Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2024 Issue

An Early Heads Up For Collectors and Dealers who would like to display

The 2024 Northampton Antiquarian Book, Ephemera, and Book Arts Fair, the eighth edition, will be Friday, November 22nd from 5 – 8pm and Saturday, November 23rd from 10am to 4pm in the Northampton Center for the Arts at the Northampton Community Arts Trust at 33 Hawley Street in Northampton, Massachusetts, 01060.

 

More than 30 rare booksellers, paper Americana specialists, and book artists, including hand bookbinders, papermakers, & fine letterpress printers from New England and the mid - Atlantic states will convene to exhibit, sell, and schmooze at the popular two-day fair.  At this time, there are a handful of exhibitor spaces available, ranging from single six-foot tables to the traditional U-shaped booth. Contact fair director Mark Brumberg, of Book Fair Promotion, through www.northamptonbookfair.com , for a space reservation and fair contract.

 

Northampton is located in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts, about an hour north of Hartford, CT, two hours west of Boston, and three and a half hours northeast of New York City. Northampton has been called Paradise City, as it repeatedly has been voted one of the best small arts cities and one of the best places to live in the country. Visitors will find a variety of small, independently owned new bookshops, rare booksellers, book artist studios, fine restaurants & cafes, craft shops, art galleries, and music venues in downtown and the surrounding region.

 

The Northampton Book Fair is sponsored by SNEAB, Southern New England Antiquarian Booksellers and the Northampton Center for the Arts. Media sponsor is New England Public Media and the NEPM Book Club.

 

Fair attendees will find a variety of books and ephemera ranging from rare travel books to literary first editions, paper Americana to historic account books and manuscripts, fine letter press printing to  fine letter press poetry books, mystery & science fiction to rare travel books, first editions, and signed books. Also featured will be handmade journals, handmade paper, fine bindings, artist books, limited edition wood engravings, and early printed books.  A wide variety of collectible books, priced under $100, will be available for sale.

 

The 2024 Northampton Book Fair will draw buyers, collectors, librarians, ephemera specialists, booksellers, and tourists  from throughout the region to browse and purchase from a diverse set of exhibitors, including:

 

Leslie Arthur, Second Wind Books, English & American 20th century firsts by, for, and about women; speculative & science fiction; & film-related ephemera (New Haven, CT)

Stefan Baer, Complete Traveller, rare travel books, WPA Guides, A&C Black, Baedekers (Westport, CT)

Karen Bullock, Old Working Books & Bindery, rare book restoration, hand bound blank note books, unique note cards from salvage book illustrations. (West Brookfield, MA)

Jay Cordeiro, Northeast Natural History & Supply, natural history and geography books (West Dennis, MA)

Greg Gibson, Ten Pound Island Book Co., ABAA, maritime rare books, manuscripts, &ephemera (Gloucester, MA)

William Hutchison, eclectic mix of antiquarian books in a wide variety of fields, including Americana (Mendenhall, PA)

Ben Koenig, The Country Bookshop, unusual books & ephemera including folk music and folklore (Plainfield, VT)

Tara Law, of Tara Law Design, artist books – etching, letterpress, screen printing, aquatint, and laser cut; written by artist/writer Tara Law (Marshfield, MA)

Peter Luke Americana, 18th, 19th, and early 20th century Americana (New Baltimore, NY)

Joel Levin, Dewey Decimals, vintage, old & rare books, a selection of books from the libraries of Madeleine L’Engle, Edward Herrmann, & Barry Moser (Northampton, MA)

Michael and Earl Manz, Yesterday’s Gallery & Babylon Revisited, ABAA, jazz age and depression era literature (East Woodstock, CT & Northampton, MA)

Peter L. Masi, books & ephemera (Montague,MA),

Joseph Phillips, Commonwealth Books, ABAA,  varied selection of vintage & antiquarian books (Boston, MA and Newport, RI)

Ed Rayher, Swamp Press/Slate Roof Press, designer and printer of fine letterpress poetry books, creates & casts new faces and ornaments in hot metal (Northfield, MA)

Jacob Romm, Letter and Spirit Press, letterpress prints, broadsides, chapbooks, stationary & ephemera (New Haven, CT)

John R. Sanderson, Rare Books, rare, early & fine books in diverse fields (Stockbridge, MA)

Richard Stephens, Supersession Press, unique and limited edition fine press books (Saint Louis Park, Minnesota)

Peter L. Stern & Co, Inc., literature, first editions, mysteries (Newtown, MA)

Richard Turnbull, Furious Day Press, artists’ book and prints (Leeds, MA)

William Turomsha, Omega Fine Art, Leonard Baskin and Barry Moser wood engravings, lithographs, & books (Northampton, MA)

Scott Vile, The Ascensius Press, prints & publishers letterpress editions (Bar Mills, ME)

 

For a roster of vendors from our last fair: www.northamptonbookfair.com/2022-exhibitors

 

Event Details

Friday, November 22nd, 5pm -8 pm
Saturday, November 23rd, 10am - 4pm

 

Advance tickets are available now or can be purchased at the door.  For a limited time, half-price (two-for-one) admissions, are offered at the “buy tickets” link at: northamptonbookfair.com

 

The venue is a universally accessible building with plenty of free on-site parking.

 

Northampton Community Arts Trust

33 Hawley Street

Northampton , MA 01060

United States

 

General Admission is $8. Students and Children Free.

When buying a ticket, please consider making a donation to Forbes Library, Northampton’s Public Library. Round up to $10 to benefit the city’s library.

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
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    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
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    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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