a trip to: the ny international antiquarian book fair (pt. 1)

lost in a sea of (painfully) expensive rare books

Happy almost Monday, dearest readers!

My sincere apologies for being absent from this space—a combination of starting a new job and nursing a cold left little room for writing (or anything else outside the bare necessities of my day-to-day).

I also want to welcome all the new subscribers who have joined since I posted last—welcome! I’m so glad you’re here. Seeing so much engagement with warm as toast has been incredibly energizing, and my list of ideas for future posts grows longer by the day.

Housekeeping ✔️

I spent much of yesterday weaving through the aisles of the 65th Annual ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair (that’s a mouthful!) hosted at the Park Avenue Armory. It’s been on my radar for years (my dad is a bit of an antiquarian book enthusiast), but this was my first year attending. Once a year, “exhibitors from across the world convene at New York City's historic Park Avenue Armory, presenting a trove of materials including rare books, maps, illuminated manuscripts, fine bindings, illustrations, historical documents, photographs, prints, memorabilia, and ephemera.”

I didn’t know exactly what to expect by way of children’s books, but I was met with abundance! Now you might be wondering (as was I): Sophie, weren’t you tempted to spend copious amounts of money (that you don’t have?) The answer is, fortunately, NO! The prices of most of these books (as you’ll see below) were so wildly high that the question of purchasing anything didn’t even cross my mind. My brain processed the experience like it would a trip to a museum, not a shopping opportunity.

Here are some of my highlights from yesterday’s adventure:

Maurice Sendak: I was utterly delighted by the sheer volume of Sendak offerings, and spotted a few titles I’d never even heard of!

Need to pick up a (not first edition, not $350) copy for myself STAT!

I also spotted some amazing original drawings (be still, my heart!)

“No woe is gossamer to Mr Bessemer” (1955), original ink study for Ogden Nash’s You Can’t Get There From Here—and a modest $10,000

There were also many special first editions of beloved classics:

And I would be remiss to exclude these two gems:

Beatrix Potter: A large portion of the exhibitors were from the UK, and lucky for me, brought with them many one-of-a-kind Potter treasures.

Inscribed first edition of Peter Rabbit’s Almanac (1929)

First edition, first issue (one of the initial 250 copies printed privately for Potter, with a flat spine). Will run you a modest $125,000.

Had to include these sweet editions of some favorites:

Tove Jansson: I anticipated coming across a fair number of Jansson/Moomin books but only found two. They were both non-English editions, which I hadn’t seen before!

First Jansson-illustrated edition (1966)

There’s just something about her signature *swoon*

Margaret Wise Brown: Perhaps some of the most exciting finds of the day were two Wise Brown titles I’d never heard of, let alone seen IRL.

This one was so special I practically had to pry it out of my own hands and sprint out of the stall (and haven’t stopped thinking about it since…)

Ludwig Bemelmans: I have to admit my Bemelmans’ familiarity begins with Madeline and ends with his bar at the Carlyle Hotel, but I was so excited to stumble upon a few of his lesser-known (and sadly for my own library, very scarce) titles.

Perhaps the coolest find of the day was initially spotted by my lovely partner (I’ve trained him well)— an original mock-up copy of Parsley from 1948. As you can see below, the text and illustration are pasted in, as a guideline for later publication (a unique glimpse into the book design process!)

Another exhibitor was selling a first edition of the same title, and it was so lovely to hold the final product in my hands after just seeing the mock-up.

H.A. Rey: Much like Bemelmens’ oeuvre, my Rey exposure doesn’t extend much beyond Curious George. Also, I’m a sucker for an author/illustrator husband and wife duo, so the Rey’s are ripe for a deep dive!

While I left this behind ($450 was far out of my budget!), a copy of Spotty is in the mail as we speak (thank God for eBay!)

I’m cutting myself off here, but what I’ve shared above is probably about 1/3 of the photos I took- there was SO much to see! All so fabulous! How to whittle it down!?

If money was no object, which of these would you take home? I shudder at the (implausible) thought of owning one of these and the anxiety that would come with caring for it. Fortunately, I don’t see it being a problem for a long, long time.

PS: Because I want to share everything (or nearly everything!) I saw with you, I will be releasing part two of this post later in the week for paid subscribers. Please consider upgrading your subscription if reading that (and supporting all the work that goes into these posts) is of interest to you!

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