Book Fairs | February 13, 2024

ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair Returns for 64th Edition

ABAA/New York International Antiquarian Book Fair

The ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair (NYIABF) returns to the Park Avenue Armory in New York City April 4-7 as the ABAA celebrates its 75th Anniversary and presents a series of special events & programs tied to the New York fair.

There will be nearly 200 exhibitors this year from around the world, with prices ranging from $50 to millions. This year, for its 64th Edition, the fair welcomes exhibitors from 15 different countries including Argentina, Austria, Den mark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. A robust number of US exhibitors also highlight the incredible wealth of material available stateside. Exhibitors will present a vast treasure trove of items including rare books, maps, illuminated manuscripts, incunabula, fine bindings, illustrations, historical documents, prints and print ephemera.

The fair continues to attract new antiquarian booksellers as it evolves, welcoming 16 new exhibitors this year including: °ART...on paper - XX Century Art Books, Alain Sinibaldi, Alastor Rare Books, Dale Steffey Books, Editio Altera, Keith de Lellis Gallery, Kunsthandel Mitmannsgruber, Librairie JC Vrain, Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts, Patrick Olson Rare Books, Photo Discovery, Resser Thorner Americana, Stephen Butler Rare Books, The Book Block, Wiggins Fine Books and ZH BOOKS.

Type Punch Matrix

Type Punch Matrix: unpublished autograph poem The Snowflake Star by Sylvia Plath [circa 1945]. Original autograph manuscript of one of Plath’s earliest poems in a version preceding the 1946 revision published in her junior high school literary magazine and collected nowhere else.

Rodolphe Chamonal Librairie

Rodolphe Chamonal Librairie: The original catalog albums of a 19th century Parisian parfumerie containing over 400 labels. The album includes more than 400 printed labels, most of which are highlighted in gold or in colors, carefully presented attached to the original drawings or watercolors of the bottles or boxes with which they were associated.

Olson Rare Books

Olson Rare Books: Sermones quadragesimales de peccatis by Robertus Caracciolus. Strassburg: Johann Prüss, December 3, 1490. Bound using fragments of Ars Minor by Aelius Donatus. Mainz, owner of the type of the 42-Line Bible, ca. 1454-1457. A fantastically rare Donatus fragment printed on parchment with the type of the Gutenberg Bible. It has characteristics of the earliest editions and plausibly predates the Bible’s publication. All examples survive exclusively as fragments from bindings. The last time one this early changed hands was 1933. Only one other remains with its host binding, and only one other is recorded in private hands

The First Edition Rare Books

The First Edition Rare Books: The Hobbit signed by J.R.R. Tolkien, published by Houghton Mifflin Company of Boston in 1973

This year’s event will present a robust schedule of programming and special events including the return of ABAA Connect, for the first time in partnership with the British Library, as well as Discovery Day, a program beloved by fairgoers, allowing them to bring pieces from their own collections and libraries for appraisal by dealers.

A program resurrected from the early 2000s, ABAA Connect will allow the British Library to request items at the NYIABF from exhibitors, and have those items purchased for the Library as recommended by tax-advantaged contributions from donors to the American Trust for the British Library (ATBL). Unique to the 2024 ABAA Connect program, the ATBL will guarantee the acquisitions requested by British Library curators.

A NYIABF tradition, Discovery Day on April 7 offers ticketed visitors the opportunity to bring their own rare books, manuscripts, maps, etc. (up to five items). Exhibitors will be on hand to offer expert advice and free appraisals.

The fair is officially sanctioned by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA) and International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) and produced and managed by Sanford L. Smith + Associates.