ILAB commemorates 57th birthday

PRESS RELEASE

The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) will celebrate its 57th birthday by hosting a lvirtual celebration of the bookn online at www.ilab.org, May 19 22, 2004. The four day event will include a virtual auction, book fair, lectures, appraisals, and a lBiblio Quizn where entrants can win prizes by testing their book knowledge. ILAB will also launch new features on its website, including educational resources for book collectors and highlighting its powerful new search engine which searches a database of over 3 million books, maps, prints and autographs from nearly 2000 booksellers from all over the world.

The celebratory event will kick off Wednesday, May 19, 2004, at 6:00 p.m. Amsterdam time the site of ILABms first conference in 1947 with a virtual auction to benefit Unicef, a non-profit organization helping children in need around the world, and will continue through May 22nd. Donated by ILAB booksellers, books and prints will be up for auction at www.ilab.org during the four day event.

Thousands of antiquarian books, prints, maps and autographs will be available for purchase from trusted ILAB booksellers through the Virtual Book Fair, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Amsterdam time on Thursday, May 20th and running until 10:00 p.m. May 22nd. Visitors to the book fair at www.ilab.org can also test their book knowledge and compete for prizes such as gift certificates during the Biblio Quiz on May 22nd.

Friday, May 21st, brings Education Day to www.ilab.org. Guests will find a large resource of information related to the book collecting hobby, libraries, and ILAB, as well as the opportunity to post their own favorite book related website links.

The virtual Celebration of the Book concludes Saturday, May 22nd, with Appraisal Day. ILAB booksellers will be available for live online appraisals from 4:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m., Amsterdam time.

The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, an organization of national associations of antiquarian booksellers around the world, speaks for twenty nations and nearly two thousand leading booksellers bound by a code of ethics to promote the integrity and professionalism of the antiquarian book trade.