Crowds lined up for the London Antiquarian Book Fair.
Organizers of the London International Antiquarian Book Fair report a most successful three-day run this past month. The annual fair at Olympia saw an increase in attendance, sales just slightly shy of last year's total, and a few very hefty purchases along the way. Serious buyers have been putting their feet back in the water again after the very difficult economic times of a few years ago. The economy rises and falls, but books persevere, as they have done for over 500 years.
Traffic was up 18% the first day of the fair, Thursday, June 18, with over 1,000 people making their way through the doors. Attendance continued up the remaining two days as well. Chairman of the Fair, Brian Lake, said, “The ABA Fair was a great success – more exhibitors, more visitors, than 2012 – with attendance up by nearly 20% over the three days.” Sales totals for the 175 out of 186 exhibitors who were offering books for sale were £3.35 million ($5.24 million is U.S. dollars). If books are not selling any more, someone forgot to inform the attendees at this fair.
Of course, some dealers were particularly pleased, and as those in the trade well know, it is often that one very important book that can make your day, fair, or even your year. Peter Harrington of London sold a copy of Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus, a first edition from 1818. The purchaser was from America. The price was a nice even £110,000, or to the American purchaser, $172,000. It was a very good fair for Harrington, regardless of whatever else happened. Pom Harrington was quoted with an understated, “We had a very good fair.”
Americans weren't the only foreigners attending and buying at the fair. A Swedish bookseller reportedly sold several items to a retired professor from Shanghai University in China. They included a 1936 book of pictures from China by a Swedish photographer. The total for the purchase was £30,000 (US $46,950). This serves as a reminder that even if some traditional markets are slow, new collectors are appearing in such far off markets as China, Russia, and the Middle East, and many of these people are flush with new money.
The organizers also reported a notable success arising from the tradition of dealers buying from each other. In one instance, a dealer who bought two books at the fair sold them to an American client over the phone for £125,000 (US $195,000). No names were given nor how much the second bookseller paid the first.
The ABA (Antiquarian Booksellers' Association) of England will be holding their next fair on November 1-2, the smaller annual Chelsea Fair. Next year's Olympia Book Fair has been tentatively set for May 22-24, 2014.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles 1500-1800 22nd July 2026
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 83 – Westall & Owen. Picturesque Tour of the River Thames, 1st edition, 1828. £2,000-3,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 88 – Blume. Rumphia, Botanicae de plantis Indiae Orientalis, 1835-1848. £2,000-3,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 101 – Michaux. Histoire des arbres forestiers de l'Amérique septentrionale, 1810-1812. £700-1,000.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles 1500-1800 22nd July 2026
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 102 – Miller & Shaw. Cimelia Physica, 1796 [but c. 1816]. £3,000-5,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 104 – Parkinson. Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants, London: Thomas Cotes, 1640. £800-1,200.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 159 – Plancius. Orbis Terrarum..., double hemisphere map, 1594-99. £5,000-8,000.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles 1500-1800 22nd July 2026
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 217 – Illuminated Medieval Manuscript. From a Breviary, 14th/15th c. £3,000-4,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 224 – The newe Testament … By Wylliam Tyndall…, 1549. £3,000-5,000.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 238 – Douay-Rheims Bible. 3 volumes, 1582/1609/1610. £7,000-10,000.
Dominic Winter Auctioneers Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles 1500-1800 22nd July 2026
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 336 – Ashendene Press. A Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle, 1903. £1,000-1,500.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 393 – Sassoon. Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, signed limited edition, 1931. £800-1,200.
Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 402 – Dylan Thomas. Twenty-Five Poems, 1st edition in d.j., 1936. £400-600.
Case Auctions 2026 Summer Auction August 1st and 2nd
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Timberlake, Henry: A DRAUGHT OF THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY on the West Side of the Twenty Four Mountains, Commonly Called "Over the Hills". $18,000 to $22,000.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Manuscript orderly book detailing day to day activities of multiple Virginia regiments in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary,1776-1777. $7,000 to $8,000.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Cormac McCarthy, The Orchard Keeper, Random House, New York, 1965. Signed 1st Edition. $3,800 to $4,200.
Case Auctions 2026 Summer Auction August 1st and 2nd
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Battle of Kings Mountain Pamphlet by Isaac Shelby, April 1823, Signed. $1,800 to $2,200.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Large Tintype CSA Lt. Col. Thomas Coke Johnson, 19th GA, w/ Southern Cross, Book. $1,400 to $1,800.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Rare Civil War Ambrotype, 19th GA Infantry with Johnson Family of GA. $800 to $1,200.
Case Auctions 2026 Summer Auction August 1st and 2nd
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: A signed note written by Thomas Alva Edison to an unknown recipient, in which he shares his thoughts on Guglielmo Marconi, regarded as the inventor of the radio. $800 to $1,200.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Rare 1931 TN Grasslands Steeplechase Book, Gallatin. $800 to $1,000.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: War of 1812 related Broadside, Petersburg Volunteers. $700 to $800.
Case Antiques, Aug. 1: 2 World War I Posters, “Our Colored Fighters” and “No Slacker”. $800 to $1,000.
