WHAT IS THE CLUB KONRAD HAEBLER?THE WORLD´S LARGEST LIBRARIES BEGAN AS PRIVATE COLLECTIONS. - Thanks to this, the works of Aristotle and Plato, Copernicus and Nebrija, Shakespeare and Cervantes have been preserved. Works that have shaped and modelled mankind. Could we imagine a city with no libraries? A University with no books? Libraries are our collective memory, the archives of our past, preserving our cultures, our history and our traditions so that generation after generation, our childrens’ children can learn from these books.
BIBLIOPHILY CLUBS COMMISSIONED THE NOVELS OF JULES VERNE The select and age-old bibliographical societies of Paris and London, since the XVIII and XIX centuries, gathered in their lounges the wise and learned of the time with the aim of savouring and enjoying the bibliographical treasures sought after and acquired all over the world by adventurous travellers, funded by these prestigious clubs. The writers Stevenson and Jules Verne skillfully described these scenes in their atmospheric novels.
In the well stocked libraries of these cathedrals to bibliophily, the Roxburg Club of London, the Académie des Bibliophiles of Paris, or the Bibliophile Society of Boston, plans were laid for these journeys around the world, in order to obtain sought after pieces, which would later be re-edited by their members, and which are today authentic treasures fetching large sums of money in international book markets.
Bibliophiles such as Richelieu, Mazarino and Coibert gave us the Louvre; Felipe II the Escorial Monastery; Felipe V the Biblioteca Real; the Renaissance patrons Carlos and Lorenzo of Médicis the Mediceo-Laurenziana Library; Bruce Cotton and Harley, the British Museum. Thanks to the effort of one man such as Augustus de Bracenscheweig the greatest library in Europe was assembled. Ricard de Bury, who whilst writing a tribute to books, the Philobiblión, founded the Oxford Library, or Cardenal Cisneros, founder of the Complutense de Madrid were also great patrons of the arts and bibliophily.
TODAYS EDITIONS WILL BECOME THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL TREASURES OF THE APPROACHING XXI CENTURY. When CD-I and CD-Roms are replacing many of the reference books in our libraries, all the publishing work performed by our bibliophily society gains relevance, since these re-editions, these facsimiles, will become the bibliographical treasures of the XXI century to be sought after by future bibliophiles, who will regret not having lived in our era so as to have been able to acquire these books.
INTERNATIONAL VALUES THAT ALREADY OCCUPY A PLACE IN THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS AUCTION HOUSES LEIGHT, SOTHEBY’S, KING EVANS, CHRISTIE’S OR DURAN. We believe that our collection of facsimiles of "Incunabula and Antique Books" could and should reproduce for its members these great works of mankind, these rare treasures which are impossible to come across. This calls for serious, meticulous and precise editions, accompanied by the studies and commentaries of prestigious University professors who analyse the works and authors selected. All this without forgetting that their financial worth may, as has ocurred in some of our works, reach large revaluations on the book market as true international assets. We are talking about editions which will always have a ready market, including great auctions houses such as Leight, Sotheby’s, King Evans, Christie’s or Duran.
AIMS OF OUR SOCIETY THE CLUB KONRAD HAEBLER - Our main aim is to bring together enough people, united by their love of books and who consider themselves bibliophiles, to undertake editions of yesteryear’s books which, either due to their rarity or interest, to being unique or to their price given their scarcity, are difficult to acquire.
- To unite book lovers in a highly civic cultural task.
- To enrich our libraries with pieces which will appreciate in value over time on the bibliophile market.
- To get to know each other. To form a significant cultural group that goes down in history as with other Bibliophily Societies, permitting opinions to be exchanged and contacts to be made.
- Each year to be able each year to put forward to the Editing Board of the Club Konrad Haebler editions of interesting books, and to proceed to their publication providing a sufficient number of members back the proposal.
- To endorse the edition of studies which contribute the latest data on authors and works addressed.
- To publish interesting and informative books of interest and information on bibliophily which year after year enrich the knowledge of the members who will receive them free of charge.
- To publish maps and special antique documents for members free of charge.
- Each member will receive a diploma to certify their membership of the Club Konrad Haebler.
- To annually present the member with objects related to the world of bibliophily without additional charge.
- To organise series of conferences, debates and round tables. Journeys which provide the opportunity to follow the routes and locations of the most sought after examples.
- For each member to have their own ex-libris. Periodical publication of new members.
- Any person or entity purchasing any of our editions will become a club member.
WHY "CLUB KONRAD HAEBLER"? Given the international nature of our society, we have endeavoured to find the name of a well-known personality in the world of bibliography and bibliophily who would serve to identify us on a worldwide scale.
He made a visit to Spain in 1889, accompanying Prince Federico Augusto; then later travelled to Portugal in 1891; he was subsequently to carry out, over the years 1897 and 1989, a "Iter Ibericum", detailed proof of which remains in Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen. During this journey he was mainly concerned about the history of Iberian printing.
The fruitful output of this double interest emerged in the shape of his books. It is worth pointing out from among his many works concerning the history of Iberian printing the following: "Deutscher Buchdrucker in Spanien und Portugal", Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, 11 ( 1894); The early printers of Spain and Portugal (London, 1897); Spanische und portugiesische Bücherzeichen des XV and XVI. Jarhunderts (Strassburg, 1898); Tipografía Ibérica del siglo XV (La Haya-Leipzig, 1902); Bibliografía Ibérica del siglo XV (La Haya, etc. 1903-1917); "Juan Rix de Chur: un librero alemán en Valencia en el siglo XV", Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, 13 (1905) "The Valencian Bible of 1478", Revue Hispanique, 21 (1909); "Zur ältesten Geschichte des Buchdrucks in Spanien. Nachträge zur Bibliografía Ibérica", Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, 26 (1909); "Zur Druckertätigkeit des Alfonso Fernández de Córdoba", Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, 32 (1915); Die Drucker und Verleger in Spanien und Portugal von 1501-1536 (Leipzig, 1913); or Geschichte des spanischen Frühdruckers in stammbäunmen (Leipzig, 1923).
Original mastermind behind the project for a world catalogue of incunabula - the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendruche-, his participation was subsequently not very active. The Real Academia de la Historia of Madrid named him correspondent in Dresden. Without a doubt his most definitive contribution to incunabulism appeared under the heading Typenrepertorium der Wiegendrucke (Halle, 1905-1924).
The Handbuch der Inkunabelkunde (1925),recently translated into Spanish with the title Introducción al estudio de los incunables (Madrid, 1995), is an authorised overview, a joy to read, about the printing houses of the first century and their outputs, which has over time been on the obvious receiving end of much praise, by Alfred W.Pollard; Victor Scholderer, Frederick R.Goff, Wieland Schmidt, F.J.Norton, Philip Gaskel or Julián Martín Abad.
THE BOOKS CARRY THE AUTOGRAPHED SIGNATURE OF THE "GUTENBERG PRIZE" PRINTER The members of the Club Konrad Haebler already have numbered and limited examples in their libraries carrying the printer and notary’s signature.
OVER 200 UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD OWN OUR BOOKS. AND ALL MEMBERS HAVE THEIR OWN PERSONAL EX-LIBRIS WHICH HAS BEEN PUBLISHED IN A FIRST COMPILATION VOLUME. The first members were from Spain, both public and private libraries from all over the country supported our initiative. We now have members spread around the world.
Our aim is to achieve a maximum number of members limited by the number of books. Once this figure of 3000 is reached worldwide, then no other member shall be admitted unless by inheritance or by purchasing membership rights from another member.
There are already many members belonging to the Club Konrad Haebler, and therefore we have edited a book with the ex-libris of the first members, thereby fulfilling one of the objectives of our statutes.
These ex-libris were designed one by one personalised for each member with allegorical illustrations, Latin words - taken from the books-, the person’s name, his/her initials, etc., so that the owner of the library to which it belongs is pointed out in the flyleaf of the book.
IN THE YEAR 2000 With the change of century and millenium, we shall be the protagonists of a historical event, since never before has a collection of books such as this been achieved. This has been our proof that union makes strength. Within three years we shall be able to say that our books are from the last century. In the year 2000 the collection will possess 47 facsimiles of incunabula and antique books, 8 annual compilation studies and 10 bibliophily monographs.
Don’t miss out on this unique occasion, join the club. |
Konrad Haebler (Dresden, 1857- Dorf
Wehlen/Sachsen, 13 December 1946) was one of the most outstanding
representatives of German Hispanism. Trained at the University of Leipzig and
member of staff at the Royal Library of his birth place from 1879, he showed
from early on a clear interest in Spain and her history, in particular the
economy. This is revealed in his first book titled Der Streit
Ferdinand’s des Katholischen und Philipp’s I um die Regierung von
Castilien 1504-1506 (Dresden, 1882). 
E.Mail: Vicent García Editores, S.A.