Career
He transferred his business to Montreal in 1950 and began to specialize in Canadiana. In 1967 Amtmann founded Montreal Book Auctions Limited. to further promote Canadiana. Following Amtmann’s death in January 1979, Montreal Book Auctions was sold to Canada Book Auctions Limited. and relocated to Toronto.
Bernard Amtmann was the moving force behind the foundation of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of Canada in 1966 and served as its first president
He made a significant contribution to the field of Canadian bibliography, publishing a number of bibliographies and bibliographic tools, most notably his four-volume Contributions to a Short-Title Catalogue of Canadiana (1971–1973), The Arctic Bibliography, and Contributions to a Dictionary of Canadian Pseudonyms (1973).
