Elizabeth Kling Trace (12 November 1914 - 2 October 2006). Known to friends and colleagues as Betsy.
A graduate of Hunter College, Trace entered the antiquarian book trade after her marriage on 15 November 1939 to Timothy Trace. At her death, she was the owner of Timothy Trace, Booksellers.
The brief remembrance of Betsy Trace from colleague Judy Cohen in the A.B.A.A. Newsletter (Vol. 18, no. 1), Winter 2007 (page 1) notes the firm had been a member of the A.B.A.A. since 1950 and had exhibited at the Winter Antiques Show in New York since 1957, until shortly before Trace's death.
According to an obituary published by Antiques and the Arts Weekly, in 1947 “the Traces moved to Red Mill Road in Cortlandt Manor [otherwise Peekskill] in northern Westchester County,” where the shop operated out of the home for 59 years. The business is reported to have specialized in decorative arts, architectural history, and design.
Cohen recalls in her remembrance of Trace in the A.B.A.A. Newsletter her colleague's expertise in books and generosity with her knowledge. Cohen also recalls a visit she and Trace took to Baltimore to look at a collection of books that turned out to have nothing suitable for purchase; Cohen writes, “But when all was said and done, Betsy made a remark that will remain with me always, ‘Well, at least we had a good lunch.’ She used that line often. We always made sure we had a good lunch, anywhere, although I canʼt tell you how many times we had to stop at Friendlyʼs so Betsy could have her favorite, The Fribble.”
