Olympia Antiquarian Bookfair 2011. To be there, or not to be there?

Summer time is almost upon us and that means that it's time for the Olympia Bookfair again.
The International Antiquarian Bookfair circuit finds booksellers converging on cities around the world at set times of the year. The California bookfair is always in February, although it does alternate each year between Los Angeles and San Francisco (even in the state of California North and South have their own agendas and view each other with some suspicion), April is split between New York early in the month and Paris at the end. June belongs to London and the ABA Olympia bookfair. Mid November means a trip to the often cold and wet North Eastern U. S. A for Boston's turn, and finally, the last few years has found booksellers enjoying the experience of December in Hong Kong. (I exhibited at the Hong Kong Bookfair two years ago. My one and only sale at the fair just about covered my taxi fare from my house to Heathrow Airport. I haven't been back).

There are other international events, but they tend to be Bi-annual, occassional, or mostly just local affairs, similar to the ABA Chelsea bookfair each November, all but 1 or 2 of the exhibitors being from the UK. On this basis, and because I don't do them, I have left them out. My blog, My rules.

Last Year the Canadian Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABAC) re-launched their own fair in Toronto during the last weekend of October, after a 15 year hiatus. This was considered successful enough to repeat again this year and looks set to become part of the calendar. I did the fair last year and was hugely impressed with the number of collectors, Librarians, Dealers and just curious onlookers that the organisers got through the door. I sold very well to many new customers and will be returning this year. Toronto is such a fun city, I would recommend anyone to visit. I had a great time and can't wait to get back there.
The bookfair last year conincided with Halloween. A night that the whole of Toronto takes very seriously, if that is the right word. I had always thought that 'Trick or Treating' and dressing up in costumes on Halloween was very much an American thing but the Canadians do it bigger, louder, and better than the US. Leaving a restaurant with fellow bookdealers we were jumped on by a group of female pirates who insisted on having their pictures taken with us. While this was going on a group of giggling girls dressed as Baywatch lifeguards (a brave move on a wintery Toronto night) was chased past us by Popeye and Scooby Do.

We retreated to the sanity of the nearest bar.

Anyway, I digress (Yeah, I know. I do it when speaking, thinking and dreaming, as well as writing).

June. London. Olympia.

This years fair is being held on the 9, 10, & 11th of June, with a charity preview being held between 2 and 4 pm on thursday 9th, in aid of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, hence the hilarious pun in the title. (As I said, It's my blog. I can do what I like).

This years fair patron is Zoe Wanamaker, who will opening the, bookfair and making a short speech. Zoe's Father, Sam, was the driving force behind establishing the re-built Globe Theatre, on the Thames South Bank, and its many educational activities. They are celebrating receipt of the fabulous John Wolfson collection of Elizabethan books and research material that was generously donated to them last year.

There are many dealers from all around the world offering all manor of items in all price ranges. The downstairs area has many stands run by allied trades and associations. I could list a few here but risk forgetting something, or someone, so I think it is probably best to just give you the address of the dedicated Olympia Bookfair website. Here you will find all the details of the whole event, and can even download free tickets for the fair.

http://www.olympiabookfair.com/





I shall be at the bookfair. I am on stand number 62 and would welcome anyone who feels like dropping by to say Hello. I will have many new items of stock on show, including the only known signed copy of the famous 'Brown Faced' 1973 Rupert Annual. A scarce 1835 hand coloured extending Peep-show of the first Railway in Germany. A very good set of First editions of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in dustwrappers. A very clean and tight First edition of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. Several scarce three decker novels from the 19th century, half a dozen of them not included in either the Sadleir or Wolff collections. Aside from these I will have the usual mixture of fine bindings, First editions, Childrens and Illustrated books as well as a mix of unusual, rare and interesting books from all ages.

See you there.


Paul.

Aaaargh. My books got wet.

I returned from the New York Antiquarian Bookfair last week with a smile on my face.

I had sold a lot of books, met several interesting new people, bought a few nice books, & had a lot of fun in the evenings. It's not all work at these international events. Local dealers put on parties to entertain those from out of town and there are always new and exciting restaurants or bars that get recommended on each visit. The week ended with a last night visit to a comedy club late on saturday night after what was probably the biggest steak dinner I've ever eaten (No, really, I mean it). Things have calmed down from the 4am sessions of ten years ago, but we Booksellers still know how to have fun when forced away from home to  city that doesn't sleep (by the way, I've finally worked out that the City actually wants to sleep, it just can't because of the constant honking of car horns all night. The street signs threatening hefty fines for Horn use are ignored more than the One-way signs in Rome and the Pedestrian Crossing ones in Paris).


The Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) New York Bookfair is held every April in the grand, in every sense of the word, Park Avenue Armory, at 67th street. It is an amazing building, taking up a whole block of prime Upper East Side Manhattan land. Because of its location, size and ease of loading, it is perfect for fairs and is used throughout the year for events of all kinds, from art and antiques shows to our humble little bookfair every spring.

Good after fair sales have kept me smiling for the last seven days as I fought the inevitable jet-lag and tiredness that a week working and socialising in New York brings with it.

That smile was wiped from my face today.

Speaking to a fellow dealer in London this morning he complained that one of his many shipping trunks, delivered back from the same New York fair had leaked water in and damaged some of the books inside. Mine were alright, I said confidently, eyeing the one trunk that I hadn't yet opened, the books being sealed in re-inforced moulded plastic trunks with a gripping lock system. Surely nothing could get in them. After all, it hadn't in all the years of being sent off to various bookfairs around the world.

I opened that last trunk to find the books on the top were all bone dry in their Bubble wrap protectors. Unfortunately as I got to the bottom of the trunk it became clear that some water had got in. And not just a drop or two, either. Enough to soak the handfull of books sat at the bottom. A couple of quite valuable books were protected from damage by the clam-shell boxes that I now have made for a larger part of my more valuable stock. All that money that I spend on these boxes now makes perfect sense. I was able to just wipe the water off the two boxes and the books remained unharmed inside.

(Sorry. I couldn't resist)

An odd mix of books got damaged. An 1834 First Flugel Edition of the Koran, Two leather bound early editions of Carroll's Alice books, a 1780 book of travels in the Middle East in a wonderful contemporary full calf binding and a 1930's exhibition binding on a book of Chinese folk tales and legends.

(The dark area is the wet bit)

A couple of the books might be saveable to be cleaned up and re-priced to allow for the damage but I'm afraid the 18th century travel book is ruined for all but the biggest bargain hunter who will tolerate the large water stains and the already showing mold, at a price.


I am relieved that only a few books got damaged. It could have been far worse, but it has taken the shine off what was a great week & I will be nervous the next time the shippers come to collect for my next overseas bookfair.
　


Paul.

Paul Foster Books. Catalogue. 2011.

Yesterday I received several boxes, from my Printer, containing my latest Catalogue. It is always an exciting time for a bookseller. Months of hard work, buying, researching and cataloguing the books, not to mention proof reading and checking photo images, have gone into this one little volume, and it is as near to publishing as most book Dealers ever get.
This latest catalogue is a selection of the more interesting items I have bought recently, listing 190 books over 48 text pages and with a sixteen page colour section full of photographs in the middle, the whole lot wrapped in colour printed, gloss finished, covers.
It is a modest little booklet by some standards, but when I ccompare it to the catalogues I was producing back in the 1990's it seems a world away. My business, and my catalogues, have seen remarkable advances in Technology over the last 20 years. My first catalogue, issued in 1993, was a simple affair. I didn't have a computer or word processor. I simply piled the books up, in alphabetical order, on the table and typed out my descriptions, book by book, onto A4 sheets on an old manual typewriter. These completed sheets were than handed into a local printer, a blue card cover was decided on, and he produced, I think, about 200 copies for me.

This catalogue was simply my typed pages copied and reduced to A5, with all the missprints, Tip-ex marks and smudges intact.

I didn't have a mailing list back then, so got hold of a directory of all the book dealers in the UK and sent a copy to those that listed Children's books, Bindings and Literature as specialities. Luckily, some of those dealers ordered books and so there I was, a catalogue bookseller. I gave the rest away to customers who bought books from me either at Bookfairs, or my market stall in Ealing, West London. A couple of those customers who were given catalogue number 1 are still buying books from me 18 years later. I don't know whether either has kept a complete set of my output, or whether they are binned after ordering whatever interests them.

Later in the 1990's I started using a Computer which changed things dramatically. I bought a specialist bookselling program that arranged my stored listings in catalogue format at the push of the "Create Catalogue" button. Getting creative, I started laying out a selection of the books listed, either on the floor or on a bookcase, and taking colour photos of them. I would then take the film into the local chemist and when the negatives were ready ask for 300 prints ( I had started to develop a mailing list by then) of the best image. These were then stuck onto the front cover of each catalogue, within a plain line border I had asked the printer to include.

Each photo was manually stuck into position by me, using a glue stick. This process lasted until the 2000's when, Thankfully, colour printing, digital photography and Photoshop programs all became cheaper and easy to use.

These days the print run has grown to 1000 copies, the number of colour photos to about 80 and the paper is thicker and of a better quality, the covers with a high gloss finish.
The catalogues still contain a mixture of books on different subjects and from all ages. This latest one has books from the Sixteenth century to the very end of the Twentieth, including a 1587 first edition of Polemon's Second Book of Battailes, an important Elizabethan source book used by George Peele when writing his 'Battle of Alcazar', up to a Harry Potter 1st edition from 1997. These sit alongside a selection of titles including First editions by Oscar Wilde, Beatrix Potter, Charles Darwin, Dr. Seuss, James Joyce, & Voltaire.

There are several signed works as well, including books signed and inscribed by Evelyn Waugh, Winston Churchill, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl, Joseph Conrad, and Arthur C. Clarke, among others. The books are mainly First editions of English and American Literature, Childrens and Illustrated titles, Fine leather bound books and special, signed, inscribed or limited editions, although there are a handful of other subjects covered.

If you would like me to mail you a copy, please send me your name, address, and a brief note on what kind of books you are interested in, and I will be happy to send you one.


Paul.

California 2011

I am now just recovering from the Jet-lag that is one of the only down sides of my annual trip to exhibit at the California International Antiquarian Bookfair.

This year there were two bookfairs. The "Official" Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America sanctioned one in San Francisco, and what many refer to as a "Piggy Back" bookfair in Pasadena the week before. This was organised by an independent promoter, Sheila Bustemante, and exhibitors ranged from some of the Rare book worlds largest dealers and members of the worlds ILAB (International League of Antiquarian Booksellers)  affiliated trade associations through to part-timers and Hobby booksellers. This gave an interesting mix of books on display. There were books priced in the Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars through to two dollar paperbacks, and everything in between.

It was an interesting trial run for the ABAA who will be holding their bookfair in the same building next year. The California Bookfairs alternate between San Francisco and Los Angeles and last years event at the Century City Regency Plaza was to be the last in the hotel.

The Pasadena building is a purpose built exhibition hall. Soul-less and bland but well lit, with good facilities on site, many cafe's and restaurants nearby and significantly cheaper than the ballrooms of the Plaza Hotel.

I was very pleased with my trip. I not only sold many books at both bookfairs, but I met a lot of potential new customers and bought some fantastic books as well. For many dealers, a quiet selling bookfair can be saved if enough good books are bought. To have good buying and good selling is the ultimate bookfair.

When I look at the books I bought it brings home to me how much California is the home of the Modern First Edition. I found a signed first edition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a special publishers edition of Hemingway's Across the river and into the trees, one of just 24 copies, with an explanatory note, signed by Charles Scribner, A nice 1st edition of Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat, The first American printing of Alice in Wonderland, and Arthur C. Clarke's own signed copies of 2001 and 2010. These are just a few of the books bought.

The San Francisco bookfair is vast. Today I spoke to two London bookdealers who also had stands at the fair. I am amazed that over the four days of the fair I didn’t actually see either dealer, nor them me.

Luckily the organisers manage to attract enough book collectors to keep the hall full of customers from start to finish. I sold my first book within half an hour of the start on set-up day and my last while packing up my stand on the last day. San Francisco truly is a Book city. Although a large number of Europeans were there also, taking advantage of the nice weather after months of winter back home.

The impressive range of books on show mean that there really is something there for everyone, at all price levels, covering most subjects to some degree, and from all ages. I would recommend to anyone who likes books and has thought of visiting San Francisco to take a trip there to coincide with the bookfair. It is well worth the long hours on a plane from Europe to see this enormous bookfair as well as the many great attractions that the city has to offer.

California Antiquarian Bookfair. San Francisco. February 11th to 13th.

Each year, February sees many bookdealers from Europe heading for the West Coast of the US for the annual California Antiquarian Bookfair. This major event in the international bookfair calender, now in its 44th year, alternates each year between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Last year saw what was possibly the bookfair's last event to be held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City. The hotel complex is undergoing major renovation and the rumour mill in the rare book trade (sometimes compared to a baloon full of pessimistic politicans--Lots of hot air, moaning and lies) reports that us mere booksellers won't be able to afford the shiney new prices charged for their shiney new function rooms. This is a real shame for those bookdealers who, like me, enjoy a swim in the outdoor pool under the warm february sunshine. For many of the European Dealers attending this is the first proper sunlight that we have seen in four or five months. It is easy to spot the locals around the hotel. They wear sweaters and warm jackets, considering the 20 degrees  a chilly day for them. To some of the Europeans 20 degrees is an excuse to don shorts, often ill fitting swimming trunks and those sun glasses that we didn't have much use for last summer.
We await a decision about where the Los Angeles Bookfair will be held in 2012.


This year sees the bookfair taking it's turn in the huge Concourse Exhibition Centre in San Francisco. The building, at 635 Eighth street at Brannan is a vast glass, steel and wood construction covering some 125,000 square feet. An old Railway starage yard, it has been adapted to be an easy access exhibition space with easy loading, plenty of space for large display booths and its own on-site parking. The vast building is filled up by the bookfair which is the largest event of it's kind in the world. Visitors to the bookfair get a major workout walking up and down the long aisles and many return for a second or third day to ensure that they get to visit each booth. Luckily there is a good cafe area which supplies the necessary snacks and drinks to keep the determined collectors and dealers going throughout the fair.


There is always plenty for the non book buyer to do at San Francisco Bookfair. Many societies and local artisans set up tables on the upper level and you can spend your time at the fair learning about the history of the book, watching live displays of binding techniques, or getting your name written on a grain of rice or beautifully calligraphed onto a sheet of paper.
During Saturday and Sunday there are a series of book related talks, discussions and seminars, rainging from the intruductory 'Book collecting 101' to an exhibition of rare music books and manuscripts, some dating back the the 13th century.

The bookfair is open on Friday February 11th from 3pm to 8pm.
Saturday 12th from 11am to 7pm.
Sunday 13th from 11am to 5pm.

I shall be at the bookfair with a selection of my books on show at Booth 113.
Please do come by and say Hello. I'm told that I am actually a lot less scary than I look, (I think there is a compliment in there somewhere), and I promise not to wear my shorts during show hours.


If you would like complimentary tickets for the show, please do let me know and I will either post them to you or leave them on the door for you to collect on the day.

Paul.

Show me the Bunny. Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit. The 3 first editions.

I have been asked in the past, although not often, Why are there 3 first editions of Peter Rabbit? How can that be?
The answer is that there aren't really. There can be only one true first, but there can be variations in the text and then commercially produced editions, each of which lays a claim to that title.
With Peter Rabbit this is the case. There are three different books that are all refered to as First Edition, although qualified with the necessary publishing details as well, so we have;

1. First edition, 1st printing, a privately printed Edition. 250 copies.

2. First Edition, 2nd printing. A privately printed edition with minor corrections in the text. 200 copies.

3. First Published Edition. A commercially produced edition by a book publishing company. 8000 copies.

The story of Peter Rabbit is fairly well established. Potter, a keen naturalist and accomplished artist, had often written, and illustrated, short stories in letters to children of friends. On september 4th, 1893 Potter wrote such a letter to Noel Moore, the son of her former Governess, Annie Moore, who was unwell. This letter contained the story of Peter Rabbit.
A few years later, Potter come to the idea that the story would be of interest to other children and would make a nice book. Luckily, Moore had kept his letters from Beatrix and when she wrote to ask if she might borrow it, he returned the short Tale of Peter Rabbit.
The story was re-written in a school excercise book and a watercolour frontis and 42 line illustrations, prepared in pen and ink, were added, some based on the orignal drawings in that letter. Initially the story was titled "The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor's Garden By H. B. Potter".
This manuscript was sent to several publishers during 1900 by Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, a Family friend who was keen to help this new enterprise. All returned it without any interest.

In 1901 Potter had the manuscript privately printed by Strangeways and Sons of London in an edition of 250 copies. This little book, now re-named simply " The Tale of Peter Rabbit", made small enough for young children to hold and printed on durable paper, was issued, undated, on December 16th 1901, with the colour frontis and 41 of Potter's line drawings, in a plain grey/green paper covered binding with a flat spine, printed with a black line illustration and lettering to the front board.

                                                                  1901.  1st printing.




Potter not only gave many copies to friends and relations, she also sold several at the very reasonable price of 1s2d. Unsurprisingly the book was a great success form the start and within a couple of weeks it was decided to have another edition, this time of just 200 copies, printed at the Author's expense, but this time in a better quality binding, with a rounded spine.

                                                                    1902.  2nd printing.




This new printing allowed for a few minor changes to the text and the punctuation, and it was decided to print the publication date on the title page. This second printing was issued in February 1902.

                                                                    1902.  2nd printing.



While Potter was producing her own editions of Peter Rabbit, She and Canon Rawnsley had been in negotiations with the Publisher Frederick Warne & Co, who had seen some potential in the story and its charming illustrations. This probably explains the decision to print fewer copies of the second printing, despite the huge success of the first. After much discussion about the cost of colour printing and how much should be charged for the book it was agreed that Warne's would publish the story, with slightly edited text, and just 31 (including the frontispiece) of Potter's illustrations reproduced in full colour from her watercolours.

This version, the first commercially published printing, was issued in October 1902 in an edtion of 8000 copies. This lovely little book, often called the First Trade Edition, was bound in either grey or brown boards with a colour illustration of Peter in his light blue jacket mounted to the front board with white lettering above and below and to the spine.

                                                               1902. First Trade editon.



A further 12000 copies were printed in November, and 8220 copies in December 1902. These 3 printings are identical internally. The only variation that exists is that some copies of the 2nd and 3rd printings were issued in green boards.
Despite the large number of books produced, copies in collectable condition are not common and are much in demand. This has led to many collectors willing to pay a premium for the best copies, while restored, worn and damaged copies sell for considerably less. This is the way the rare book market has been going for a number of years now with the difference in prices achieved for the very best and the run-of-the -mill copies growing ever wider.
Peter Rabbit's enduring success is partly down to Beatrix Potter's simple good story telling, partly her exquisite drawings, which she later water-coloured, and also her determination and good business sense. Truly a remarkable Woman and a great example of the Victorian "Can Do" attitude.

I bet you can't become the biggest selling female author in the World. Or, Agatha Christie's The Mysterious affair at Styles.

Agatha Christie apparently wrote The mysterious affair at Styles as the result of a bet.
The loser of this bet, Her Sister, thought  that Christie couldn't write a Crime Detective story that kept the reader guessing the identity of the Murderer until the end, despite knowing everything that the Detective knew throughout.
She not only lost the bet in a spectacular fashion but in the process kick started the career of the biggest selling Female author the world has known. Shakespeare beats Christie's 3 - 4 Billion estimated books sold, but he does have 300 years head start by dying in 1616. Christie wrote "Styles" in 1916.

Originally serialised in the London Times Newspapers Colonial edition, The Weekly Times, from February 27  to June 26, 1920, the book edition was first published in October of that year, in New York, by John Lane. The UK Edition followed on 1st February 1921, published in London by The Bodley Head.

This attractively designed book, with its architectural design stamped in black to the spine and front board of the publishers brown cloth binding, introduced one of the most popular and enduring characters in the Genre. Hurcule Poirot, the dapper Belgian detective with a head "exactly the shape of an egg" was to appear in another 32 novels as well as 54 short stories, alongside his colleagues Lieutenant Hastings (the narrator of Mysterious Affair at Styles), and Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard.

The combination of being the Author's first book, the introduction of one of the most popular fictional characters of the 20th century, and a great read as well, have made The Mysterious Affair at Styles a much sought after book in First Edition, with copies of the London Bodley Head edition most prized by collectors . Copies in fine condition are scarce on the market. Copies in the original Alfred J Dewey illustrated dustwrapper don't turn up at all.

So, ninety years after the appearence of her first book, Agatha Christie maintains not only her place in readers affections as one of the most popular writers, but also in the Guinness book of World Records as the biggest selling novelist.

Regular broadcasts of Radio, Film and Television adaptations, including the hugely popular portrayal of Poirot by David Suchet, as well as translations of the books into over 100 languages are sure to keep her there for a long time and must even make J. K. Rowling envious.