Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2007 Issue

A New Mexico Book Fair

Santa Fe Book Show

Santa Fe Book Show


By Bruce McKinney

The first annual Santa Fe Antiquarian Book Show is to be held October 5 and 6, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is a book fair springing to life and the culmination of more than six months work for Henry Lewis, Shirley Jacobson, Steve Kalminson and Rita Robbins who have combined their efforts to bring this event into being. They are all book dealers and seek to raise awareness and interest in the printed word. It is a two-day regional show staged at the El Museo Cultural at 1615 Paseo de Peralta in the historic railyard district in Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501. On Friday October 5th the show opens at 4:00 pm and runs into the evening, closing at 9:00 pm. On Saturday October 6th it continues from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. The organizers are hoping to attract both the local audience and some of the tens of thousands that regularly visit the area. Over that weekend the nearby Albuquerque balloon fiesta is expected to be a big draw.

For this the inaugural fair there are between 30 and 35 exhibitors so far committed and, with 5 weeks remaining, 10 exhibitor spaces available. The cost of a booth is $450 and the organizing committee hopeful of receiving last minute sign-ups. Dealers and would-be dealers who are interested should contact Henry Lewis for information. His email is gunstockhillbook@aol.com. His telephone number: 505.983.0088.

The show will include an array ranging from collectible and antiquarian books to local press books and signed material by local authors. While the show emphasizes books the material offered is bound to also reflect the unique New Mexico market's interest in ethnographic material, prints and ephemera. The show is supported by various local writers who will be on hand to sign their books.

Steve Kalminson and Shirley Jacobson, speaking as members of the organizing committee, mentioned that professional show promoters were contacted but declined to stage the event. Book fair attendance has been on the slippery slope for years, leaving promoters sanguine about new events. The dedicated book buying and selling audience will always walk barefoot over hot coals to attend such events while the younger audience, transformed by the net and attracted to other forms of collecting, has proven to be very elusive.

In organizing this fair the promoters have taken a conventional approach. They have run advertisements in various traditional media; including their email address and phone number. They have not prepared a website. Neither have they promoted across the internet.

For those in the Santa Fe area over the weekend of the 5th-6th this is an event well worth supporting. You may not be able to tell but the staging of such shows is increasingly difficult to achieve. Costs are rising and attendance falling. An interested group or a promoter may front the money to stage an event but only events that draw a strong crowd will survive for many years. This is year one. For the show to make it into year two your participation will make a difference.

Such shows are an important aspect of collecting. Certainly, collectors are increasingly specialists and less likely to find sought-for material at general shows. What they will find however are knowledgeable people with perspective, the great intangible that separates the accumulator from the collector. This alone makes such events very worthwhile. You may come home empty handed. You won't come home empty headed.

So if it's a reasonable jaunt, mark your calendar and make the trip. You'll do well by doing good.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    18 September 2024
    Koller, Sep. 18: Cowper, William. Anatomia corporum humanorum ab excellentissimis… Utrecht, 1750. CHF 25,000 to 40,000
    Koller, Sep. 18: Bell, Thomas. A Monograph of the Testudinata. London [1836-1842]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000.
    Koller, Sep. 18: Gould, John. A monograph of the Trochilidae, or family of humming-birds [and] Supplement completed after the authors death…, London [1849-]1861 and [1880-]1887. CHF 50,000 to 80,000.
    Koller Auctions
    Books & Autographs
    18 September 2024
    Koller, Sep. 18: Gould, John. The birds of New Guinea and the adjacent Papuan Islands, including many new species recently discovered in Australia. CHF 50,000 to 80,000.
    Koller, Sep. 18: Levaillant, François. Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis et des rolliers, suivie de celle des toucans et des barbus. Paris [1801-]1806. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
    Koller, Sep. 18: Pfinzing, Melchior. Die geverlicheiten und einsteils der geschichten des loblichen streytparen…, Nürnberg, 1517. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
  • Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: HAMILTON, Sir William - Campi Phlegraei. Napoli: 1779. € 50,000 - 80,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: KIRCHER, Athanasius - Turris Babel. Amsterdam: 1679. € 3,000 - 5,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: EDWARDS, George.London - Gleanings of Natural History. Londra: 1758-1764. € 7,000 - 10,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: HEVELIUS, Johannes - Cometographia. Danzica: 1668. € 20,000 - 30,000
    Il Ponte, Sep. 24-25: KUPKA, Frantisek - Quatre histoires de blanc et noir. Parigi: 1926. € 10,000 - 15,000
  • Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 732. Early Announcement of Continental Congress' Declaration of Independence (1776) Est. $12,000 - $15,000
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 361. One of Ortelius' Most Decorative Maps in Full Contemporary Color (1585) Est. $9,500 - $12,000
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 55. Early Edition of One of the Most Important 16th Century Maps of the New World (1545) Est. $6,000 - $7,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 27. Fascinating Japanese Satirical Map of the World Published After WWI (1924) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 637. Complete Example of De Bry's Petits Voyages, Part VIII (1606) Est. $4,750 - $5,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 50. Extremely Rare Uncut Sheet from Sylvanus's 1511 Edition of Ptolemy's Geographia (1511) Est. $2,000 - $2,300
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 399. One of the Most Desired Maps of Ireland by John Speed (1610) Est. $2,750 - $3,500
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 689. Pictorial Map of Melbourne in the Style of MacDonald Gill (1934) Est. $900 - $1,100
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 652. Blaeu's Carte-a-Figures Map of Africa in Full Contemporary Color (1663) Est. $3,000 - $3,750
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 729. Hand-Colored Image of David Handing the Letter to Uriah (1518) Est. $1,000 - $1,300
    Old World Auctions (Sept 11): Lot 533. Eight-Volume Set Recounting Travels of Anacharsis in Greece (1789) Est. $800 - $950
  • Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    September 11
    Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Exquemelin (Alexandre Olivier). The History of the Bucaniers of America..., 4 parts in one, 3rd edition, 1704. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Greenough (George Bellos). A Physical and Geological Map of England & Wales..., Geological Society, July 1865. £5,000-8,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Illuminated Psalter. Manuscript Psalter with Calendar, Flanders or North-East France, late 13th century. £7,000-10,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    September 11
    Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Book of Hours. Illuminated manuscript on vellum, Use of Rome, in Latin, Florence, c. 1470s. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Henry VIII (King of England). Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum, Antwerp: Michiel Hillen, 1522. £3,000-5,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Binding for Queen Mary I of England and Ireland. Polydori Vergilii Urbinatis Anglicae..., 1555. £20,000-30,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    September 11
    Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Llwyd (Humphrey). The Breviary of Britayne..., 1st edition in English, 1573. William Lambarde's copy. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Embroidered Binding. The Whole Book of Psalmes..., Imprinted for the Company of Stationers, 1634. £700-1,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Astronomy Manuscript. [Shakerley, Jeremy (1626-c.1655). Tabulae Britannicae, the British tables…], late 17th c. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    September 11
    Printed Books, Maps & Manuscripts, The Polydore Vergil bound for Queen Mary I
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Elew (Jan Barend, publisher). Nederlandsch bloemwerk, Amsterdam: J.B. Elwe, 1794. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Vellucent Art Nouveau Binding [Book of Common Prayer] by Herbert Granville Fell, 1900. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, Sep. 11: Palladio (Andrea). The Architecture of A. Palladio; in Four Books, 2nd edition, 1721. £2,000-3,000
  • Sotheby’s
    10 September 2024
    The Shem Tov Bible

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