Quick show update...NY is such fun in that slightly masochistic way...

Well, Books at the 25th Street Armory is done for another year. It was a good show, reasonably well attended and there were some great buys to be had. We stayed at one of my very favorite hotels, The Hotel Giraffe. It is literally across the street from the Armory. Though not the least expensive date in town, the "value" of being able to pull out after unloading the van, circling the block and dropping the car off with the valet is worth at least $100 to me (probably more).

We stayed with my sister in Guilford, CT, the night before the show and ended up making it into the city a bit early as traffic was favorable. We made it in at about 845 and we able to pull right in (you drive into the armory itself, up a car elevator)...this was great for us as I take an inordinately long time setting up our booth. As it was, I was actually DONE with enough time to go over the hotel and get changed AND have a leisurely lunch. Unthinkable.

As if this was not enough of a treat, I had the pleasure of being located next to Bibi Mohamed of Imperial Fine Books. Bibi attends many book fairs largely to buy fine leather and this was one such fair. As a result, she asked if I would be able/willing to use two of her tables. It was really a godsend, as I have a lot of folio woodblock and print volumes and her offer allowed me to display a number of volumes in a manner I would not have had the space to do otherwise (e.g. Masereel's, Remember and the Dore illustrated edition of Tennyson's, Vivian. It was really a wonderful turn of events. She is, btw, going to be at the Palm Beach Fine Art and Antique show in early February, if you happen to be down that way.

I was across the way from Lame Duck Books, which was also a treat. He brought a remarkable collection of fine books, photos and the like...simply wonderful material.

It was also a great show as we sold more to "normal humans" than to other dealers *laughing*. At many shows, most and sometimes all sales are to other dealers...it was very nice to have a show where most sales were to collectors. It was a pretty good show from a sales standpoing...and I'm expecting another handful of sales in the next few days related to the show. It was also a great show for buying...I picked up a number of nice items for several of my clients.

Thanks to all who stopped by and congrats to he who "won" the blueberry jam for being the first to mention the blog in the booth. I look forward to the next show(s)...Boston in March definitely...and *possibly* NY in February...I'll keep you posted. [N.B. Joyce insisted on images, so I've included one of the booth from the front (S. King mss. on the left) and a snap of "The Annex" with Masereel's, Remember open in lower right (thanks, again, to Bibi). No broad "show" shots...I'll try to do that in the future.]