Why Would You Go To A Book Fair?

If you like books, whether you buy them to read, collect them, or collect and read them, the book fair is the place to go. Where else can you go where 35 to 45 different booksellers bring their best books to sell? Even in this age of internet bookselling, there are many desirable books that do not get listed online, but can be found at a book fair.

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Here you will find an incredible concentration of first editions, fine bindings, vintage postcards, pamphlets, prints and other ephemera. Instead of visiting forty separate shops, you can visit their owners and peruse their samplings in one afternoon!

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Many of the dealers have their own interests. They are always glad to “talk shop” with you about your particular interests in books.

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If you are thinking about selling your private library, go to the book fair to find which booksellers might be interested in looking at your collection.

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You are sure to see books and other materials that you never knew existed. You might find a gem that you just have to own, but you won’t find it unless you attend the VABA Book Fair this Sunday, March 23, at the Sheraton in Burlington, VT (additional information at http://www.vermontisbookcountry.com/ ).

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Stop in and visit us! I’ll be at the Catamount Books booth. Hope to see you this Sunday!

Pride and Prejudice at 200

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was published on January 28, 1813 and this bicentenary year has gotten off to a rousing start with an abundance of news articles, blog commentaries, facebook and twitter babblings, and promises of a year filled with festivals, conferences and much more of the above.

Pride & Prejudice 1st edition, 1813

As booksellers our interest is in the printed word and the physical book – I append here with a link to the complete article one of the better photo-essays on the Pride and Prejudice phenomena over the past 200 years, as seen through the various book cover designs, and a great start to collecting – one title, many covers, here just a small sampling of the possibilities:  [this article was posted on Atlantic Wire on January 25, 2013]

“Monday marks the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice — fun fact: the book’s original title was the questionably Skinemax-sounding First Impressions — and the publishing world is awash in versions of the Jane Austen classic with which you might celebrate the monumental event. After all, Austen’s work has been in the public domain for nearly a century. How do you prefer your Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet star-crossed romance? Here’s a selection of covers from years past up through the present; the good, the bad, the jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and a few that pale in comparison to the book’s contents. First impressions are important! Jane Austen memory lane, let’s take a walk down you …”

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A Sangorski & Sutcliffe binding - on Abeooks for $8,303

Vintage Classics, c2000

[Images from Atlantic Wire]

Further reading:

And this is just a smattering of all the chatter on Pride and Prejudice this past week – whatever would Jane Austen have to say about all this! [unfortunate that this is the only novel for which she sold the copyright outright to the publisher….!]

The Peacock edition, illus. by Hugh Thomson, 1895

c2013 VABA News Blog