Press

Book Collecting Prize Withheld in 2022

Tuesday September 6, 2022 - Saturday December 31, 2022

The Archives Fine Book Collecting Prize has been withheld until 2023

Despite strong interest from several young collectors we received only one entry this year. The judges decided to withhold the prize and the competition will run again in 2023.

If you have any questions about the prize please write to dawn@archivesfinebooks.com.au

2022 Book Collecting Prize Now Open

Monday May 16, 2022 - Thursday June 30, 2022

Applications are now open for the 2022 Archives Fine Book Collecting Prize for young collectors of the Greater Brisbane region.

Prize value $1000

Includes:

  • $300 Cash;
  • $250 Book Voucher to spend with any ANZAAB member;
  • $250 Book Voucher to spend with Archives Fine Books;
  • One year Membership  in BSANZ and BCSA;
  • A return flight to 2022 Sydney Rare Book Fair.

 

How to apply:

WRITE AN ESSAY ϴ CREATE A BIBLIOGRAPHY ϴ TELL US YOUR WISH LIST

 

1. Please fill in your details as required on the cover page (download here).

 

2. Please attach your essay (1500 words...

Obsolete - A bibliophile's response

Sunday January 17, 2021 8:00 AM

Kindle – Passage to Digital. Obsolete Series by Suzon Fuks

I recently had the opportunity to view the ABBE 2020, Artists Book Exhibition Fair held at The Edge, State Library of Queensland, November 13-14, 2020. I was celebrating with my friend and colleague Suzon Fuks, who was an exhibiting artist with her series of books titled Obsolete. This series is comprised of books made entirely from all kinds of electronic devices such as laptops, tablets, digital cameras and smart phones. Although my focus is usually on antiquarian books, I delight and am intrigued by contemporary artist books and the ways...

Archives Fine Book Collecting Prize 2022

Thursday January 7, 2021 10:45 AM

In May 2020 Archives Fine Books was delighted to announce that Ms Emily Porter of Bray Park Qld was the winner of the inaugural Archives Fine Book Collecting Prize with her entry A Horse Lover’s Library.

 

We originally intended the Prize to be an annual event. However, the extraordinary circumstances of 2020 gave us pause to consider its sustainability in a time of uncertainty and change. On reflection we decided to make the prize a biennial one. We are therefore pleased to announce that the next Archive Fine Book Collecting Prize for Young Collectors will be awarded in 2022

...

Celebrating 11 Years and Announcing the Archives Fine Book Collecting Prize

Monday August 26, 2019 5:30 PM

On Saturday August 24th we celebrated eleven years as custodians of Brisbane's 'Temple of Logos', Archives Fine Books. It was an intimate gathering  of family and friends once again catered by our dear friend and affineuse Wendy Downes of The Cheeseboard who helped put everyone in a celebratory frame of mind. Another cherished friend Nicole Tate added to the ambience of the evening with a beautiful repetoire played on an exquisite cross strung harp.

The formalities were short and sweet. Hamish spoke with great warmth about the behind-the-scenes role our family has played in making our eleven years at Archives...

10 Years of Stewardship

Wednesday August 29, 2018

Last week we celebrated 10 years of stewardship of Archives Fine Books with an unannounced 50% sale on Wednesday and lovely in-store celebration on Saturday evening.  

The surprise sale was our way of saying 'thank you' to our everyday regulars. We enjoyed surprising people with the news as they entered the shop and we appreciated the many expressions of gratitude and good will we received on the day.

The event on Saturday evening was a relaxed wine and cheese affair comprised of socialising with family, friends, colleagues and collectors, the youngest being Salvador who brought his lovely mum Jody along. Wendy...

The 43rd ILAB Congress

Tuesday February 27, 2018

This February I had the very good fortune to be supported to attend the 43rd ILAB Congress held in Pasadena, California. My thanks go to the the trustees of the Woodburn Foundation, who made it possible for the ABAA to support four booksellers new to the trade to be in attendance. I was joined by Laura Massey (Alembic Rare Books, UK), Aimee Peake (Bison Books, Canada) and Simon Ström (Sweden). I am also grateful to ANZAAB for supporting my travel to and from the Congress, and look forward to ‘giving back’ to the association that has offered me so much...

A Horse Lover's Library

I am not sure when I first had my own Harry Potter moment (‘***** - yer a book collector’), but it may have been when my grandfather solemnly handed me The Arabian Horse in Australia Volume III and said, ‘This is a good book. Look after it’. In awe, I accepted the challenge. I was aged around eight. Yet I think the sickness was born even earlier, as I have another memory from a younger age, I believe, of hunting down the Phar Lap movie companion book in a second hand bookstore and proudly bearing it to my mother. The...

Archives Fine Book Collecting Prize Winner Announced

We are delighted to announce Ms Emily Porter, 35, of Bray Park, QLD, has won the inaugural Archives Fine Book Collecting Prize with her entry A Horse Lover’s Library.

"I ultimately want to do my best to select the finest of the books that interest me. It is also especially important to me to preserve the history of the horse in reality, literature, and art, and what better way to do that then to curate a glorious time capsule that can be opened at any time, continuously updated and refined, and equally provides physical comfort and intellectual inspiration. That is...

Leather, Love, and Literature: building a collection of LGBT text resources

by Timothy Roberts.

As a child, I always enjoyed collecting things – firstly matchbox cars, then coins, business cards, stamps, and a host of other trifles. This hoarding tendency – a somewhat non-discriminatory way of bringing items together, allowed me, as a young person with very little independent ownership over things, to covet some possessions of my own, but at the same time it also encouraged me to look for things that may stand out for whatever reason to add to my collection.

 

In my late teens and early twenties, my collecting habits began to concentrate on art, ceramics...