The Bibliographical Society: The Annual General Meeting 2014

The one hundred and twenty-second Annual General Meeting was held at The Goldsmiths’ Company, Goldsmiths’ Hall, Foster Lane, London ec2v 6bn, on Tuesday, 21 October 2014. The President, Dr Christine Ferdinand, was in the Chair. The minutes of the previous Annual Meeting (which had been printed in The Library for June 2014) were taken as read, seconded by Professor John Flood, and confirmed.

In giving an overview of the past year, the President began by reporting that Hartlebury Castle had received funding that would preserve the Castle and the Hurd Library, a project the Society had supported. The Society had had an active year. Its usual lecture programme was supplemented by an extra talk by Nick Wilding co-sponsored with the British Library, and the Summer Visit, a walking tour of booksites in the City of London, led by Professor James Raven, had been well attended. The Society continues to work with the Bodleian Library towards mounting the London Book Trades and British Book Trades Index databases; it has allocated funds for additions to the database of British Armorial Bookbindings; and it has agreement to convert Richard Goulden’s self-published work on the Kent booktrade into an e-publication. Drs Will Poole and James Willoughby have taken over as joint editors of The Library, and the President commended them on their work.

She announced that Council had decided to make an extraordinary award of the Society’s Gold Medal to Professor Ian Doyle and that the presentation will take place at the meeting on 21 April 2015.

The President then read out the names of members who have died over the past year.

Dr Ferdinand proposed the adoption of the Annual Report for 2013–14 as circulated in advance of the Annual Meeting; it was seconded by Dr Janet Freeman and carried.

The Treasurer presented the accounts for 2013, commenting that the Society’s income is sufficient to support our charitable aims. There was a small increase in subscription and investment income, and fluctuations in our investments are in line with market movements. Online sales of The Library through Oxford University Press were slightly down but still strong; it remains a resource the Society considers unlikely to be long-term and informs our financial decisions accordingly. He also drew attention to the approximately £18,000 the Society grants annually under its Fellowships and Bursaries programme and the stability of publication costs, concluding that the reserve funds remain ample. There were no questions from the floor, and the Treasurer proposed the adoption of the accounts. This was seconded by Dr David Shaw, and carried. The proposal to re-appoint the firm Thornton Springer as auditor for 2014 was also passed, after being seconded by Miss Robin Myers.

The Treasurer reported that new audit procedures were available and had been considered by the Society with its auditors. He proposed to follow the recommendation of Thornton Springer and have an independent examination rather than a full audit. The proposal was seconded by the Rev. Dr Gerard Moate and carried.

The President announced that a new Vice-President was to be elected and nominated Mr Richard Linenthal. She also reported that Nicolas Bell, John Goldfinch, Richard Ovenden and Ed Potten were due to retire from Council under normal rules of rotation and that Chris Fletcher, Janet Freeman, Karen Limper-Herz and Matthew Payne were nominated to succeed them. These nominations were formally seconded by Mr Giles Mandelbrote and approved.

All existing officers were willing to serve in their respective positions for another one-year term. Their election was proposed, seconded by Mr Peter Danckwerts and carried.

The President also announced that her own term of office was ending and proposed Professor Henry Woudhuusen, senior Vice-President, to succeed as President. This was seconded by Professor Flood.

The President asked for any other business. In recognition of the Society’s support of a conference on the Aldine Press, a limited number of members may attend a private view of a related exhbition at the British Library on 5 November. Preliminary conference programmes were available, and details of the private...