FISAE

The International Federation of Ex-Libris Societies (FISAE) held its 35^th Congress at Taragonna, Spain, from 22-27 April 2014, attended by 241 collectors and designers from 23 countries. The major bookplate exhibition shown as part of the Congress was the traditional exhibition of bookplates designed since the preceding Congress in 2012. These had been juried for quality and mounted at the Port of Tarragona Museum. Some 1,153 bookplates were submitted by 365 artists from 42 countries, of which six were awarded prizes, twelve were awarded honorable mentions, and 108 were chosen for illustration and exhibition.

            Several substantial volumes were distributed to Congress participants: an excellent collection of amply illustrated essays to accompany an exhibition of the same title, Ex-Libris I Exlibristes (edited by Mariano Casas Hierro); Los Ex-Libris: son manifestaciones de la vanidad? (by Mariano Casas Hierro); La Xilografia I els ex-libris; and Sant Jordi a Catalunya I a l’Exlibrisme, to accompany an exhibition devoted to the same subject-matter.

            FISAE awarded the Udo Ivask Medal and Certificate to Isabelle de Conihout for her book On Ten New Groliers: Jean Grolier’s First Library and His Ownership Marks before 1840 (Grolier Club, 2013) and to Philip Oldfield, for his remarkable guide to armorial superlibri, available on a website at the University of Toronto.

            The 36^th Congress will be held at Vologda, Russia, from 22-27 August 2016.