Full Talks and Events Details for 46th Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair

The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair has announced its special events and talks programs at this year’s fair, a three-day event celebrating the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America’s 75th anniversary.

It begins at the Hynes Convention Center in Downtown Boston with an opening night celebration and preview on November 8 and features in-person talks all weekend, in addition to more than 100 rare book dealers from the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy, Netherlands, Serbia, the UK, and 19 U.S. states.

November 9 events include:

12pm: Boston Book Fair Tour
 with Bibliographical Society of America Executive Director Erin McGuirl guiding a walk-through of the fair, meeting BSA-member booksellers, with newcomers especially welcome (limited to 10 participants, registration required)

1pm: The Ticknor Society Collectors' Roundtable: Off the Beaten Track looking at more unusual collections with panelists including Gerald Prebble, who collects Little Magazines of the 1920s and 1930s


2.30pm: Subverting Expectations: the Contemporary Dimensions of a Rare Book Collection with 
Ruth R. Rogers, Curator of Special Collections at Wellesley College discussing the challenges of artists' book within academic libraries

4pm: Women as Writers, Readers, and Owners of Medieval Manuscripts
 with Lisa Fagin Davis, Simmons University School of Library and Information Science, Rare Book School, and the Medieval Academy of America, who looks at medieval writers such as Italian-born French writer Christine de Pizan, German abbess Hildegard von Bingen, and the anonymous nuns of Dalheim, as well as some of the modern women who treasured them including Isabella Stewart Gardner from Boston  

5.30pm: Collecting Trash: Wastepaper in Early American Bindings (sponsored by the Bibliographical Society of America)
 with Ashley Cataldo, Curator of Manuscripts, American Antiquarian Society who focuses on the many uses of printed waste in early American bookbinding, drawn from the collections of the American Antiquarian Society, from the 1640 Bay Psalm Book to 19th-century printed books from Hawaii.  

November 10 events include:

12pm: Draw Me Ishmael: The Book Arts of Moby Dick with 
Dan Lipcan, Ann C. Pingree Director, Peabody Essex Museum’s Phillips Library on decades of approaches to interpreting the novel visually in book form, including examples for the audience to examine

1.30pm: Collecting on a Shoestring Budget: Books, Sports Ephemera, and Original Art
with Richard Johnson, Curator at The Sports Museum, who will talk about assembling one of the best libraries of sports publications in America while also seeking out affordable pieces of original art by artists such as Winslow Homer, Thomas, Nast, Andre Gill, and John Held, Jr.,

2.30pm: Boston Book Fair Tour
, BSA Executive Director Erin McGuirl takes a walk-through of the fair, meeting BSA-member booksellers (again, newcomers welcome, limited to 10 participants, registration required)