Sure seems that way. Promoter Julie Roper and the ABAA Book Fair Committee, along with our NoCal colleagues, knocked it out of the park at this past weekend’s San Francisco International Antiquarian Book Fair… making for the second smashingly successful book fair in as many weeks.
The gate of over 5000 attendees broke all records for events of this nature at Pier 27. I suppose New York is a bigger draw, but not by much. Buyers came forth in all shapes, ages, and sizes. For the first time I can remember, I sold to privates, institutional people, and fellow dealers in almost equal measure. And the buying, which threatened to be slow, turned around thanks to a Sunday afternoon visitor with a batch of mid-19th century China and India trade letters to die for.
I only made about $20,000, but added to last week’s $13K it made for a decent west coast vacation – a welcome respite from the sub-freezing temps and foot of snow awaiting us back in Gloucester.
I’m sure our various chat lines will be singing the praises of this year’s show, just as I’m sure some percentage of us will find something to complain about. Were there things that could have been improved upon? I’m sure there were, but I’m equally certain that Julie Roper & company are working on improvements as we speak.
Whoops! there’s my plane…
My observation from the position of being a booth assistant at this fair is that it was a successful event. Most dealers that I spoke with had quite good sales, one stated that this was his best California fair in the forty years he’s been in business.
Jeff Elfont
Swan’s Fine Books