Dealers

Next month’s 'London International Antiquarian Book Fair' at the National Hall, Olympia on June 1-3 will be the last held at the West Kensington venue.

Last October we reported that Oxford’s Antiques on High’s owner, antiquarian book dealer Tony Sloggett, wanted to retire and find a new owner for the antiques centre which has traded in the city for 20 years. The situation remains unchanged, however, and it is business as usual at the centre for now.

Coming up in early June are the two stalwart fairs of the London antiquarian book trade: 'The London International Antiquarian Book Fair', hosted by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association (ABA), and 'The London International Premier Fair', hosted by the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA).

In the continuing series looking through the keyhole of ‘bricks and mortar’ shops in 2017, ATG talks to Robert Frost, who runs Martlesham Antiques from a thatched cottage in Suffolk. It specialises in 18th and 19th century furniture.

A sketchbook by the Bavarian artist Georg Johann Scharf (1788-1860) was discovered recently by ephemera dealer Valerie Jackson-Harris at the Sunbury Antiques Market at Kempton Park.

The London International Premier Fair (June 2-3) is the flagship book fair of the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA).

The Fine Art Society’s exhibition Gordon Reece: The Art of Collecting runs from May 23-June 16. It has been curated by Reece and presents African sculpture and artefacts from the former dealer’s collection alongside the FAS’s own 20th century art and design.

Coming up next at The Fine Art Society in Edinburgh is the exhibition Between Tides: Scotland’s Working Culture of the Sea.

David Bownes is the former head of collections at the London Transport Museum and director of collections at the National Army Museum. After a few years of building a collection mainly of British posters, he made the move from curating to selling with the launch of his Twentieth Century Posters website in January 2016.

Tribal, non-European or ethnographic art has experienced a huge growth in both general and financial appreciation this century. This boost is partly due to the connections made between indigenous art and its influence on modern and contemporary artists.

John Minton’s 1940 painting 'Landscape with Figures' is among the pieces included in Osborne Samuel’s exhibition 'The Romantic Impulse: British Neo-Romantic Artists at Home & Abroad 1935-1959'.

While most tribal art events take place in major cities, the Bourgogne Tribal Show makes the most of its rural location.

Cooper Events’ next outing is The Pavilions of Harrogate Antiques & Fine Art Fair in North Yorkshire, from June 2-4.

If you don’t know which epic film opens with the phrase ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….’ then you may just be living on a different planet.