Kelvin Smith Library
Alumna Julia Gelfand has graciously supported KSL's Book Collecting contests and events since 2017.
The Northern Ohio Bibliophilic Society (NOBS) is a co-sponsor.
Announcing the 2022 Winners!
1st Place Undergraduate
Andromeda Vorndran
Scavenging the Revolution: A Collection of Second Hand Radical Works
1st Place Graduate
Samuel Nemeth
Nineteenth-Century Orchestral Expansion
2nd Place
Francesca Mancino
Reassessing Modernism: Women Writers and Publishers of the Lost Generation
3rd Place
Carson Smith
Epics: Vehicles of Culture
It’s time for the Kelvin Smith Library Student Book Collecting Contest!
The contest is part of the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest, sponsored by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America. Since 2017, alumna Julia Gelfand and has graciously provided sponsorship for the Kelvin Smith Library (KSL) contest and events related to book collecting. KSL also welcomes the Northern Ohio Bibliophilic Society (NOBS) as co-sponsors of the contest this year. In addition to the prize amounts, both first place winners will receive $50 gift certificates to Loganberry Books. All four winners will receive complimentary 1-year memberships in NOBS.
Book Collecting Contest Rules:
You must submit the following items by 5pm on Friday, March 11, 2022 using the KSL CWRU Student Book Collecting Contest Submission Form:
“A collection should reflect a clearly defined unifying theme or interest. It may incorporate ephemera, maps, prints, autograph material as well as books, either hardcover or paperback, as long as they are germane to the collection's focus. How well a collection reflects the collector's intent is more significant than either the number of items or the monetary value of the collection.” -National Book Collecting Contest guidelines
2017 was the inaugural year of the Kelvin Smith Library Book Collecting Contest. A reception was held at Kelvin Smith Library on April 28, 2017 honoring the contest winners.
1st place: Virtuoso String Performers and Pedagogues of the Twentieth Century, Katherine Rogers, graduate student
2nd place: Submarines, Evan Cerne-Iannone, undergraduate student
3rd place: From Joan of Arc to Richard III: War and Peace in Late Medieval England and France, Dominica Rollins, undergraduate student
Image of the 2017 Book Collecting Reception Courtesy of Kelvin Smith Library
Instead of a contest in 2018, John Buchtel, the former head of special collections at Georgetown University now of the Boston Athenaeum, presented "Jane Eyre as Material Text: The Lives and Afterlives of a Classic." The recording is available on You Tube: Jane Eyre as Material Text: The Lives and Afterlives of a Classic
Image of John Buchtel Courtesy of Kelvin Smith Library
1st place: A Look at China History Through American Eyes: Chinese Elements on the Life Magazine Covers, Jianhong Guo, graduate student
2nd place: Editions and Adaptations of Dracula, Leah Davydov, graduate student
3rd place: Comics and Zines, Matthew Haberbusch, undergraduate student
Image Courtesy of Clem Onojeghuo
The winners of Kelvin Smith Library's Book Collecting Contest were announced and celebrated remotely due to the pandemic.
1st place: A Case for Wider Recognition of Owen Wister, Meghan Schill, graduate student
2nd place: My International Treasure-Trove: Global Choral Compositions, Anna O'Connell, graduate student
3rd place: Opera Librettos, Paul Abdullah, graduate student
Image Courtesy of Paul Abdullah
In April of 2021 "Mythbusting Book Collecting with Rebecca Romney," a virtual event was held. The recording for this event is available on the CWRU YouTube channel. Rebecca Romney is a rare book dealer, appraiser, and author. She is the co-founder of Type Punch Matrix, a Washington DC-area rare book firm specializing in pivotal works from every field. Romney has been in the trade since 2007, when she was hired by Bauman Rare Books and began appearing on the HISTORY Channel’s television show Pawn Stars as the rare book specialist in 2011. She is one of the longest running specialists (and the only regular woman specialist) on the show. Additionally, Romney is the co-founder and one of the judges of the Honey & Wax Prize, an annual award for an outstanding book collection built by a woman, age 30 or younger, living in the United States. As a researcher and collector, Romney's personal interests lie in genre fiction, especially science fiction, fantasy, and romance. In 2017, Rebecca published her first book: Printer's Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History.
Image of Rebecca Romney Courtesy of Dave Pappas