The 31^st annual Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, July 31 and August 1 in Denver this year. On Friday, doors will open at 2:00 and stay open until 8:00. On Saturday, the fair will run from 10:00 in the morning until 5:00 in the afternoon. The fair will be held at the Denver Mart, just off of I-25 at 58^th Ave., with free parking available.

 

The Rocky Mountain Book Fair serves a major role for collectors and would-be collectors in the Mountain West. Book fairs play an increasingly important role as fewer booksellers are able to maintain Main Street shops and turn to the internet to make sales. Collectors, and even more so those who might become collectors, lack a place for hands-on learning and examination. While there are still a healthy number of book fairs to attend, the largest are concentrated on the coasts. For those in the more sparsely populated Rocky Mountain West, this fair provides a fantastic once-a-year opportunity.

 

Over 70 dealers will be exhibiting in this year's exposition. Most are from Colorado and bordering states Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. However, others have made longer journeys, from places such as Montana, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Others have traveled even longer distances, from New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in the east, to California and Oregon in the west. The type of material offered is similarly diverse. Specialties covered include travel and exploration, sports, scholarly books, children's books, literature, the American West, Civil War, first editions, art, fiction, nonfiction, bird books, mysteries, horror, signed books, Native Americana, cookbooks, illustrated books, science fiction, military, comic books, atlases, pulp, film, fine bindings, calligraphy, pop-ups, poetry, railroads, and much, much more.

 

What's more, there all sorts of works on paper other than books. Photographs, maps, postcards, trade cards, advertising, broadsides, posters, prints, views, pamphlets, magazines, dust jackets, and various other forms of ephemera will be available.

 

There will be special events taking place at the fair as well. Already scheduled are speakers on mystery books, including one on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Demonstrations are also planned on preserving books and the book arts. To find out more about the fair as the days draw closer, you can visit the website at www.rmaba.org/rmbpf/2015/rmbpf_2015_GeneralInfo.html