The annual fall gathering for booklovers, the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair, will return to the Hynes Convention Center in Boston’s beautiful Back Bay, November 13-15, 2015. More than 120 dealers from the United States, Australia, England, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, and The Netherlands will exhibit and sell a vast selection of rare, collectible and antiquarian books, illuminated manuscripts, autographs, maps, atlases, modern first editions, photographs, and fine and decorative prints.   

Special events at this year’s Fair include the Boston debut of the Typewriter Rodeo, a group of poets who create custom poems on vintage typewriters; a talk by Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large for Merriam-Webster, about the 19th century dictionary wars; a behind-the-scenes talk with Marsha Bemko, executive producer of Antiques Roadshow; as well as The 14th Annual Ticknor Society Roundtable, a panel discussion of collectors talking about their collections of Political Americana. 

For attendees wanting to start a collection without breaking the bank, there will be dealers offering “Discovery” items, including a selection of children's books and decorative cloth bindings, priced at $100 or less. On Saturday, an expert “Discovery” panel will give tips on the best ways to shop a book fair and start your own collection. And on Sunday from 1-3pm, attendees are invited to bring in their own books for free appraisal.

Among the highlighted items for sale will be rare and first editions of works by Erasmus, Ezra Pound, Winston Churchill, Aimé Césaire, Philip Levine, and Robert Frost; engravings and prints by Sonia Delaunay and Pablo Picasso; an extremely rare 500-year old Dutch medical book, Hortus Sanitatis, containing detailed writings and annotated illustrations on plants, herbs, animals, and minerals used in medieval healing; an inscribed first-edition of Clement Moore’s Twas the Night Before Christmas; signed letters from Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock; a copy of the Matisse Ulysses signed by James Joyce and Henri Matisse; an exceptional complete folio of Francisco Goya’s Los Caprichos aquatints; and a unique version of the 18th century French classic Fables de Le Fontaine that might, literally, be the longest book ever brought to the Fair.

One of the oldest and most respected antiquarian book shows in the country, the Fair is an event that offers the ‘crème de la crème’ of items that are available on the international literary market. Whether just browsing or buying, the Fair offers something for every taste and budget—books on art, politics, travel, gastronomy, and science to sport, natural history, literature, music, and children’s books—that will appeal to the serious collector and the curious browser.

The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair is sponsored by the New England Chapter of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America. A portion of the ticket sales will benefit the Boston Public Library and the American Antiquarian Society. Tickets will be sold at the show’s box office during show hours and online at www.bostonbookfair.com.

For more information, ticket prices, and events calendar, call 617-266-6540 or visit www.bostonbookfair.com.

For digital images, or for further media information, contact NinaJBerger@gmail.com or call 617-543-1595.

The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair is produced by CommPromo.