Portland Fair Report

This past Sunday was the Portland Antiquarian Book Book and Paper Fair sponsored by the Maine Antiquarian Booksellers Association. In many ways, it was a hard year. We had fewer vendors than we have had in recent years (very annoying, given that this fair is the *only* fair in Maine *and* is so inexpensive relative to other shows (a full booth costing less than a display case rental at most shows). The number of attendees was also off...for reasons that many have various opinions about and clearly an issue that we need to think hard about how to turn around.

That said, there were also some bright spots. Though the gate was not huge, we did have collectors (and dealers) coming to the show from Vermont, Massachusetts and the Bar Harbor area. More importantly, those who came, spent money. We had the best show (here in Portland) that we have had since we started doing the show 5 years ago. I heard from several others that they had a very good

show...especially given the soft turn-out and small vendor pool.

That said, I know several dealers had little or now sales, though one of those apparently bought well enough to feel good about the show in the short term. These shows, of course, should really be thought of as part of a "long game". For most of us, the "value" of any given show has a great deal more to do with advertising and becoming known among local bibliophiles. A conversation at a show may just be a pleasant diversion during the fair...but becomes something "real" 6 months (or years) later when you get a call from that same person about placing their books and/or their desire to track down new material.

It was unfortunate that so many Maine dealers choose not to do the show. One of the best elements of the show, historically, is the number of Maine dealers who do this

show and don't do others. It is one of the things that draws dealers/collectors "from away" and that makes the show so much fun (that is, seeing folks that you might not see often otherwise).

One of the shining exceptions to this miss by others was the arrival of The Maine Bookhouse at the fair for the first time. Harry and Joanna Reese allowed themselves to be cajoled into attending after only a couple of years of pestering at the very last minute. They took a single table and made the very most of it (see the last image, with Joanna hiding at the left side). They came with solid material and benefitted

greatly from Joanna's wonderful personality and passion for her books. I've been told that it was a good show for them... I'm very pleased that their first show went well.

Also doing his first book fair was Craig Olson of Artisan Books & Bindery. Craig has recently radically increased the volume of his stock by acquiring the sadly now gone ABCD Books in Camden. He is following up the Maine book fair with the shadow show of the Boston ABAA book fair in November. This was, of course, exactly what we did and clearly bodes of great things to come from Craig...

I, of course, spent more time setting up my booth (admittedly, a big double booth as I had a lot of history of Maine/Americana that displays best if not shelved together...the bane of the "ugly brown book"). I spent about 7 hours setting up for a 6 hour fair. Another 2 hours breaking down...it would have been 2 hours more had I not had SIX helpers (thanks to Suzanne, Eli, Kaitlyn, mom, dad, and Lucretia).

That said, the booth looked really nice (better than I, Utilikilt not withstanding). Eli was great fun in his skull and crossed bones bow-tie and belt. I met several new clients/potential clients and spent the day (and a half) with people I really enjoy seeing. A good time.

The economy is not great, the gate was off, the number of dealers was down...but overall, it was a surprisingly good show. Here's to next year being even better.

Sorry for the slight delay in posting, but after packing up the van (and unpacking it at the house), I left early Monday for NYC and a great conference at the Grolier Club. Back home now and reality is settling down...for a few weeks, when I leave for the Seattle Book Fair.

Quick Grolier Club Conference follow-up and Pictures in the Portland Press Herald from the Portland Fair

The Press Herald posted a few pictures from the fair. It would have been nice if the image of Moby Dick had been properly cited, but it is close enough... Full report on the fair with added pictures to follow...a two day trip to NY immediately following the fair has thrown all things askew.

The mini-conference on "Books in Hard Times" at the Grolier Club was outstanding. It was the best one day event I've ever attended. The sessions were interesting, the crowd engaged and inquisitive...just as good as can be. My only...minor...complaint is that the panel of booksellers might have benefitted from a "younger/hungrier/less-well-capitalized" voice. The three dealers (Bill Reese, Priscilla Juvelis, and Tom Congalton), while representing radically different genres of the trade, all all "elite" dealers and, one might reasonably surmise, somewhat insulated from current "hard times." That said, their session was just great and very informative...so who knows...

Session Three: Collectors -- and Concluding Remarks

William Helfand (Pres. Grolier Club)

Mark Samuels Lasner (Collector; etc.)

David Alan Richards (Collector), etc.)

William T. Buice, III (Collector, etc.)

Concluding Remarks: Terry Belanger (Founder and [recently retired] Director of the Rare Book School).

All sessions have been outstanding, thus far. Great panels, great audience and great fun.

Second Session- Libraries (and a note on llunch)

Mark Dimunation (Chief of Special Collections at the Library of Congress)

Breon Mitchell (Director, Lilly Library)

Katherine Reagan (Curator of Rare Books at Cornell Library)

Nadina Gardner (Director of Preservation and Access, National Endowment of the Humanities).

Lunch was at Serafina...very nice. Street was closed off and we had to be "cleared" to go to the restaurant by heavily armed NYPD as, we were told, the Pres. of Israel was staying on the block re the UN. Fun at every turn.

First Panel: The Antiquarian Book Trade:

David Redden: (Sotheby's) - Moderator

William Reese (William Reese Company)

Tom Congalton (Between the Covers)

Priscilla Juvelis (Priscilla Juvelis Rare Books)

State of the trade. Off to a lively start thanks to David.

Books in Hard Times [at the Grolier Club]

Attending a wonderful one day event at the Grolier Club, "Books in Hard Times." Three panels, book sellers, libraries, and collectors. It sold out. The attendees are a remarkable cross-section of bibliophiles and I'm looking forward to a great day. Summary to follow.

Come join us on Sunday for Maine's only Antiquarian Book and Paper Show

The annual Maine Antiquarian Book and Paper show will be held this Sunday (September 20th) at the Wyndham Hotel out near the Maine Mall. The fair runs from 9am through 3pm and features dozens of dealers from throughout Maine and beyond. Antiquarian and used books, paper, pamphlets and ephemera will be present in abundance. Come join us at Maine's *only* antiquarian book event.

Exhibitors include: Kit Barry Ephemera of Brattleboro, VT offering ephemera supplies and general ephemera; James Arsenault & Co. of Arrowsic, ME offering historical documents and Americana; Austin’s Antiquarian Books of Wilmington, VT offering Americana & Civil War; T. Brennan Bookseller of Marietta, GA offering a general line; Harland H. Eastman of Springvale, ME offering rare ephemera; Eighty One Main of Monmouth, ME offering botanical and natural sciences; Lake Androscoggin Books & Prints of Wayne, ME offering fine prints and rare first editions; Bickerstaff’s Books & Maps of Scarborough, ME offering rare old maps & prints; Lux Mentis of Portland, ME offering fine bindings, first editions, and book art; Conservation Gallery of Yarmouth, ME offering vintage newsprint and maps; Rabelais Books of Portland, ME offering books on food, wine and the arts; Mainely Paper of Owls, ME offering unique ephemera and paper antiques; Tenney River Books of Mansfield, MA offering non-fiction and general ephemera; and Mori Books of Milford, NH offering rare children’s books. These and many other select Exhibitors will be found only at this exceptional show.

Details and directions can be found at Flaming Eventz and/or at MABA website.

We hope to see you at the fair.

Day Four, Pack Up, and a good night's sleep (I hope)

Sunday was busy. A lot of interested people. Bought some more material...sold a bit. Met some great people. This is a long show. It finished at 6pm. We were packed and ready to go at about 840pm or so....but the van was not able to get in until about 1015 or so. Logistics of getting 500 dealers in and out are really remarkably daunting....

Hi point of the day was at the very end. Met up with Sunday and Josh in the pub in our hotel after we finally got out (they had been there for some time ). It was great fun to have a drink and a bite to eat and just hang out for a while (that the food and drink ended up being free was a bonus (and worth the long wait...).

More to follow when I have regained sentience.

Day Three in Baltimore - More fun and Salt II

Day three started with a long, hot bath in hopes that I might not have to amputate my feet. The jury remains out but I was at least able to walk over to the hall. The show was, again, solidly busy all day. Lots of looking. Lots of good questions. A few sales and a number that we will just have to wait and see if they close.... Overall, a great day.

Interestingly, there seems to be a good deal more dealer to dealer action. I know we were looking for Wrong Coast material (sorry, left coast) for Seattle, SF and LA. It really seemed as if some good material was moving here and there...certainly more than I've seen at recent shows.

The show is running as smoothly as always. I've said it before, these guys should really offer classes to others as to how to run great shows. They've done great marketing, the hall looks great (the spend more on flowers than most promoters spend on all elements of show infrastructure). It is just a great...and well run...show.

Suz and I returned to Salt again tonight, this time with Adam and Kate. I know that Baltimore has many more places to offer, but I truly doubt they could be *better*. It is hard to go somewhere else that *might* be good when there is a known place that is simply wonderful. The company was great fun, we talked books and silliness all evening. The food was just what we expected...the goat cheese doughnuts in lavender infused honey were, again, insanely good. Adam summed it up aptly, "I'm pretty certain this is the best meal I've ever had."

Tomorrow is the final day and pack-up. For the first time, we will be returning to our hotel after. The rate was so good that it made more sense than hitting the road and driving for a few hours. I hope it will make the drive home on Monday less torturous... We shall see.

Day Two in Baltimore: FoodPorn Issue

The day was good fun. A few sales, a few good buys, several great clients stopped by to say hi. Fun had by all. An then it was over and the best part of the day began.

We had 9pm reservations at Salt. We gathered first in our room (Josh, Sunday, Lauren, Cythia, Suz & ijk) Wine and some munchies and much laughter. Nice to settle down (and be off one's feet) after the day and before dinner.

We arrived shortly before 9pm. The hostess (owner?!?) remembered me from past years and was particularly lovely. Given that we are only in town once a year, it was very nice that she remembered us...more so that she seemed pleased and amused to have us back (admittedly, we did eat there twice during last year's visit). Two of our party of six were new to the fare, but feel in love.

As is often the case, we opted to share appetizers and

selected the following:

Eastern Shore Corn and Shellfish

Chowder: Applewood bacon, fresh thyme

Corvina Ceviche: Ginger, lime, cilantro, aji amarillo, red onion, cusco corn, sweet potatoes (x2)

Duck Fat French Fries: With a trio of aioli (x2)

Crispy Hoisin Duck Spring Roll: Spicy Chinese mustard dipping sauce (x2)

The Ceviche was made with grouper and was wonderful (an interesting contrast to last year's shrimp). The chowder was

exceptional and the spring rolls were basically peking duck deep fried and crispy...just delicious. The fries were, as always, delicious.

We decided that we would basically share entrees as well. This was a great idea, as it is so hard to make choices as too many things beckon you...

We settled on the following:

Grilled Atlantic Wahoo: Quinoa and vegetable salad, mango chimichurri sauce

Coriander and Pepper Crusted Tuna: Served over seaweed salad with spicy tuna pot stickers and ginger soy glaze

Grilled Lamb Sirloin: Curried carrot fritter, watercress and bean salad, feta vinaigrette

Fresh Pasta with Corn, Asparagus and Chiles: Sweet corn butter, fresh thyme, shaved Pecorino Romano (x2 (1 split between the two more or less veggies at the table))

Dinner was simply exceptional. Not only have I not had a bad meal at Salt, I've never had a bad dish. While everything was genuinely great, it was the tuna that stole the show for me...seered about .25 of an inch in, the rest was cool and raw. It was beyond good. Just the best tuna I've ever eaten.

We finished our meal and wicked, wicked waiter told us the desert options. We decided to be good:

Trio of Ice Cream Cones (house-made icecream, orea, blueberry and white choc. and key lime) (x2)

Goat Cheese Doughnuts drizzled with Lavender Honey and a wee cup of house-made coffee icecream

Dark Chocolate Gelato with fresh fruit and Grand Marnier

The trio(s) were delicious and the gelato smooth and wonderful. The doughnuts, however, were in a class by themselves. Lauren forced us (against our will and better judgement) to order as second serving of them them...to be fair, she also ate most of the second round...sacrificing herself to save us from ourselves. There is no way to describe just how good they were. Come to Baltimore. Eat at Salt. Have them yourself. You will not regret it.

We finished the evening at the end of a pier watching and/or dancing the tango. Fish were jumping, music playing, people dancing. Such a good day...

Day One, strong start...

Quick post...too tired. Long day, 9am to 8pm (show from 12 to 8). Good lines at both entrances before opening and strong traffic nearly all day. Few good sales to humans (as opposed to dealers)...great conversations and interesting folk. Just a good day...

Dinner after was good. Names escapes me at the moment...I'll correct later. Very nice shrimp and grits.

Baltimore 2009 - Setting up and settling in...

We left Portland bright and early(ish) on Tuesday. The drive was as nice as an eight hour drive can possibly be. We landed at Ned Sparrow's (of Ned Sparrow Books fame) around 8pm. There was fresh pizza waiting and Ned sauteed and thinly sliced some venison to top it....amazing. The next morning, we were off in time to be at the Balt. Convention Center by 10AM.

We were allowed in with no waiting at all and were able to park *right* next to the booth. So far, so good. On the other hand, when we arrived we only had our case and one 4 foot table...our six food and eight foot tables were no where to be seen throwing a major monkey wrench into our ability to begin. We ended up getting a standard six foot and 2 sixes that are only 2 feet wide (allowing us to stay within the rigidly enforced 10 foot booth size limit...but we are able to "violate" it at the back, as we abut big load bearing pillars). It took an hour or so to get our tables, during which I build the glass display case and cleaned and prepped the trophy case.

Set-up took about 8 hours. the booth looks pretty good, I think. The trophy case is a bit "dense", but that seems to resonate with more than it annoys. The pictures show most angles of the booth (small pictures are small, but blow up if you click them...also, sorry re the order, I could not get them to lay out correctly and am too tired to figure it out). I'll post some close ups tomorrow.

I'll try to figure this out, but it seems as if there are *more* book dealers this year than last. The other booths I was able to poke about look good (Brian next door looks great as usual). It is shaping up to be a great show...hope attendees do their part .

We checked into the hotel...a mere 2.5 blocks from the show. Thus far, I can not recommend the Hotel Monaco highly enough. It is in the old-fabulous-B&O Railroad headquarters building. It is a great deco building (more images of the building also likely). The room is lovely and large, the decorating touches on the buildings history without being camp (e.g. nightstands have the look of steamertrunks, the bathroom door is a slider). We were very lucky to be offered a "we just renoed the building and would love to have warm bodies in it" rate of just $99/night. As with most of their (Klimpton Hotels), we were offered and readily accepted "pet goldfish" for the duration of our 5 night stay. I've named them SushiK and Hiro (hat-tip to NS).

Dinner from the hotel gastrobar was really quite nice (pepperoni and arugula flatbread and bbq meatball sliders) and the dessert was exceptional...a long, thin brulee with finely diced candied ginger, cocoa, peaches, strawberries and mango. Absolutely wonderful.

We are going over around 9am tomorrow morning to finish tweaking the booth. The show opens and 11 and runs until 8pm tomorrow...long day. I'll do my best to post after.