Empire State Rare Book & Print Fair Opens Today

The Empire State Rare Book and Print Fair, featuring more than 30 exhibitors from across the country, will take over the historic Great Hall in Shepard Hall at City College of New York today until September 29.

The second annual installment will take over the 14,000 square foot Late Gothic Revival structure and showcase tens of thousands of beautiful and rare books, prints, works on paper, historic documents, and ephemera.

The Promise of Liberty exhibition will debut at the fair and introduce never seen in public items such as The Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln, the first public printing of the Declaration of Interdependence ($2,000,000), George Washington’s Justice & the Public Good letter ($550,000) and his first Thanksgiving Proclamation, a letter from Albert Einstein alerting President Franklin Roosevelt to the possibility of the creation of an atomic bomb, and Jesse Owens' 1936 Olympic medal.

Other items offered include:

• a book on jazz from the library of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts presented to him as a birthday gift by Mick Jagger ($15,800)
• a letter from Frederick Douglass on his return voyage as a free man ($450,000)
• a signed copy of Martin Luther King’s Stride Toward Freedom ($200,000)
• a first edition of Breakfast at Tiffany's signed by Truman Capote ($10,500)
• the first printing of Anne of Green Gables in one of five surviving jackets from 1909 or earlier ($40,000)
• a first edition of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations ($25,000)

The weekend will include a variety of hosted events and entertainment including Q&A sessions and book signings with Candace Bushnell, author of Sex and the City, and designer India Hicks.

Additional speakers include children and young adult author Lois Lowry, Beatles expert and author Kenneth Womack, novelist and journalist Stona Fitch, and fashion illustrator Richard Haines.

“Our fairs are social, interactive events that cultivate a welcoming experience that instills the joy of collecting to all who attend,” stated Eve Lemon, who co-founded Fine Book Fairs with her husband Edward in 2022.  “New York City is the pinnacle event of our fairs, and we wanted to create a bespoke, truly memorable experience for both exhibitors and collectors that also reflected the city itself.

The list of exhibitors includes The 19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop, Act 2 Books, Artem Rare Books, B&B Rare Books, BlueMango Books and Manuscripts, C.S. Miller Books, Christopher’s Rare Books, Commonwealth Books, Conspiration Editions, Courtside Books, Edward T. Pollack Fine Arts, Imperial Fine Books, James Cummins Bookseller, Jeannot R. Barr Prints and Drawings, Jeffrey Bergman Books, Leaves Bookstore, Librairie Michael Seksik, Marc Chabot Fine Arts, 
McBride Rare Books, Michael Steinbach Rare Books, Michael Weintraub, Inc, Old Editions Rare Books, The Old Print Shop, Owl of Minerva Rare Books, Peter Harrington, Royal Books, Seth Kaller, Inc, Stan Gorski, Books & Ephemera, The Great Republic, The Verne Gallery, and Walnut Street Paper.