Frederikshavn 2002, FISAE Congress.
Dear readers, here is a report about what happened during the FISAE delegates' works,
held during the International Congress in Frederikshavn (Denmark).
I did not put everything here, I tried to keep it short, I just put what I think was worth reporting,
what in my opinion might be of interest to you.
It was saturday, the 31st august 2002.
At 10.10 am. Mr. Klaus Roedel, FISAE President, gives to each delegate a copy of the Agenda
and opens the works.
It is worth telling that during the works the assembly did not follow step by step the agenda, so my
report does not follow it as well.
Also worth remembering is that there were three countries looking to host the 2006 Congress:
Malbork (Poland), Nyon (Switzerland) and China (well, it was Taiwan, but everyone knows how difficult
it is for Taiwan to present itself as such, you always have in front of you a "China", only later
it is possible to understand it's Taiwan).
1.Mr. Butler (UK), at the opening, introduced every delegate, by surname and country represented.
2.the President, Mr. Klaus Roedel (Denmark), reported on the Congress activities and participation;
3.three societies joined FISAE during this Congress: Argentina, Taiwan and Andalusia (Spain);
4.Mr. Benoît Junod (Switzerland) reported to the assembly about the new list of technical symbols, which
he put together working with Messers Lars Stolt, Frank-Ivo Van Damme and others, among them Junod
recalled Martin Baeyens, Olli Yloenen, Henry Klein. I hope to bring this list online, on a web page
especially devoted to this topic, as soon as I'll find the time to do it.
5. Then it was Dr Ottmar Premstaller (Austria) to speak, he gave more details on how Wels will hold
the 2004 Congress; he also gave the dates: from 14 to 17 July;
6.a Taiwan representative (I was not able to find the names of the
three delegates) unexpectedly, takes on and announces that Taiwan
was to retire from the competition and will try again, in Wels, to
get the 2008 Congress. This surely was a surprise!
7.again Mr. Junod spoke, this time to illustrate Nyon, as a candidate to host the 2006 Congress -
the choice now being limited: Nyon or Malbork.
Then it was Ms. Bogumila Omieczynska, the Polish delegate, to take us by surprise, shortly after the
address of Mr. Junod, annuncing the withdrawal of Malbork from the competition; she said that
Malbork will organize a biennal meeting, to be held in odd years, so to avoid direct competition
with FISAE congresses; without the need to vote, Switzerland wins as organizer of the 2006
Congress.
8.The discussion shifts towards a document, brought to the delegates' attention by Mr. Ivan Panenka,
President of the Slovak society, which raised a number of questions, many of them found quick
adoption by the delegates. Among them, for example:
9.it would be interesting to have a basic set of rules regarding the ex libris competitions, so to
have competitions around the world that follow (more or less) the same pattern; discussion was
quite animated and also quick: this problem is widely aknowledged. The FISAE will take on this
issue;
10.it was explored the opportunity to have a computer software - the same for every collector,
public as well private libraries, ex libris societies and so on, to have archives that are able to
share data between them and that are compatible with each other. Mr. Junod explains that there is
such a software being tested by the British Museum, which is working on an ex libris collection,
so the FISAE will try to find out whether it is possible to share this important institution expertise.
11.the delivery of the fourth edition of the "Directory of bookplate
collectors and designers" triggered a new round of questions an proposals:
the FISAE has been asked to have an Internet site and list the directory
there; Mr. Robert Littlewood (Australia) suggested to have the directory
in digital form; Mr. Heinrich Scheffer (Austria) asked to put in the
Directory the email addresses as well. The FISAE will work on these
questions over the next months.
I tried to write about what I thought were the more important issues raised during the meeting.
With kind regards,
Giancarlo Nicoli
