Rare Book Monthly

Articles - July - 2022 Issue

Four Big July Book Fairs in the MidWest - St. Paul, St. Louis, Detroit & Chicago Celebrate Books

 July 8-9 (Friday & Saturday)

Minnesota Antiquarian Book Fair

Schoenecker Arena, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN. 

This fair caters to both experienced and beginning collectors. It hosts vendors who have decades of experience in bookselling offering items of major historical and literary significance. Many of these dealers also pride themselves on their selection of books and manuscripts connected to underrepresented groups in the historical record. A list of participating exhibitors can be found at: https://minnesotaantiquarianbookfair.wordpress.com/our-booksellers/

 

The in-person portion of the Minnesota Antiquarian Book Fair runs from 3 to 7 p.m.on Friday, July 8th, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 9th. Tickets are $7 good for both days. Free admission for kids under 12, as well as St. Thomas students and faculty. 

 

The fair takes place in the Schoenecker Arena at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. The Arena is in the Anderson Athletic Complex and Recreation Center. For map and parking information go to: https://minnesotaantiquarianbookfair.wordpress.com/about/

 

A panel discussing the Antiquarian Book Seminar, is scheduled for 1 pm on Saturday the 9th. At that time three graduates of the CABS-Minnesota will discuss what CABS means to them and to the rare book community at-large. The panelists will also discuss current efforts towards increasing the inclusivity of the book trade.

  

Panelists this year are: Ken Sanders - noted Salt Lake City, UT rare book specialist; Kara McLaughlin - proprietor of Little Sages Rare Books and Paper of Longmont, CO and Jaime Harker - founder of Violet Valley Bookstore, in Water Valley, Mississippi. She is a professor of English and director of the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies at the University of Mississippi. 

 

General email contact for the two day event is [email protected]

 

For those who can not make it to Minnesota in person, a virtual incarnation is presented online at https://mnabf.getmansvirtual.com/

 


 

July 14-18 (Thurs. through Mon.)

 

St Louis Book Fair

 

Kennedy Recreation Center, 6050 Wells Rd, St. Louis, MO

 

The 2022 edition of the St. Louis Book Fair bills itself as the Midwest’s largest charity book event. Since 1950, this book fair has been a favorite destination of book lovers and collectors nationwide. Volunteers work year-round gathering over one million new, gently used, and rare items from individuals, estates, businesses, and other organizations. Fair proceeds assist local education and literacy programs with operational expenses, student aid, and other financial needs.

 

In addition to general interest material the fair also features rare and collectible items. To learn more about what is available visit https://stlouisbookfair.org/rare-collectible-books/

  

For dates and times see the schedule at: https://stlouisbookfair.org/the-book-fair-details/

 

Admission is FREE Friday through Sunday.

 

There is a paid preview on Thurs., July 14, for details see the website.

 

Payment options for preview admission and all items purchased include cash, check, or credit card (Mastercard & VISA accepted)

 

The last hours of the fair are reserved for pre-registered St. Louis non profit organizations who can take what is left at no charge. Non-Profit Day is closed to the public and limited to pre-registered 501(c)(3) organizations.

 

Interested in being a volunteer? Late in June (when this article was written) there were still open slots; for info https://stlouisbookfair.org/volunteer/

 

For questions about the event which are not answered at the site call: (314) 993-1995 or Email: [email protected]

 

 

 

July 17 (Sunday) FREE

 

Detroit Festival of Books 

 

Eastern Market, Shed 5, Detroit, MI 

 

The Book Club of Detroit presents the 5th Annual Detroit Festival of Books on Sunday July 17. The free day long event is the largest book show in Michigan. Vendors from all over the US and Canada will showcase their wares including: used, rare, antiquarian, authors, children’s, new, unusual, ephemera, comic books, vinyl LP records, creative arts, and more. Fair hours are 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.(rain or shine) in Shed #5 of Detroit’s Eastern Market (2934 Russell St.)

 

Visit the Bookfest’s website https://detroitbookfest.com/  for details including parking, bathrooms, food, music and beer.

 

Sponsors include longtime Detroit book dealer John K. King Used & Rare Books, DBusiness Magazine and the City of Detroit. It also notes that there will also be a virtual Bookfest from July 15-17 and gives application information. 

 

July 29-31 (Friday-Sunday)  FREE

 

Newberry Library Book Fair

 

Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton St.Chicago, IL. 

  

Chicago’s most popular used-book sale is back! Browse through thousands of books in dozens of genres, including fiction, philosophy, history, art, cooking, children’s literature, and much, much more. Many items are priced at $3 or less. Everything for sale at the volunteer-led Book Fair is generously donated, and all proceeds help further the Newberry’s mission to foster a deeper understanding of our world through research and learning.

  • Book Fair is cashless: only debit and credit cards accepted.

  • Please bring your own shopping bags.

  • Public transportation to the Book Fair is recommended, as street parking is limited.

 

The Newberry offers a Preview Day on Thurs. July 28: Members of the Newberry Associates at the Authors level and above ($100 or more/year) are invited to Book Fair Preview Day on Thursday, July 28. To learn more about the benefits of supporting the Newberry, or to make a gift, please visit Annual Support and Membership or contact the Development office at (312) 255-3581 or via email at [email protected].

 

Sat. July 30- Free Chicago Storytelling in Bughouse Square coincides with the 2022 Newberry Book Fair. This free outdoor in-person event is on Saturday in Washington Square Park (“Bughouse Square”) across the street from the Newberry from 1-4. It celebrates the power of storytelling and its role in shaping our city.

 

People from across Chicago and beyond are invited to listen to a series of authors and storytellers, and even share their own stories in facilitated Story Circles. See the schedule at https://www.newberry.org/07302022-chicago-storytelling-bughouse-square

 

The festivities will also include the presentation of the Newberry’s first annual Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award. The award will be presented to Dawn Turner, author of Three Girls from Bronzeville.

 

Throughout the afternoon in the park, food trucks will provide sustenance, and the Newberry Book Fair may provide inspiration. Visitors can make their way inside the Newberry to browse thousands of used books in dozens of categories.

 

Explore other events taking place in Bughouse Square this summer, including Make Music Chicago 2022, 50-Minute Hamlet, and Bughouse Square: A History in Song and Story.

 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby’s
    Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone
    25 June – July 7
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Ludwig van Beethoven. Autograph sketches for the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses", op.124, [1822], UNPUBLISHED. £150,000 to £200,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, 1813, first edition, 3 volumes, contemporary half calf. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855, first edition, first issue, original green cloth, the Doheny copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: Binding—Sangorski & Sutcliffe—Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat, London, 1872, third edition, in a magnificent jewelled Peacock binding. £15,000 to £20,000.
    Sotheby’s, July 7: George Eliot. Middlemarch, Edinburgh and London, 1871, first edition in the original parts. £20,000 to £30,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: Hassall (Joan) A large collection of over 300 original woodblocks of engravings for various books, v.d., with Hassall's engraver's glass water-globe (Qty) - Est. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, July 9: Eragny Press.- [Bradley (Katherine Harris) & Edith Emma Cooper], "Michael Field." Whym Chow, Flame of Love, one of only 27 copies, inscribed by Bradley, the rarest book from the press, 1914. - Est. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, July 9: [Moore (Thomas Sturge)] [Wood Engravings], 71 wood-engravings printed by David Chambers from the original blocks, the only set on Japanese Hosho paper, from an edition of 5 sets, [1970]. - Est. £3,000-4,000
    Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: La Fontaine (Jean de) Contes et Nouvelles en vers, 2 vol., engraved plates after Eisen, fine early 19th century blue morocco, gilt, by Bradel l'ainé, Amsterdam [Paris], 1762. - Est. £2,000-3,000
    Forum, July 9: Erotica.- Prostitution.- Pretty Women of Paris (The); Their Names and Addresses, Qualities and Faults..., [Paris], privately printed at the Press of the Prefecture de Police, 1883. - Est. £3,000-4,000
    Forum, July 9: Vale Press.- Ricketts (Charles) & Lucien Pissarro. De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie de la Page Imprimée…, [one of 216 copies], bound in dark blue morocco tooled in gilt, by Sarah T.Prideaux, 1898. - Est. £1,000-1,500
    Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: Martin (John) Illustrations of the Bible, complete set of 20 mezzotints, good impressions, rarely found in early states, [c.1831-1835]. - Est. £1,000-1,500
    Forum, July 9: Golden Cockerel Press.- Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ (The), one of 500 copies, Mary Gill's copy, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1931 with a signed proof of engraving on japon numbered 10/10 (2) - Est. £5,000-7,000
    Forum, July 9: Boccaccio (Giovanni) The Decameron, 3 vol., vol.1 extra-illustrated by John Buckland Wright with c.150 erotic original drawings in pen & ink and pencil, 1886 [extra-illustrated c.1940]. - Est. £10,000-15,000
    Forum Auctions
    The Private Library:
    Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
    July 9, 2026
    Forum, July 9: Cox (Morris) Collection of Gogmagog Press Books, 35 vol., rare complete collection of printed books issued by the press, limited editions, most signed by Cox, 1957-83. - Est. £10,000-15,000
    Forum, July 9: Wynkyn de Worde.- [Terentius Afer (Publius)] [Comedie...], [Paris, Josse Badius: sold in London by Wynkyn de Worde, & others], [15 July 1504]. - Est. £4,000-6,000
    Forum, July 9: Mosley (James) Ornamented Types. Twenty-Three Alphabets from the Foundry of Louis John Pouchée, 2 vol., one of 10 copies for presentation, from an edition of 210, 1992-93. - Est. £1,000-2,000
  • 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

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