February 20, 2003

Dear Fellow Members,

Although it does not seem like a year since I last wrote to you, it is in fact time once again to announce the details of our annual meeting. It will take place on Friday, March 21, at 4:00 p.m. in the McGregor Room of Alderman Library. Following a brief business meeting, we will hold another in our alternate-year series of programs featuring short papers by current or recent Virginia graduate students who are working in the general area of bibliographical and textual studies. The program will consist of the following four papers:

John Buchtel, "The Memorial Engraving in Chapman's Homer"
Catherine Rodriguez, "Foreign Editions of Burney's Cecilia"
Michelle Gallinger, "Transatlantic Variants in Nightwood and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas"
Kristin Jensen, "Transatlantic Variants in Bridget Jones's Diary"

In the business part of the meeting, preceding the papers, we shall vote on the re-election of Karin Wittenborg to the Council, for a term ending in 2010. As you know, Karin has taken a keen interest in the Society's affairs and has been generous of her time, in spite of the many demands on it as University Librarian. We are fortunate that she is willing to stand for re-election.

We are continuing our now well-established tradition of holding our meeting during the Virginia Festival of the Book. The meeting is listed in the Festival's official roster of events, which we hope will cause interested nonmenbers to attend. And we hope that our out-of-town members will find more reasons to come to Charlottesville at that time, since there will be many programs in addition to the Society's meeting to attract them. The full program is available at .

During the past year, another volume of Studies in Bibliography was published, and we are greatly indebted to David Vander Meulen, the editor, and his dedicated assistant Elizabeth Lynch for the extensive work involved in producing another outstanding volume. We thank them for maintaining the high standard that Studies is known for. It should be a matter of great pride to all of us that the Society, throughout its existence, has sponsored a publication of such importance to the bibliographical world. [over]

On the subject of Studies, we can also announce that the day of our meeting will be the official publication date of an ebook version of the entire back run of Studies (prepared by the Etext Center at Virginia). As you know, Studies was the first scholarly journal with a long history to have its entire run made available free of charge on the Internet. Now it has the further distinction of being the first to have its entire run in ebook form. After March 21, all one will have to do is download it from the Society's Website http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/bsuva/.

There is additional publication news. The Society is reprinting three of its earlier publications that have been out of print for some time: Fredson Bowers's Essays in Bibliography, Text, and Editing (which has been almost unobtainable on the second-hand market for many years) and my Textual Criticism and Scholarly Editing and The Life and Work of Fredson Bowers. By about mid-year, these books will again be available.

Each year's new volume of Studies is distributed by the University Press of Virginia, but all the Society's other publications in print (including earlier volumes of Studies) are available from Oak Knoll Books. Let me remind you that members of the Society who identify themselves will be given a 10% discount. If you don't receive Oak Knoll catalogues and would like to, just write to 310 Delaware Street, New Castle, Delaware 19720; or phone 302-328-7232 or 1-800-996-2556; or fax 302-328-7274; or email oakknoll@oakknoll.com. Oak Knoll's catalogue can also be browsed at www.oakknoll.com.

I have mentioned two members of the Council and one staff member already, and I want to thank the others as well--Ruthe Battestin, Terry Belanger, Kathryn Morgan, Anne Ribble, and David Seaman. The functioning of the Society depends on the generous support of this loyal group of people. I want to single out Anne Ribble for special thanks; as Secretary-Treasurer, she knows how to deal with all kinds of situations, always bearing in mind the Society's best interests.

Let me remind you that there are several levels of membership above the basic one: Contributing Members ($125-$249), Patrons ($250-$499), and Benefactors ($500 or more). The next time you receive a dues notice, I hope you will consider increasing the amount you give, as a way of showing your support for the Society's role in furthering bibliographical scholarship and making it available electronically. And whenever you talk to interested students, let them know that there is a special student rate of $17.50. The study of book history is thriving, but scholarly societies in general are not growing; and if their dues income does not increase, their support of scholarship will be hampered. It would be wonderful if each of you could recruit one or two new members of the Society in the coming year.

With thanks and best wishes to all of you.