There were 71 of us gathered in New Orleans on a hot, but sunny weekend for the MBS Conclave XXIII. There were seven countries represented outside the USA.

After the opening night silent auction and buffet dinner , Pat Pistner gave a talk about her magnificent collection. The Distinguished Book Awards were handed out to Jan Kellett, Maryline Poole-Adams and Jarmila Sobota. This year the contest was exceptionally close and for the first time, the six other finalists were publicly announced: Devenyi, Lavadour, Timm, Pribikova, Woad and Bijsma & Judin. Next morning started with the Annual Meeting. It was no surprise that Eileen Cummings was elected President and Pat Pistner Vice-President. It was announced that Twyla Racz and Angelika Jaeck were appointed to the Board as Secretary and Member-at-Large, respectively, to complete vacant terms. The Treasurer’s report underlined our precarious financial situation, with a deficit of $7000.00 in the last year.

We had a very nice tour to the New Orleans Museum of Art, combined with luncheon. Saturday afternoon was free, but only the hardiest souls ventured out into the stifling heat to stroll in the French Quarter or sip chicory coffee with beignets at the Cafe du Monde. Several people took the streetcar to a nearby library to see our wonderful new Traveling Exhibit. The day concluded with the annual auction, which was lively, active and unofficially netted about $2500.00 for the Society.

Sunday morning and afternoon was devoted to the Book Fair, where 28 tables displayed the usual great mix of old and new miniature books. After the evening banquet our own Peter Thomas delivered a talk that was informative, entertaining and totally hilarious at the same time! The remaining awards were handed out: the Anderson-Yarnell to Barbara and Ray Williamson, the Norman Forgue to Neal Albert and the Glasgow Cup to Mary and Paul Devenyi. A special lifetime achievement award was given to Barbara Raheb.