I am delighted to be taking part on the latest virtual fair -the Transatlantic Book Fair a joint venture organised by the ABA and ABAA
Opens 2pm mid-Atlantic time (9am PDT, noon EDT, 5pm London, 6pm CET)
Closes 8pm mid-Atlantic time (3pm PDT, 6pm EDT, 11pm London, midnight CET)
I am delighted to be taking part in the Antiquarian Bookseller’s Association next event, Firsts Online from 20-25 May 2021.
Over 115 exhibitors from 15 countries will be offering over 2,000 highlights from 2pm GMT on Thursday 20 May. Highlights are fresh to the market with new items added throughout the event. We encourage you to visit the website regularly to see the newly added items.
You can reach my exhibitor page here:
Collecting Online: The Advantages and Disadvantages of Collecting Rare Books On The Internet.
Friday 21st May 2021 at 5PM BST
Learn more here.
Collecting Botanical Prints and Illustrations
Saturday 22nd May 2021 at 5PM BST
Learn more here.
Collecting Genre/Fiction
Monday 24th May 2021 at 5PM BST
Learn more here.
https://aba.org.uk/news/interview-with-deborah-coltham-the-abas-new-vice-president
I am delighted to be taking part once again, albeit virtually this year, at the American Association for the History of Medicine Book Exhibit. Open to meeting attendees from 5pm on Thursday May 13th, the book exhibit runs from 8am – 8pm on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th, and from 10am – 2pm on Sunday May 16th.
I will be available to chat at certain points during the day – though sadly the time difference means that my appearances may be brief! Nevertheless, sending best wishes to all my AAHM colleagues and friends and very much looking forward to when we can meet again.
I have recently produced a Catalogue of Early Books in Science and Medicine which can be viewed here: EarlyScience&Medicine
Delighted to be taking part once again – albeit virtually. Sending best wishes to all and very much looking forward to when we can meet again.
Some thoughts on starting your collecting
For the second time, the virtual doors of Firsts London Online are about to open, and so once again may I extend a warm welcome to you all, should you care to pop along for a leisurely browse. The online fair will remain open for visitors and buyers from today until midnight on Monday September 14th, with new items being added daily. Together with 115 international dealers from 16 countries, I have uploaded a number of recent acquisitions which can be viewed on the site. Exhibitor highlights may be changed during the event, and so please do keep revisiting the site.
As the book collecting community comes together once again, albeit virtually for the time being, I am therefore pleased to present my latest catalogue on the theme of collectors and collecting – ‘Wonders Bound’ – A Selection of Curiosities. Predominantly from a private collection, the 40 item list includes Wunderkammers, associated instructional works on how best to transport, preserve, and display the natural and artificial wonders, as well as works on zoological gardens (Moscow, Paris and Berlin), auction catalogues, guide-books, and other curiosities. After a relatively quiet summer, it has been an enjoyable, and often thought-provoking, catalogue to work on, and I hope that it may be of interest.
We may not all be able to meet in person this year, but the fair must go on as they say, and I am delighted to be amongst 120 exhibitors partaking in Firsts Online – a digital version of our Firsts London.
The fair will launch to the public at 2pm GMT on Friday 5th June 2020. Over 120 Exhibitors from 15 countries will gather to offer rare and beautiful works including books, maps, manuscripts and ephemera covering a vast array of subjects.
Each exhibitor has been invited to showcase up to 12 highlights from what would have been their exhibited stock at the annual fair in London. In addition I will be uploading a catalogue shortly after the fair opens – so please do watch this space! I also plan to be ‘manning’ my virtual booth, so please do drop me a line if you have any questions.
The virtual fair will run for a week, and dealers will be updating their stock throughout the week.
In an attempt to keep up some semblance of normality, and having enjoyed our first joint venture ‘A School Day in Books’, Susanne Schulz-Falster, Amanda Hall, and myself, inspired by the strangeness of the times across the globe, decided to collaborate once again on a catalogue that might reflect the very different lives that we all rather abruptly find ourselves living.
Discombobulation, or Musings on Life in Lockdown tries to capture some of the principal preoccupations facing us all at the moment. In these confusing and unsettling times as we are slowly getting used to social distancing, and new routines, the various social media memes, gifs, and videos circulating globally are inevitably focusing upon certain themes. First and foremost the great skill, fortitude, and selflessness of those in public health treating and caring for the sick and vulnerable; secondly how we are all taking time for reflection & self improvement (i.e. finally taking up that hobby we have long talked about, or reaching for a favourite book); home entertainment (be it gardening, playing games, or just letting it all hang loose); well-being & fitness (i.e. trying not to over-indulge); and finally the big question of the day – quite what does the future hold?
Firstly – a big thank you for checking in to my website in these extraordinary and momentous times. I trust everyone is well and safe. Self isolation is something that as a sole-trading bookseller I am quite used to, but it is going to be emotionally, mentally, and physically challenging for all of us, and so I sincerely hope that you are holding up as well as can be expected, and finding succour and comfort where you can. BBC6 Music is certainly helping me through the day.
In the face of such uncertainty, all I can do is to continue doing what I know how to do best – in fact it is the only thing I know how to do – i.e. to catalogue books and offer them out. I plan to send out a couple of short lists, though am conscious of adding unduly to the tsunami of emails which are flooding out across the world. They will be limited I promise – but I will try to keep updating my website.
I have just uploaded a number of stock items for your perusal. All items at this time will be sent post free and normal trade and institutional courtesies are extended. I will post things if I can, and usually use courier services, but the lockdown may perhaps reduce the services they provide. All orders will be held until the situation changes.
I am fully aware that for institutional customers, that most are currently unable to receive or pay for purchases in the near-to-intermediate term. I am happy to hold items for as long as necessary. We are all in this together.
I wish I could offer you a selection of gentle and soothing novels to pass the time. Sadly that is not my forte. It is so sad to see the impact that the current circumstances have had on book fairs and even on the health of some of my colleagues. How lucky that we live in this interconnected age, thanks to the internet, so that the book trade does not have to grind to an utter and complete halt. Many of my colleagues do offer a more extensive, and let’s be honest, a less gruesome and more ‘reading for pleasure’ stock, however, and so I encourage you all to seek out local independent bookstores, fellow ABA, ILAB and PBFA members, so many of whom are magnificently rising to the challenge of life in the time of Covid-19.
Hang in there – Stay Home – We are all in this together!
