housed alongside its extensive India Office archive.
$950
The Story of Rosalynde, bound by Jessie M. King for Cedric Chivers 
Jonkers Rare Books Booth C2
This beautiful, 1902 work is one of just 30 copies, and is an example of the extraordinary bindings crafted by groundbreaking British female book artist Jessie M. King. Printed on Japanese vellum with intricate ink and watercolour designs, this stunning work would be the first of King’s bindings to enter the Library’s collections.
$18,200
The Good Boy’s Soliliquy: Containing his Parent’s Instructions Relative to his Disposition and Manners 
Bromer Booksellers C28
A little volume that includes over a dozen engraved images depicting a “good boy” misbehaving and accompanied by witty couplets, this book is one of only two other known copies in public institutions, and represents a contrast to more moralistic 19th-century children’s books. This text would be a valuable addition to the Library’s wonderful and rare collection of early children’s books.
$3,000
1831 Broadside of the Execution of "James" Any Bird Bell
The Lawbook Exchange Booth C29
Broadsides are a major area of interest to the Library as they often chronicle the experiences of those who are less privileged, and scarcely survive due to their ephemeral nature. This document covers the execution of “James” Any Bird Bell in 1831, the youngest person executed in England in the 19th century. Fourteen-year-old John Any Bird Bell confessed to killing Richard Faulkner Taylor, thirteen, presumably for the small sum of money Taylor was carrying home. His younger brother, James (with whom John Any Bird is often confused in contemporary accounts), apparently a witness to the crime, testified against him at trial, where he was convicted of murder.
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The Library holds other broadsides which document the same event, giving this item excellent research value as a companion piece for those studying these historic moments. Having collected newspapers from the UK and overseas for over 200 years to preserve everyday accounts of life in Britain and beyond, this item would strengthen the Library’s archive of over 60 million individual newspapers.
$3,000
The Environs of London: Being an Historical Account of the Towns, Villages, and Hamlets, within Twelve Miles of that Capital by Daniel Lysons
Maggs Bros. LTD Booth A4
As well as being an antiquarian and topographer, Daniel Lysons was a prolific scrap booker. The Library has one of the strongest collections of his folios in the world, which shed light on early 19th-century Britain through maps, illustrations, and everyday ephemera. This detailed and wide-ranging topographical account would strengthen the Library’s collection of Lysons’ works and be a valuable resource for those searching for historical accounts of Surrey, Middlesex, and Essex in the early 1800s.
$29,000