Archive for the ‘fairs & festivals’ Category

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2011 Toronto International Antiquarian Book Fair

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

After a 15-year hiatus, we’re pleased to report that last year, the Toronto International Antiquarian Book Fair was back in business, and a definite success, with nearly 1500 visitors in attendance to enjoy perusing rare and collectible books, prints, maps, manuscripts and much more.

This year’s fair is sure to be a magnificent affair, with nearly 50 exhibitors, all members of their national antiquarian book associations and of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) in attendance.

The event is mere days away and AbeBooks will be there to enjoy it all. We won’t have a booth at the fair, but we are proud sponsors, and AbeBooks material will be available at the registration desk. As well, Maria Hutchison and Lindsay Thompson from our Sales and Account Management team will be in attendance walking the floor, so be sure to seek them out to say hello.

Over 30 of the exhibitors in attendance are AbeBooks booksellers, including Alexandre Antique Prints, Maps & Books, Peter Harrington, Bauman Rare Books, William Reese Company and many more.

Maria and Lindsay will also host a bookseller breakfast on the morning of Saturday, October 29th. If you’d like to attend the breakfast, or make arrangements to meet with Maria or Lindsay, they can be reached at mhutchison@abebooks.com and lthompson@abebooks.com respectively.

The fair takes place over three days:

Friday, October 28th, 5pm – 9pm
Saturday, October 29th, 11am – 6:30pm
Sunday, October 30th, 12 noon – 5pm

at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre
North Building
100 (Lower) Level
Constitution Hall – Room 105
255 Front Street West

Cost is $15.00 for a 3 day pass (pre-order for $5.00 coupon towards admission).

For more information, visit the Toronto International Antiquarian Book Fair official web site.

We hope to see you there!

Posted in AbeBooks, antiquarian, Canada, collecting, fairs & festivals | No Comments »

Wigtown Book Festival hires hermit-in-residence

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Whoever is doing the marketing for this year’s Wigtown Book Festival in Scotland should get a raise (although I imagine the actual bright spark is doing it for free).

This wonderful festival has hired a hermit-in-residence for the duration of the 10-day event. The hermit even has a great name, Robert Twigger – Twiggy to his friends. The Independent carries this story.

He will set up home in a purpose-built grotto, constructed from reclaimed timber, found on Wigtown beach, in the garden of Wigtown’s largest bookshop, with a hose to the nearest standpipe in order for him to take a shower.

You can throw a rock and hit a writer-in-residence these days (you even find them at airports) so this is a lovely idea. The Wigtown Book Festival goes from 23 September to 2 October, and Wigtown, if you don’t know, is Scotland ‘Book Town.’

Posted in fairs & festivals, news, odd | No Comments »

A King James Bible at the London Antiquarian Book Fair

Monday, June 6th, 2011

Visitors to the 54th London International Antiquarian Book Fair later this week will be able to see an historic King James Bible, which celebrates its 400th anniversary this year.

The King James Bible, more commonly known as the Authorized Version, was first published in London in 1611. The bible comes from the collection of the Museum of the Book in London’s East End, which has been built up over 35 years by the Reverend David Smith. It’s now a collection of global importance.

Reverend Smith is also giving a lecture at the fair on Friday 10 June at 2pm called ‘Celebrating 400 years of the King James Bible: The book that changed the world’

More details about the event.

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2011 London International Antiquarian Book Fair

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

The London International Antiquarian Book Fair is one of the highlights on the rare book calendar. This year’s fair begins on Thursday 9 June and continues until Saturday 11 June at the Olympia Exhibition Centre.

Visitors will see rare and collectable books offered for sale from the finest booksellers in Europe, North America and Australia. Traditionally, the fair showcases a wide range of books and ephemera, stretching from 15th century antiquarian gems to hypermodern first editions.

Aside from the opportunity to enhance your collection, the fair includes a detailed schedule of events ideal for beginners and experienced book collectors.

Organised by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA) and affiliated to the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), the London International Antiquarian Book Fair has been in business for 54 years. All the dealers are affiliated to ILAB.

Many of the booksellers will be familiar to customers of AbeBooks. Bauman Rare Books, Paul Foster, Stephen Foster, Robert Frew, Adrian Harrington Rare Books, Peter Harrington, Jonkers Rare Books, Maggs Bros., Bernard Quaritch, Royal Books, Bernard Shapero, Sims Reed, Peter L Stern and Voyager Press Rare Books are just a handful of the 160+ exhibitors.

Friday features an afternoon of lectures:

• 14.00 – 14.30 Celebrating 400 years of the King James Bible: The book that changed the world – The Rev. David Smith

• 15.00 – 15.30 Forgery of Books and Manuscripts for Pleasure or Profit – Nicolas Barker

• 16.00 – 16.30 How Do You Price a Book? – Rick Gekoski

• 17.00 – 17.30 Book Collecting for Beginners – Jolyon Hudson of Marlborough Rare Books

Saturday features an ABA Roadshow where a panel of experts that will offer appraisals on books, photographs, letters or manuscripts. The experts include Adam Blakeney from Peter Harrington Antiquarian Bookseller, Justin Croft, Clive Farahar and Brian Lake from Jarndyce Antiquarian Booksellers.

Visitors on Saturday will also be able to enjoy bookbinding and calligraphy taster sessions. Shepherds Bookbinding, the prestigious London firm, hopes to introduce younger people to the craft of bookbinding and has recently devised a bookbinding kit, in conjunction with the V&A Museum, which serves as a quick and creative way to learn about this craft. Shepherds will be demonstrating the kit and inviting visitors to sign up their children (10 years or older) for this course – each session lasts about 30 minutes. The bookbinding kits cost £15 each and the on-site tuition is free.

Sharon Shaw, a freelance calligrapher, will also be on hand to teach visitors (ideally youngsters) how to write in italics.

This year’s fair patron is the actress and bibliophile Zoë Wanamaker. An accomplished performer on stage, screen and television, Wanamaker lists Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows as the book she’d most like to have on a desert island. The fair is also supporting Shakespeare’s Globe theatre via its charity preview event. The Globe plans to build a Shakespeare research centre and library.

The Olympia Exhibition Centre can be found on Hammersmith Road, London W14. Travel to Kensington (Olympia) on the District line from Earls Court. The venue is next to the station.

Advance tickets are free of charge if you register online. Entrance costs are £10 or £15 for two on Thursday and Friday on the door, and £5 or £7.50 for two on Saturday. Children are admitted free when accompanied by an adult.

Posted in AbeBooks, antiquarian, books, booksellers, collecting, fairs & festivals, news | No Comments »

Bloody Words 2011 Mystery Conference

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

One of the most aptly named events on the Canadian literary calendar is the annual Bloody Words mystery conference.

This year, it is being held in Victoria, British Columbia (AbeBooks’ home town) on June 3-5. The guests of honour are writers Tess Gerritsen, Michael Slade and William Deverell.

The Bloody Words conference began in 1999. The event usually attracts around 250 readers and writers from across Canada and the United States, who come together to discuss all aspects of the genre. There are panels covering everything from writing that debut novel to the latest in crime forensics, writing workshops, author signings, manuscript evaluations and readings by leading mystery writers. More than 100 mystery authors have already registered to attend.

Slade, a pen name for Vancouver criminal lawyer Jay Clarke, has written 14 mystery novels. Gerritsen, an American, is the international guest of honour. Her thrillers have been worldwide bestsellers since the mid-1990s and she has sold more than 20 million books. Deverell is the local guest of honour as he lives on nearby Pender Island – a former journalist, he has been writing novels since the late 1970s.

Find more details about the event at the Bloody Words website.

Posted in author, books, Canada, crime, fairs & festivals, reading, thrillers, writing | No Comments »

Inside the New York Antiquarian Book Fair

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

My colleague Lindsay recently visited the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. This event features the world’s finest booksellers, including many who sell on AbeBooks, and a huge number of rare books are on display.

Posted in AbeBooks, antiquarian, books, collecting, fairs & festivals, video | No Comments »

Vancouver International Poetry Festival coming soon

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

van-poetry-festivalOver on AbeBooks’ main Canadian page, we are previewing the inaugural Vancouver International Poetry Festival, which begins on April 18 and goes until April 23.

The event celebrates the spoken and written word, and showcases a wide variety of exceptional poets from Canada and beyond. Some of the headline acts include Susan Musgrave, bill bissett, Ivan E Coyote and Lillian Allen. The event will include readings, a poetry slam, poetry and music mash-ups and a lot of West Coast writers.

AbeBooks is a proud sponsor. You can find a list of the events along with dates, times and venues here.

Plus we have an interview with Susan Musgrave too. As always, Susan is never dull.

Posted in AbeBooks, author, Canada, fairs & festivals, interview, poetry | No Comments »

Galiano Literary Festival starts today

Friday, February 25th, 2011

Good news from our neck of the woods. The Galiano Literary Festival starts today and continues until 28 February. Galiano is a tiny island between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland. Like many of the Gulf Islands, Galiano has a bookshop and a vibrant community of artists and writers. We always visit the bookshop when we’re on the island.

This the second literary festival to be held on Galiano and some great authors will be appearing, including Meg Tilly, Timothy Taylor, Annabel Lyon and Robert Wiersema.

Posted in Canada, fairs & festivals, reading | 1 Comment »

Toronto Antiquarian Book Fair update

Friday, November 5th, 2010

The National Post reports from the Toronto International Antiquarian Book Fair. It features 45 booksellers from Canada, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain and France. Adrian Harrington, one of London’s top rare book dealers, has a very philosophical view of the trade, while Canadian Steven Temple fears the end is nigh.

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Vancouver Book Fair: Thank you

Monday, October 18th, 2010

Thanks to everyone who came up and chatted at the Vancouver Antiquarian Book Fair. We met many customers and booksellers over the two days. Charles Purpora and Richard Hopkins, of the Alcuin Society, deserve a special mention for helping to bring back this fair after 20 years in the wilderness. The Alcuin Society also provided volunteers who helped keep the fair running smoothly. I hope this event becomes a permanent fixture on the rare book calendar.

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Vancouver Antiquarian Book Fair: See You There

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

I will be attending the Vancouver Antiquarian Book Fair on Friday afternoon/evening and all day on Saturday along with some other colleagues from AbeBooks. I’m looking forward to meeting some interesting booksellers and book-buyers, and also the folks from the Alcuin Society. AbeBooks has a booth at the event – come up and say hello, and take some free Abe swag. As we’re an online business, the opportunity to meet our customers face-to-face is invaluable. I will also be taking some pictures on Friday afternoon and, hopefully, getting them posted on this blog and the AbeBooks’ Facebook page.

The book fair takes place on October 15-16 at the Vancouver Public Library on 359 West Georgia Street. On Friday, the hours are 3pm – 9pm and on Saturday they are 10am – 5pm. It costs only $5 to get in and you are going to see some marvelous books.

It’s good to see the Vancouver Sun give the fair some space in today’s edition.

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J.K. Rowling manuscripts at Wigtown Festival

Monday, September 20th, 2010

Some JK Rowling hand-written manuscripts are on display at the Wigtown book festival, which started today and continues until October 2, reports the Telegraph.

The two framed pages, signed by the author, were originally written as part of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. They feature The Ballad of Nearly Headless Nick, which was eventually edited out of the second book before publication

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10 reasons why Oxford should be a UNESCO Book Capital

Friday, September 17th, 2010

OxfordI’m thrilled to hear that Oxford is bidding to become UNESCO World Book Capital in 2014. I lived in the town from 1990 to 1996 and again from 1999 until I came to Canada in 2004. It truly is a bookish place.

Yes, it’s a world famous university town but it’s also packed full of bibliophiles and has been so for centuries. The bid is being led by Philip Pullman, Oxford’s most famous author of the current generation, and Inspector Morse writer Colin Dexter, who is perhaps the author most dedicated to the town.

Here are my reasons why Oxford should be a UNESCO World Book Capital.

1 The Bodleian Library – this library is one of the world’s finest libraries and contains rare books we can only dream about. Walking into the place, like any university student can, is like stepping back in time. Who else has the Radcliffe Camera?

2 Blackwell’s – founded in 1879, this most bookish of bookselling companies was born in Oxford and headquartered there. It’s being broken up now, but that’s another story.

3 The Eagle and Child – this is the pub where the Inklings met. You can sit where Tolkien and Lewis supped pints of bitter and joked about orcs and wardrobes that led to magical kingdoms. I always loved that pub.

4 Legendary authors of the past – Tolkien, Lewis, Lewis Carroll, John Buchan, Graham Greene and Iris Murdoch were residents and then there are all the authors (Wilde, Houseman, Shelley for starters) who attended the university.

brideshead-revisited5 Setting for fiction – There’d be no Brideshead Revisited without Oxford. No grumpy old Inspector Morse.

6 The current authors – Pullman, Dexter, Susan Cooper and there is bound to be more I’m not familiar with.

7 Readers – You see people reading books everywhere. On the bus, walking down the street, in the pub, in Christchurch meadows, in the Parks while the cricket is going on, alongside the river, on the river.

8 Shops – There are some wonderful used bookshops in the town such as The Inner Bookshop, which serves the city’s . Also one of Oxfam’s best secondhand bookshops is located in on St Giles.

9 Oxford University Press – it’s the world’s largest university press and has been in business since around the 1630s (it’s so old, people seem to be unsure of the exact date). Wikipedia says the first book to be printed in Oxford was in 1478 and I can believe it.

10 It currently has a vibrant literary festival.

I’ll be staggered if Oxford does not succeed in this bid.

Posted in author, awards, books, celebration, fairs & festivals, literature, news | 1 Comment »

Book collector Jim Rainer to speak at UVic

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

One of British Columbia’s leading book collectors, Jim Rainer, will be speaking at the University of Victoria’s library on Tuesday, October 5. Rainer has collected press books, the book arts, books on gardening, books on baseball and also mechanical pencils over the years. He also served as president of the Alcuin Society and is a lifelong supporter of fine books and the book arts.

The event is 2pm to 4pm at Room A003, Archives and Special Collections Classroom on the lower level of the McPherson Library. Admission is free and there will be refreshments. However, you need to reserve your place as space is limited – call 250 721 8217 or email libadmin@uvic.ca.

Rainer’s speech is part of the celebrations around Canadian Library Month.

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Wigtown Book Festival 2010

Friday, September 10th, 2010

Wigtown Book Festival is coming up so booklovers in Scotland (and England too) may wish bookmark these dates – 24 Sept to 3 Oct. The festival features more than 170 events over 10 days and visitors will have the chance to meet the likes of Ian Rankin, Iain M Banks and Val McDermid. Wigtown is Scotland’s ‘Book Town’ and reinvented itself through secondhand bookshops. Many of the dealers there also sell on AbeBooks.

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