ILAB Presidents' Meeting 2024 in Amsterdam elects new President Angus O'Neill and Committee

He succeeds Mario Giupponi, who served as ILAB President from 2022 to 2024 and will continue as a member of the ILAB Committee for another term.

Angus O'Neill will be supported by the new ILAB Vice-President Mats Petersson (Sweden).

Liam McGahern of Patrick McGahern Books in Canada and Robert Frew (UK) who has served as interim Treasurer since the departure of Treasurer Christopher Bailey in mid-2024, were elected as new members.
Past President Sally Burdon has left the ILAB Committee after over 10 years of dedicated work and was awarded the 'ILAB Medal' for her exceptional services to the League.

Officers:

Angus O'Neill (UK), President
Mats Petersson (Sweden), Vice President
Robert Frew (UK), Treasurer
Nicolas Malais (France), General Secretary

Committee members:

Scott DeWolfe (US)
Philipp Penka (Germany)
Mario Giupponi (Italy)
Liam McGahern (Canada)

Angus O'Neill is well prepared for his role as ILAB President. He has served for many years on the Council of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association in the UK, of which he was President from 2017 to 2019.
As a member of the ILAB Committee since 2020, he has taken on the role of ILAB Security Chair, bringing his valuable experience to the international rare book community.

“I feel very lucky to have been elected by the best booksellers in the world to represent our trade. It is an honour, but it’s an honour which I intend to enjoy! There are challenges ahead: we must navigate between ever-increasing reams of government red tape, and a slew of entirely unregulated marketplaces. However, I know I will have the full support of my friends and colleagues, in particular our very impressive ILAB committee and our excellent Secretary.

I’ve been a full-time antiquarian bookseller since graduating from Cambridge in 1982. I have experience of dealing in many different ways, from years on the road operating out of suitcases to running a shop in London’s West End; I’ve dealt in books on many subjects and in over thirty languages, as well as writing extensively in commercially published books and in the trade press.

Anyone might reasonably assume I'd had my fill of committees, but as a long-term member of the ABA Council and former ABA President, I have wide experience of lobbying and reputation management; I positively enjoy writing letters to those in authority, usually tactfully but sometimes forcefully, and I am happy to say that these have brought results more often than not.

I’m a firm believer in the pleasures of buying, selling and owning rare books and similar materials, both for their aesthetic value and for their scholarly research potential. In a world which seems to be making this unnecessarily hard, I’ll do everything I can to make life easier for everyone who supports these modest ambitions.”

To contact Angus O’Neill, please email president@ilab.org

Image credits:
Lucas Connolly, Angelika Elstner, Dawn Albinger