Printed on cloth to make it ‘indestructible’ and featuring hand-coloured lithographed leaves, Childs Own Book is the work of Peter Carl Geissler (1802-72). Published in French and English as well as German, Geissler seems to have had his eye on the export market. This copy is offered by Simon Beattie for £2500.
Beattie is one of more than 100 booksellers standing at the 45th annual event, running at the Hynes convention centre from October 27-29.
An album of illustrations of nocturnal birds by German botanist and ornithologist Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach, c.1880, offered for $28,500 by Blackwell’s Rare Books.
Dealers come from Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Serbia as well as the US and the UK. They include Maggs Bros, Bernard Quaritch, Lucius Rare Books and Ben Kinmont Bookseller.
Resurgent demand
James Gray Booksellers brings to Boston a Book of Hours from 1533, published by brothers Gilles and Germain Hardouyn, who were registered in Paris as printers and illuminators. It is priced at $35,000.
Julie Roper, CEO of Capricorn Event Management, who has managed the BIABF since 2015, says: “After the height of the pandemic, we are seeing resurgent demand for in-person fairs.”
The event has been courting the attentions of younger buyers and sellers, and exhibitors are encouraged to offer ‘Discovery’ items priced at $100 or less to encourage the launch of new collections.
Other highlights at the fair include an example of the Ars Minor of Aelius Donatus, used for teaching Latin in the 15th century, which is offered by Patrick Olson Rare Books for $200,000, as well as a ‘Black is Beautiful’ Black Panther Party printing block, which bears the iconic image of the raised fist and is available for $3000 from Bromer Booksellers.
A programme of talks takes place, including one on women book collectors and another on the history of paper bindings in the US.
