Announcing the Southern New England Antiquarian Book & Ephemera Fair
Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts — Richard Mori of Mori Books of Laconia, New Hampshire and Duane A. Stevens of Wiggins Fine Books SNEAB, ABAA of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts are pleased to announce the inaugural Southern New England Antiquarian Book and Ephemera Fair to be held on Friday, September 23 and Saturday, 24, 2022 in the Murray D. Lincoln Campus Center Auditorium (CCA) on the campus of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The flagship UMass campus, with 30,000 students and over 1,200 faculty, is conveniently located in the heart of the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts.
The area is home to leading practitioners in the book arts including letterpress printers, bookbinders, papermakers, and book designers considered to have the highest concentration of such professionals, many of whom were trained at the iconic Gehenna Press, outside of New York City. The press operated out of Northampton and trained legions of book artists under the guidance of Leonard Baskin and his Master Printer Harold McGrath. Amherst is located equidistant between Boston and New York City and offers a plethora of fine dining and hotel and bed and breakfast accommodations. As a special addition to the agenda, a book auction under the auspices of Paul Muller-Reed of New England Auctions, LLC will be held Thursday evening after early dealer move-in.
The University’s Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) focusses on social change and has recently acquired the archives of Daniel Ellsberg. Following a decade as a high-level government official, researcher and consultant, Ellsberg distributed the top-secret Pentagon Papers in 1971, exposing decades of deceit by American policymakers during the Vietnam War. Other noteworthy SCUA collections include those pertaining to Cold War culture: a growing collection of books printed in East Germany and one of the largest collections of materials in the United States from the Solidarity movement in Poland.
The fair will highlight social change, with dealers offering material relating to activism and social engagement. A special section of the fair will offer institutional special collections representatives.
In September the splendors of the Connecticut River Valley and the surrounding hill towns will be on full display, with the start of fall foliage. The UMass campus is a botanical showplace and offers a full range of amenities in the Campus Center, including Amherst’s highest rated hotel and numerous culinary venues all under one roof. The UMass food service is rated Number One among American colleges and universities.
The inaugural Southern New England Antiquarian Book and Ephemera Fair will showcase the offerings of 45 of the region’s leading book and ephemera dealers. Dealers are members of the Southern New England Antiquarian Booksellers and the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and as such are held to the highest ethical and business practice standards. The fair will be aggressively marketed to special collections librarians and collectors of all ages. Dealers will offer special “Discovery” shelves targeting young collectors, with items priced at $100 or less.
For more information contact Richard at Richard@moribooks.com or Duane at duane9393@gmail.com.
