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The Grand Conclave of the Miniature Book Society Inc. (MBS) in Koblenz from a German participant von Angelika Jäck The 17th Grand Conclave was held from August 13 - 15, 1999 in Koblenz, Germany. I had the honor to represent the Freundeskreis Miniaturbuch Berlin e.V. (FMB) and here is my report of this memorable experience!
Friday afternoon the members were welcomed by our host Ralf Quast with a Keepsake package, a program guide, a city map and name badges. With these name badges we were well prepared for meeting each other. I could identify the names of people I had corresponded with and see where everybody was from.
In the evening a Buffet-supper was served, after that we went to the opening of the European Traveling exhibition, This exhibition was organized by Ralf Quast from of the archives of the MBS and other books that Ralf found. The exhibition is in memoranda of Louis W. Bondy, with whom Ralf had a very friendly relationship.
The exhibition was shown in Koblenz until the middle of September. There are no immediate plans for future showings. Here are 2 photos of the exhibition.
On Saturday a day trip to Mainz was on the program. The Gutenberg Museum is closed for reconstruction but parts of the exhibition are shown in the Mainzer Dome. Here we had an interesting tour, could see how the old Gutenberg-Press functioned and had a look at the Gutenberg bibles. It is amazing how bright the colors still are after all this time.
After that tour we had time for individual sightseeing, eating and a visit to the Gutenberg Shop - an interesting place for everything that has to do with printing and related areas. I was pleased to see a display of books from the Miniaturbuchverlag Leipzig there. Also, they sell what they claim to be "the smallest book in the world", the Lord's prayer in 7 languages, 3,5 x 3,5 mm, printed and bound in leather. The book costs DM 48,00 and can be ordered there. Any one interested can mail me for details.
Saturday evening the traditional Banquet was held. Between the courses several awards were presented. The awards will be listed on the MBS web site, in the MBS-Newsletter and in our Info-Dienst 4/99.
A talk by Prof. Dr. Rudolf Lüthe about the "dark sides" of human beings completed the banquet. A special treat was the fireworks "Rhein in Flames" which we could watch from the roof of our hotel. Even though it rained, it was a wonderful show.
In the bar, several untiring new and old members chatted away and Peter Thomas, a paper and book maker from California, entertained us with a few songs on his ukulele.On Sunday, the important part of the conclave was held: the book fair. In the awesome Electors palace we found a worthy surrounding for this event. The 19 sellers selected their tables quickly and were set up without problems. I was just finished with our table when the day visitors from Berlin: Heinz Schmidt, Andreas Wolf and Horst Radtke arrived. They took on the hardships of a long journey from and to Berlin in 1 day to take part in this event. And they said it was really worth it! The variety of miniature books from America, England, Russia or Hungary was overwhelming! On our table we had information material, a small selection of books for sale and our individual swap books.
Left photo: our table at the book fair with Angelika Jaeck, Horst Radtke and Andreas Wolf Right photo: Tom Sheppard, Lilliput Press, England.
That evening the book auction was held. 57 lots were donated by members of the MBS. The proceeds of the auction are an important fund for the MBS. At the end, 3 more lots were spontaneously donated by Martin Znidersic and Jan Sobota/Jarmila Sobotova. I came a bit later and so couldn't inspect the lots before the beginning. But I was lucky, there was a little technical problem half way through, so in the short pause I was able to have a look the left lots and join in the bidding. But that didn't help much in the end. A young girl was really keen on the same books I was and my limit was soon reached. Better luck next year! Ian MacDonald was a superb auctioneer.
Monday morning began with the business meeting. The recent president of the MBS, Art Keir, said good-bye and the new president, Donn Sanford was welcomed. The financial report was read. After that the new board held its first meeting.
In the afternoon we went on a trip to the well-preserved castle Marksburg and it was a wonderful end to the conclave.
Left: photo of Heinz Schmidt, Andreas Wolf and Martin Znidersic.
Right: photo with a few participants in Marksburg.
Ralf organized a 3-day After Conclave Tour and about 20 people stayed on for it. I liked the day trip to Trier best, a city with lots of historic background and wonderful sights. The Basilika, a very simple but huge building is very awesome. There is also a wonderful ceiling painting displayed in the Bishops Dome Museum, put together from 50000 little pieces.
Altogether, the Grand Conclave was an overwhelming experience for me. I met many interesting and very nice people. At first, I was disappointed that so few people had signed up for the Conclave. But that turned out to be very positive. We all got to meet everybody else, that isn't possible with over a 100 participants. Listening to the long standing members talking about the past Conclaves was very interesting and amusing. The Conclave was a good place for talks about the cooperation between our society and the MBS and future joint projects, about cooperation between the German, Russian and Hungarian collectors clubs. It was nice talking to the "old" (Martin Znidersic) and new (Miniaturbuchverlag Leipzig) members of our society (FMB). The recent president of the MBS, Art Keir, was also welcomed as a new member.
Johnny Kouyoumdjan from Denmark came as a guest with Carol and Hope Bowie and had never had anything to do with miniature books before. At our table, we gave him two bibliographies of GDR miniature books published 1987 and 1988 and that started his collection! After that he bought some others and I hope he'll keep up collecting!.
Last but not least: thank you, Ralf, for the wonderful organization.
Here is a photo of Ralf, standing by the entrance, checking out that the book fair is running smoothly. In front, Heinz Wartelsteiner from Miniaturbuchverlag Leipzig and hungarian collectors.
And here some statistics. We were a
very international group with 49
participants from:
USA 22 Canada 3 England 7 Scotland 3 Germany 5 Slovenia 1 Russia 2 Ukraine 2 Hungary 1 CSR 2 Denmark 1
The youngest participant was 14 , the eldest 83 years old!
The next Conclave will take place in Vermont, USA. For details, check the MBS Website.
Miniature editions from our society Our society also publishes miniature books. Responsible for design and production is our member Siegfried Spengler. For the contents the board of directors or sole members are responsible.
On the occasion of 10th anniversary of our society in 1997 the book "10 Jahre Freundeskreis Miniaturbuch Berlin e.V." was published. This book received the award "Outstanding Miniature Book 1997". Futher information can be found on the page
Outstanding Miniature Books.A series of books "Beliebte Sammelgebiete" - "Popular Collecting Domains" was started 1998 to introduce other collecting passions of our members.
First in this series is the book: "Sonder- und Gedenkmünzen der DDR" - (Special and Memorial Coins of the GDR), selected by Prof. Dr. Heinz Schmidt. This book is 70 x 49 mm small (about 2,8 x 1,9 inches), has 132 pages with pictures of 120 coins of the GDR. Grey-green leather cover with goldlettering.A very beautiful book was published 1999 as a "Gift book" for special appreciations and for special birthdays.
"Über Bücher" (About Books) - Reflections on books collected by Heinz Schmidt and Siegfried Spengler. It has 47 pages, is 68 x 48 mm (about 2,7 x 1,9 inches) small, with a grey soft leather cover and "Über Bücher" engraved in various types.
Home Who we are About miniature books Back to News Outstanding miniature books Links (c) Freundeskreis Miniaturbuch Berlin e.V. 1999
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