Budapest - Day 2: elections
News & Updates Magyar Antikváriusok Egyesülete
In 2016 rare book dealers from across the world came to Budapest to attend the 42nd ILAB Congress.
At the Ordinary General Meeting on 20th September 2016 in Budapest the presidents of ILAB's 22 national member associations voted for Gonzalo Fernandez Pontes (Spain) as new ILAB President. He succeeds Norbert Donhofer (Austria) who served as President from 2014 to 2016; and he will be supported by ILAB Vice‐President Sally Burdon (Australia).
Gonzalo Fernandéz Pontes is well prepared for the duties he will be facing in the upcoming two years of his ILAB presidency. He has been a member of the ILAB Committee for many years and has served as Vice‐President under Norbert Donhofer. In his work for ILAB he has put special emphasis on the prevention and detection of book thefts. As Security Chair he has been coordinating ILAB's efforts in this important field. Pontes has been a rare book dealer for nearly 28 years. He holds a degree in classical history and archeology and took part in several excavations in the Middle East before he established his bookshop in Madrid in 1991. He specializes in travel, exploration and Spanish history. He is a lecturer at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid where he teaches summer courses in the antiquarian book trade. As President of the Spanish Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (AILA) Pontes not only organized the 38th ILAB Congress and 22nd ILAB International Antiquarian Book Fair in Madrid in 2008, but also the ILAB Presidents' Meeting in Seville in 2015.
Sally Burdon is widely known as the organizer of the worldwide ILAB Pop Up Book Fairs on UNESCO World Book & Copyright Day 2015 and 2016. She has been a member of the ILAB Committee since 2014. She is particularly interested in supporting younger and newer members of the book trade through educational projects such as the ILAB mentor program and campaigns to promote and support rare book schools worldwide. Sally Burdon is a member of the Burdon family of antiquarian booksellers, in effect she was a bookseller in training from the age of 10. After a period of living overseas, she returned to Canberra in 1982 and started working full time in the family business now known as Asia Bookroom. She is a past President of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers (ANZAAB), served on the faculty of the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar for 3 years and has organized several conferences on bookselling in Australia.
In further elections the presidents voted for Michel Bouvier (France) as General Secretary, he follows Ulrich Hobbeling (Germany) in this position.
Fabrizio Govi (Italy), Robert Schoisengeier (Austria) and Michael Graves-Johnston (United Kingdom) became new members of the ILAB Committee.
Tom Congalton was elected President of Honour.
ILAB Committee 2016
Gonzalo Fernández Pontes
Vice President:
Sally Burdon
Rob Shephard
Michel Bouvier
Members: Stuart Bennett - Fabrizio Govi - Michael Graves-Johnston - Robert Schoisengeier
Immediate Past President: Norbert Donhofer