Marvin Getman's Brooklyn Fair is over, but the memories remain
- by Bruce Evan McKinney
Susan Heller, long time and now emeritus ABAA member and her closest friend, Gerry, recently retraced the early American explorations, travelling from Ohio across the great expanse of Pennsylvania, past Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to New Jersey where they stayed with friends and family.
They came to New York to participate in Marvin Getman’s Brooklyn Fair, now in its second year, – The Brooklyn Rare Book, Art, Photo & Design Fair over the September 19-20 weekend. Such trips are back of the envelope for 20 somethings. For Susan Heller whose life began in the 1930s, every step is carefully considered. Gerry, her senior by a few, is actually the internet guru. Age sometimes transcends.
The trip would be successful and they are now back home. It was simply fun.
But she is a restless girl, a handful for Gerry, with a restless mind that even, into her 8th decade, looks for new mountains to climb. If her most recent mountain was the Brooklyn Book Fair her next may be the Ephemera Fair in Connecticut next spring.
Fulton J. Sheen long ago famously said, “life is worth living” and a contemporary TV show then went a step further to say “life begins at eighty.” Susan and Gerry are proving both to be correct.
Here is Susan in her own words.
“As always, my pre-show sales to dealers were the best. One of the top dealer's purchases equaled that of an entire show 20 Years ago. The first day open to the public had adequate attendance and a modicum of sales for me. The last day was very slow due to two competing shows nearby, but Marvin said he'll make sure no such competition happens in the future.
Everything else was professional and exhilarating. Booths shined with every genre of bibliophilic gems imaginable - fine bindings, classics, original art, radical and off-beat material, autographs and more. Of the 150+ dealers, only 20 or so were colleagues from my old days of book selling, but time and age did not diminish their warmth, humor and intelligence. I was in fertile territory again.
The attendees were old and young, meticulously attired and contemporary casual, seasoned collectors and curious newcomers, some elderly regulars and many graduate students, young professionals and mothers wheeling strollers. In retrospect, I wish I had engaged the moms in conversation to stimulate interest in fine children's books. One man asked if we had any material on inoculation. Upon returning home, my partner Gerry found two such ephemeral items and they have already been mailed to England.
Yes, the doors opened in the beautiful new convention center in Brooklyn and welcomed a myriad and affluence of interests; older dealers like myself and younger dealers and collectors to carry the torch into the future. It was a wonderful experience.”
Sotheby’s, July 14: Henry De La Beche. "Awful Changes," 1830. $6,000 to $9,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 11]. Flight Plan, Complete Original Printing Signed by Buzz Aldrin. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Thomas Alva Edison. Documents Establishing and Ending the Edison Electric Railway Company. $20,000 to $30,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: Richard P. Feynman. Feynman's Lectures on Gravitation 1-16, Including the Original Transcriptions of Lectures 12-16 by Morinigo and Wagner, With Richard Feynman's Manuscript Notations, 1971. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [Apollo 9]. A Group of Manuals and Mission Documents used by Stuart Roosa as a member of the Astronaut Support Crew. $5,000 to $8,000.
Sotheby’s, July 15: [BYTE: The Small Systems Journal]. A collection of early foundational issues of Byte: The Small Systems Journal, with rare hardcover editions. $5,000 to $8,000.
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000
Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000
Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000
Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000
Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000
Forum Auctions The 10th Anniversary Sale Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper July 16, 2026
Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000
Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000
Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000
