New Blood in an Old Trade: Elizabeth Svendsen

Svendsen will attend her first ABAA book fair as an exhibitor from Feb. 15 to 17 in San Francisco. She’ll be based in booth 420 and sharing space with James Graham, another new ABAA member, who specializes in modern first editions.

As for the popular perception that books are over, Svendsen observed that “not everything is digitized” and that many people still collect. They still “have the yen to hold the actual book in their hand.”

Her own interests and stock tends toward the 19^th and early 20^th century. One reason is because she doesn’t have the bankroll (yet) to afford the pricier material from the earlier centuries.

She likes Africa, Alaska, the Poles (as in North and South) and mountaineering. Even though her book school mentors convinced her that there’s not enough of a market to make mountaineering a primary focus, you can hear the excitement in her voice when she talks about finds in this field. She also likes vintage travel and tourism especially related to the national parks.