American Book Collector

Chicago, New York, et al., 1957. A blast from the book-trade past. After AB Bookman's Weekly, the American Book Collector was the most important trade magazine on the American scene in the last half of the 20th century, with many interesting articles by many renown authors and book people: Walter Hart Blumenthal, Lawrence S. Thompson, Frederick R. Goff, Jeff Dykes, Thomas McDade, James Lamar Weygand, Vardis Fisher, Madeleine Stern, Roderick Cave, Herbert West, Robert Metzdorf, Rockwell Kent, L. Frank Baum (a first printing of one of his stories), Justin Schiller, Martin Gardner, John Mayfield, Lawrence Romaine, Jacob Zeitlin, Frederick B. Adams, Thomas M. McDade, Carl Hertzog, Norman Forgue, and Vincent Starrett, among others. The serial began publication in 1950 and ended in 1976. The New Series, under the patronage of William Burton, began again in 1980. The magazine included book reviews, auction announcements and reports, obituaries, book fairs, both display and classified ads, catalogue announcements, and other departments of interest to both the collector and dealer. This long run of nearly 200 issues comes from the library of Kim Merker and includes: Volume VIII, 1957-58, nos. 7-10 only; Volume IX, 1958-59, nos. 1-10 (complete); Volume X, 1959-60, nos. 1-10 (complete); Volume XI, 1960-61, nos. 1-10 (complete); Volume XII, 1961-62, nos. 1-10 (complete); Volume XIII. 1962-63, nos. 1-10 (complete); Volume XIV, 1963-64, nos. 1-10 (complete); Volume XV, 1964-65, nos. 1-10 (complete); Volume XVI, 1965-66, 9 issues (lacking no. 5); Volume XVII, 1966-67, 10 issues (complete); Volume XVIII, 1967-68, 10 issues (complete); Volume XIX, 1968-69. 10 issues in 9 (complete); Volume 20, 1969-70, 8 issues (complete); Volume 21, 1970-71. 8 issues (complete); Volume 22, 1971-72, 8 issues (complete); Volume 23, 1972-73, 6 issues (complete); Volume 24, 1973-74, 6 issues (complete); Volume 25, 1974-75. 6 issues (complete). And then there's the hiatus. But beginning in 1980 a New Series was launched, with articles by Richard Gabriel Rummonds, Philip Hofer, B. H. Breslauer, Joseph Blumenthal, Madeleine Stern, Ralph Sipper, Herbert Cahoon, Anne Bromer, Mildred Abraham, Dan Traister, William Burton, George Bixby, Jerry Kelly, J. M. Edelstein, Matthew Bruccoli, Christopher Edwards, Felix Oyens, Bill Reese, and myself. Included are: Volume 1, 1980, nos. 1-6 (complete); Volume 2, 1981, nos. 1-6 (complete); Volume 3, 1982, nos. 1-6 (complete); Volume 4, 1983, nos. 1-6 (lacking no. 3); Volume 5, 1984, nos. 1-6 (complete); Volume 6, 1985, nos. 1-6 (complete); Volume 7, 1986, nos. 1-12 (complete); Volume 8, 1987, nos. 1-6 (end).