The 47th annual New York Antiquarian Book Fair, sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America, returns this April to the Park Avenue Armory under the management of Sanford L. Smith & Associates. The oldest book fair in the country and most prestigious in the world, the fair includes 199 international dealers from the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, France, England, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Argentina.
Exhibitors offer bibliophiles and collectors an extensive selection of rare books, manuscripts, autographs, finely-bound volumes, maps, modern firsts, ephemera, and much more. There are specialties for every enthusiast: Travel and Exploration, Art, African-American, History, Law and Philosophy, Feminist Literature, Gastronomy, Architecture and Fashion, Music and Manuscripts, Fairy Tales, and Children's books. From Galileo to Salinger, and Dr. Seuss to Lewis and Clark, there is something for everyone.
On Sunday, visitors are encouraged to bring up to five items, rare books or manuscripts from their personal collections, for appraisal. Discovery Day will take place from noon-3pm on Sunday, April 22, in the lobby of the Armory where fair exhibitors will be available to make free verbal appraisals and to lend their expert guidance.
Again this year, The New York Public Library will benefit from the preview gala.
For more information about the preview, please call 212.930.0730 or visit www.nypl.org/rare
Admission is $20 per day or $45 for a three-day pass. The Armory is wheelchair accessible. To make arrangements, call 212.777.5218. There will be a café and bar on the show floor.
Highlights Include:
Between the Covers Rare Books:
Miller, Henry. The Tropic of Cancer. Paris: Obelisk 1934. First edition.
Miller’s best known work, detailing with then-unprecedented sexual candor his expatriate experience in Paris. It was banned for decades in the United States.
The Book Block:
The Song of Solomon, London (Guild of Women Binders), 1897.
Illustrated in Arts & Crafts style reminiscent of Walter Crane. A superb and scarce example of Arts & Crafts illustration from the Guild of Women Binders.
David Brass Rare Books, Inc.:
Swift, Jonathan. Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World…London: 1726. First edition (Teerink’s State A).
Engraved frontispiece portrait of Gulliver (second state), five engraved maps, and an engraved plate.
Heritage Book Shop, Inc:
Shakespeare, William. Poems: Written by Wil. Shakespeare. London: 1640.
First collected edition of Shakespeare's Poems, and the earliest obtainable appearance of the Sonnets.
Priscilla Juvelis, Inc.:
Vincent FitzGerald & Co., Fragments of Light II by Rumi. Design by Kelly Driscoll. Translated by Zahra Partovi. New York, 2004, one of 35 copies; 7 plates of Depp Glass, each plate with a laser etch of the English translation and original Persian of 13th century Sufi philosopher and poet, Rumi. 2007 has been designated the year of Rumi by UNESCO.
Librairie Lardanchet:
Picasso (P.)-Delgado (J.).Tauromaquia. Barcelona,G. Gili,1959, oblong folio. One of 10 that include two unused plates, an extra suite of the plates, a suite of the cancelled plates, and a proof of the cover.
The Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts Company (PRB&M):
Anthony, Susan B.; Elizabeth Cady Stanton; & Matilda Joslyn Gage. History of Woman Suffrage. Rochester: Susan B. Anthony, 1887?1902. This feminist landmark complete in four thick volumes, each inscribed with a different, extensive, significant, and vigorous message from Susan B. Anthony - publisher and co-editor of the work.
Libreria Jose Porrua:
Catesby, Mark. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. London, 1771. 2 volumes. Large folio. With 1 double-page map and 220 magnificent engraved plates, all colored by a contemporary hand. The most famous color-plate book of American plant and animal life.
William Reese Company:
Vespucci, Amerigo: Mundus Novus. Venice, 1504. The first account of discovery by the man after whom America is named.
Ralph Sipper/Books:
Faulkner, William. Soldiers' Pay, New York, 1926. First edition of the author's first novel. Fine in an unfaded dust jacket that has been minimally restored. Rare in any kind of jacket.
