Michael R. Thompson, Booksellers

02/17/2026

One of the saddest things about not getting to the San Francisco Fair is missing Michele’s talk. But I will be around for her talk to the Zamorano Club in March. I wrote a foreword to this book for Michele, so I have read a lot of it.it will be a wonderful contribution to the history of rare book selling in Southern California. She has done a fantastic job!

Join us at the California International Antiquarian Book Fair on Saturday, February 28, at 1:30 pm for a presentation on "The Creative Vision of Alice Millard (1873-1938), Innovative Antiquarian Bookseller " by Michèle Cloonan.

1:30 PM | The Creative Vision of Alice Millard (1873-1938), Innovative Antiquarian Bookseller Co-sponsored by the Bibliographical Society of America

Michèle Cloonan | Dean and Professor Emeritus, Simmons University

Alice Millard is best known as an antiquarian bookseller who championed the work of William Morris and T.J. Cobden-Sanderson, and sold books to many prominent 20th-century book collectors. She is also known for La Miniatura, the Pasadena house that Frank Lloyd Wright designed for her. Less known is her association with several important women social reformers. This talk will reveal Millard's many facets.

Info and tickets available at: www.abaa.org.cabookfair

05/10/2023

We will be there! Hope you will be, too.

02/23/2023

Literary Hub is pleased to announce that submissions are now open for the seventh annual Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize, which awards $1,000 for “an outstanding book collection conceiv…

02/06/2023

https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2023/02/04/book-collectors-swoon-for-the-california-international-antiquarian-book-fair-feb-10-12-in-pasadena/?fbclid=IwAR361dx_egYIEBOCFnlW8YaSoT79icVsD1QutJ7XneOIPpt4rBzZ6gHEIfI

Get your book bags ready for the 55th California International Antiquarian Book Fair, Feb. 10-12, at the Pasadena Convention Center.

02/02/2023

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens will exhibit for the first time the oldest printed book in its collection, The Scripture of the Great Flower Ornament of the Buddha from the 11th century.

02/01/2023

Clean, dry hands always!

Ever wonder why you don't see librarians handling books with white gloves? It's not carelessness -- it's by design! Learn why clean, dry hands are the best w...

02/01/2023

Our Bright Young Collectors series continues today with Whitney Milam, winner of the 2023 California Young Book Collector's Prize. An exhibition of Whitney's collection will be on display at the 55th California Book Fair, February 10 - 12 in Pasadena.

01/26/2023

Coming to our booth at the California Antiquarian Book Fair in Pasadena, February 9-11:

HODGSON, Barbara and Claudia Cohen. Paper Botanists: Cultivators of Artifice. [n.p.] Byzantium, 2022. With approximately 140 sample leaves of herbaria, drawings, and prints, plus a folder with extra oversized sample leaves from eleven different sources. The leaves originate from broken volumes of botanical texts from the last 350 years or were created by the authors for the present book. Text printed by Rollin Milroy at Heavenly Monkey. Bound by Claudia Cohen in green leather over green-and-white striped pastepaper boards. Enclosed in a matching green leather and pale green cloth clamshell case made by Cohen. A fine copy of a stunning book by two of the most accomplished living book artists. $8,900
One of twenty regular copies. Ten deluxe and six hors commerce copies were also produced. Signed by Hodgson and Cohen on the colophon. Paper Botanists is the first collaboration between Hodgson and Cohen to be published by Byzantium, an imprint established by Hodgson in 1995 for trade book publications. Their previous collaborations have been published by Heavenly Monkey, including PatternPattern (2019), Folding Paper
(2017), and The WunderCabinet (2011).

01/26/2023

Bookseller spotlight! Michael R. Thompson, Booksellers will be in attendance at California Antiquarian Book Fair. Items for sale include "Paper Botanists" (Byzantium, 2022) by Claudia Cohen and Barbara Hodgson - one of just 20 copies; and "Ten Poems with One Title" (Barbarian Press, 2022), featuring the poetry of Robert Bringhurst and the artwork of Richard Wagener.

Learn more: https://www.abaa.org/cabookfair

01/25/2023

"What the Hell is Ukulele Literature?" – This exhibit will attempt to answer this question by featuring 170 years of books and ephemera dealing with the diminutive instrument from its little-known Madeiran roots to its current status as an international phenomenon. California Antiquarian Book Fair is February 10-12 at the Pasadena Convention Center.