This month's festival pick...

Antiquarian Book Fair
San Francisco to host world's largest rare book fair

By Patrick Totty

When it comes to culture, not too many people know just how much of a “second city” – behind New York – that the San Francisco Bay Area is. The second greatest concentration of dance companies in the U.S. makes it's home in the region, as well as the nation’s second largest number of publishers.

Those publishers have become known for their willingness to take chances and cater to markets that East Coast publishers often ignore. Nolo Press’s series of do-it-yourself legal books, Harper Collins’s huge list of spiritually and religiously oriented titles, and Ten Speed Press’s initial willingness to publish the classic What Color Is Your Parachute all exemplify the savvy, entrepreneurial nature of the Northern California publishing scene.

That boldness is inspired in part by a voracious reading public that’s been in place since the 1849 gold rush, supplemented by waves of literate immigrants, the establishment of two great universities (Stanford and U.C. Berkeley), and the historical power of the Bay Area as a lure to New York writers and publishers seeking a less traditional, less frantic metro area to settle in.

Here, the City's Second to None

There is one book-related realm, however, where San Francisco takes top honors, not only in the U.S. but in the whole world: the Annual California International Antiquarian Book Fair, the largest of its kind on earth. This is the sine qua non  of shows for the ardent rare booklover and seller, featuring attendance and exhibits by more than 250 of the world's top antiquarian booksellers from Europe, the Americas and Australia. The rare books, maps and manuscripts on display and for sale covers a huge range, including children’s material, travel, literature, food, law, art books and Americana.  

The fair, established in 1967, alternates yearly between Los Angeles and San Francisco. In 2003 it will take place Feb. 7-9 at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco. Organizers at what will be the 36^th edition of the fair already know some of the items that will be on sale, including a copy of Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language for $24,750.

Another book, frayed in places but still intact where it counts, is An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony, on the Charge of Illegal Voting, at the Presidential Election in Nov., 1872, and on the Trial of Beverly W. Jones, Edwin T. Marsh and William B. Hall, The Inspectors of Election by whom her Vote was Received. The asking price will be $25,000.

A first-edition copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbit will be offered at $85,000.

The festival is one of only four antiquarian book fairs in the U.S. sanctioned by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA).