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.
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Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing
Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing
Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
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Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
Leland Little, Jan. 22: The First Issue of Robert Frost's A Boy's Will, In Extremely Scarce Binding.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: Knight's An Account of the Remains of the Worship of Priapus.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: First Edition of Locke's Important Treatise Some Thoughts Concerning Education.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: The Richly Illustrated First French Edition of Voyages de Corneille Le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: Scarce First Issue of An Account of the Province of Carolina in America, Finely Bound and With Celebrated John Speed Map.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: Humphrey's An Historical Account, Complete with Scarce Folding Maps.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: First Edition of Chamberlain's Scarce Civil War Memoir The Passing of the Armies.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: A Rare Photograph of David Bruce Brown and #48 Fiat.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: George Cruikshank (England, 1792-1878), Archive of Sketches, Notes, and Letters.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: Extremely Scarce Copy of Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode), Signed by Max Pechstein.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: Andy Warhol's The Thirteen Most Wanted Men Exhibition Catalogue.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: Edward Ruscha (American, b. 1937), Every Building on the Sunset Strip.
