About: Ian Brabner

Brief biographical information; company history, and our professional affiliations

Ian Brabner is a rare book dealer specializing in 18th century and 19th century American history based in Wilmington, Delaware.

We buy, research, authenticate, catalog and offer for sale rare books and American autograph manuscripts.

Because we also buy and sell “paper” Americana we are considered ephemera dealers. Further, we buy and sell Visual Americana: 18th century and 19th century broadsides, posters, banners, historical photographs, historical prints and posters, graphics, and original artwork.

Almost all of our inventory concerns American history. These items are either unique, notable, or unusual: an 1820s New England mendicant pamphlet; an 1840s South Carolinian woman’s handwritten diary; a broadside announcing the hanging of John Brown; a letter from an oddball American inventor; in sum, any material which shaped American history.

A selection of our stock is online. We issue online short lists, print catalogs, and exhibit at antiquarian book fairs in America.

For over twenty-five years we have helped collectors begin or further advance their collections. We aid collectors, libraries, and institutions build meaningful collections in American history.

Est. 1995. Member: Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA). The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB). Manuscript Society. Ephemera Society. Ian Brabner is a member of The Grolier Club.

The Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America embarked on a project to record the history of its members via interview. In 2012, it was my turn. A somewhat coherent account of how I became a rare bookseller.

About 25 minutes