Gordon Parks (1912–2006). Ralph Ellison. Photograph, ca. 1950. Ralph Ellison Papers, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress (081.00.00)
www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.13710/

This month we celebrate Ralph Ellison's final work, Juneteenth (Random House, 1999). His postumously published novel imagines a deathbed conversation between a race-baiting White Senator and the Black minister who raised him--revealing in the course of their encounter the rich and deep roots of American culture in African-American music, religion and folkways. Happy Juneteenth (June 19).

Here is the news from FABS for June. 

This month's FABS blog features the bibliophilic exploits of Lord Peter Wimsey. Readers of Dorothy Sayers's delightful mysteries know that Lord Peter's twin passions are crime-solving ratiocination and incunabula--until he meets Harriet Vane and adds a third obsession to the list. Take a deep dive into Peter's bookish pursuits with this extensively-illustrated blog post by your devoted newsletter editor.

The Cracow Monster, from Munster's Cosmographia, ca. 1560.

And if you missed it last month, enjoy Marcia McBrien's report on the Book Club of Detroit's visit to an extraordinary aviation library housed in an airport hangar, and a fascinating talk by US Army Major Joseph L. Tebor on American propaganda leaflets distributed during the Vietnam war. These pieces are fragile (even if some were designed to withstand being submerged in water!) and the Major's unique collection demonstrates the key role of collectors in recognizing and preserving significant ephemera for future generations.

'Tis the season for Book Collecting Contest entries!

Applications for the David Ruggles Prize are due June 9, 2024. The David Ruggles Prize is an international book collecting prize founded in 2018 to support and encourage young collectors of color. Entry is open to applicants 35 and under, anywhere in the world, with three prizes awarded annually: $1,000, $500, and $250.

Applications for the 2024 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest should be submitted by June 10, 2024. This contest recognizes outstanding book collecting efforts by college and university students, and aims to encourage young collectors to become accomplished bibliophiles. All college or university prizewinners are encouraged to enter. Student collectors whose institutions do not offer a book collecting contest may also enter.

Applications for the Honey & Wax Prize are due June 15, 2024. The Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize is open to women book collectors in the United States, aged 30 or younger. Contestants do not need to be enrolled in a degree program, nor do they require a sponsor. Honey & Wax uses ‘women’ in its most expansive definition, one fully inclusive of non-binary, trans and gender-non-conforming individuals. The winning collection must have been started by the contestant, and all items in the collection must be owned by her.

The Photography Special Interest Group of the Grolier Club invites photography collectors to view their Summer 2024 newsletter, which is packed with links to fairs, exhibitions, auctions and blogs. Access it here: https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/545452/emails/122044628088129306 

YOU are welcome to join the FABS Special Interest Groups! Join us for an hour's informal discussion of your favorite topic. All groups meet at 4:30pm Pacific, 6:30pm Central and 7:30pm Eastern. To get on the list for one of these groups, contact Jennifer Larson at info@fabsocieties.org

June 10: Handpress Era (second Monday of the month). Printed materials before 1800. Our speakers this month include David DiLaura on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's theories about color and a very rare piece of ephemera connected with them; second speaker TBA!

June 20: 19th Century Group (third Thursday of the month). Congenial conversation on all things 19th-century and bookish

The Bindings Group (third Monday of the month) is taking the month of June off.

June 25: Living With Books (fourth Tuesday of the month) All the pleasures and paraphernalia of home libraries! The discussion topics this month are TBA.

FABS Member Society Online/Virtual Events for this month: Free and Open to the Public 

Molly McClain will tell the story of an American newspaperwoman, feminist, suffragist, abolitionist and social reformer in her presentation "Ellen Browning Scripps: New Money and American Philanthropy, 1836-1932." (The Book Club of California, June 10)

The smartphone is beginning to supersede the pocket diary, but in the 18th century, people carried tiny manuscripts preserving not only dates and addresses, but windows into their lives and personalities. Join Julie Park for "Containing the Self in Eighteenth-Century Pocket Diaries: Graphic Forms and Formats of Personal Information Storage" (The Caxton Club, June 14)

The Midwest Antiquarian Booksellers' Association Chicago Book & Paper Fair takes place on June 15 from 10:00-5:00. For more information click HERE.

Jack Lynch is a specialist in eighteenth-century British literature, especially Samuel Johnson; the history of the English language; forgery, fakery and fraud; satire; and literary biography. He'll be speaking on "The Frontiers of Anglicity"--intriguing topic! (The Grolier Club, June 17)

Amy Gore brings mainstream narratives about the history of the book into conversation with Indigenous book history, considering among others John Rollin Ridge's The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta (1854), the first novel published in the state of California and the first novel published by a Native American. (Book Club of California, June 17)

Yiddish/English-language journalist S. L. Shneiderman will be the subject of a discussion by Deborah A. Green and Aaron Lansky. Shneiderman has been called "the first Yiddish war reporter" for his coverage of the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War.  (The Grolier Club, June 25)

At the end of the month, join Oxford professor Lynda Mugglestone for a live webcast on "Samuel Johnson's Garrett Lexicography," in conjunction with the Grolier Club's "Hardly Harmless Drudgery" exhibition on English dictionaries. (The Grolier Club, June 26)

Stay tuned to the FABS Calendar, as more events are sure to be posted soon.

Contact: Jennifer Larson, info@fabsocieties.org