Last Thursday, February 26th, the University of Tulsa Department of Special Collections and University Archives and McFarlin Fellows hosted a reception and dinner honoring antiquarian book trader and founder of Tavistock Books, Vic Zoschak. The evening began with a cocktail reception at the Ann and Jack Graves Faculty Study, followed by dinner at the Pat and Arnold Brown Reading Room. After dinner, Zoschak presented his talk titled “The Antiquarian Book Trade: One Man’s Experience,” in which he gave a retrospective of his formation as an antiquarian bookseller.
After retiring as a US Coast Guard search and rescue pilot, Vic Zoschak Jr., entered the antiquarian book trade in 1989 by establishing Tavistock Books. He was accepted into the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA) in 1995, and currently is serving his third term on the ABAA National Board of Governors.
Education has long been a priority for Zoschak, who advocates and promotes an annual rare book research workshop, now in its 12th year. In 2012, he established the Tavistock Books’ Educational Scholarship. The workshop and scholarship assist new booksellers launching their careers.
Zoschak, who graduated from the US Coast Guard Academy in 1974, holds an MBA from NYU and an MS in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle. Since 1998, he has attended over 20 courses at the University of Virginia’s Rare Book School, earning “The Student with Most RBS Courses Attended” designation.