San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print & Paper Fair February 1st and 2nd
- by Bruce E. McKinney
An important independent book fair
On Saturday and Sunday February 1st and 2nd the every other year San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print & Paper Fair will be held at the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion on the north side of the city. More than 170 dealers have signed up, many of them set to exhibit the following weekend in southern California at the Pasadena Convention Center. The San Francisco fair is a pure selling event with the emphasis on reasonable cost to participate.
While books will be well represented this fair, that has had a strong ephemera theme for the past decade, will be providing a widening window on what has become over the years a consistently strong category in the collectible paper field. For shows ephemera is the ideal material. It often doesn’t explain well but is understandable when seen. Given that ephemera tend to sell for low prices, often as not, dealers show it more effectively than they describe it. Expect there will be early lines for a crack at the ephemera bins.
What will be interesting is what proportion of bay area ephemera collectors will come. Many monitor the ephemera flow on eBay and bid daily. Whether they can be induced to visit Fort Mason is an open question. Certainly the parking is plentiful, metered close by the pavilion and free if you are willing to walk the beautiful three blocks from Crissy Field that rims the northern shore providing clear views of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The show usually provides opportunities to buy food but for the penurious two blocks away the Safeway will feed the multitudes for a few bucks. Elsewhere in the neighborhood there are easy snack and dining choices and on nearby Chestnut Street and further up the hill on Union busier crowds and more upscale possibilities. Finally, for the adventurous there is the brisk one-mile walk to North Beach. The community there is younger and more well to do and the food even better. And it’s also where most of San Francisco’s early storied authors pitched their tents.
ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
