America's Literary Treasure Displayed At International Antiquarian Book Fair

 

I was treated to seeing millions of dollars-worth of literary royalty on display earlier this month at the International Antiquarian Booksellers Association Book Fair.  

The Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America was founded 75 years ago to encourage interest in rare books and manuscripts and to maintain the highest standards in the antiquarian book trade. The ABAA offers resources, vendors, authenticators, and information that helps encourage a vibrant marketplace to exist. The ABAA celebrated with a successful show in early April at an old Park Avenue armory in New York City.  

Available to see and touch were: 

·         Near-perfect first-editions of true literary classics,

·         Random newspaper clippings and political pamphlets from three centuries ago,

·         Bejeweled pages from 1450 French manuscripts,

·         Noir pulp fiction books during their heydays of the 1930s – 1960s,           

Plus, there were marvelous prints, letters, manuscripts, over-sized books, autographs, Bibles, children’s books, bookplates, ephemera, decorative bindings, historic documents, Lincolnia, maps, and a whole lot more. No NFTs or e-books were to be purchased with crypto here! No, this was a throwback to how America and the world used to be – where the written word was printed, read, shared, and saved. The printed word used to be of great importance, as something to be revered. In today’s transient digital world, I don’t know, it seems like words no longer carry the weight that paper afforded them.  

A culture of six centuries was on display in front of us, traded like one goes into a baseball stadium gift shop. The collection world looked to be busy and healthy judging by the heavy, steady foot traffic. Here is where the book is seen as art, as a commoditized product to be sold but not read, The show honors the printed words, but it is doubtful that many owners of these works will actually read from the antique edition. These books are too valuable to be read. 

What was interesting is you had museum-quality books on display, some worth tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they were fairly easy to see or access. There was a surprising lack of protection for such rare items.

Could any of these be forged, unauthenticated items, or mere reprints or items whose condition is misrepresented? Not on the ABAA’s watch! 

Here's a glance at what some first edition copies of classics go for: 

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain

$75,000 

The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway

$225,000 

Ulysses by Joyce

$65,000 

Gone With The Wind by Mitchell

$12,500 

Winnie The Pooh by Milne

$5,000 

The Grapes Of Wrath by Steinbeck

$17,500 

Casino Royale by Fkeming

$165,000 

The Little Prince by de Saint-Exupery

$6,000 

Metamorphosis by Kafka

$2,500 

On The Road by Kerouac

$15,000 

Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Capote

$1,500 

The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger

$15,000 

Lord of the Flies by Golding

$22,500 

1984 by Orwell

$17,500 

There were even books being sold that you wouldn’t associate with the words rare or classic, like a copy of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. A first edition copy of the 1981 novel was being hawked for $1000. I like the movie that it was based on, but let’s be real.  There is no market for that – is there? 

If you want to learn more about ABAA, which is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, please consult: www.abaa.org.  



Need PR Help?

Brian Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with 3.6 million page views, can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors promote their story, sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator!

 

About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.8 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.