Here in New York, Day 2
Yesterday I posted about my Friday at the Manhattan book fairs. I returned to the NYABF fair at the Armory on Saturday for another few hours of intense browsing. My first stop was row E, having only made it as far as D the day before.
The double booth belonging to Ian Kahn/Lux Mentis and Brian Cassidy Bookseller, located in E, is the fun stop on the book fair tour. Fine press, avant-garde, music-related, and sex-related books and ephemera. A set of pink undergarments fashioned out of strips of pink paper on which are printed slang terms about women? Seen at Lux Mentis. A 1968 paper dress of Andy Warhol's soup can design given away by Campbell's to women who sent in two can labels and $1? Seen at Brian Cassidy.
I also attended the Book Collecting 101 Seminar run by Brad and Jen Johnson of The Book Shop in Covina, CA. It was a great seminar on the basics, covering insuring collections, packing/shipping books, and my favorite, the "Don't list": Don't Follow Fads; Don't Buy Blindly; Don't Settle, and Don't "Invest." I was also reminded that a $5 Mylar cover is a necessary investment for a fine book (Note to self...).
Other booth highlights included Phillip J. Pirages, where I scanned some stunning illuminated manuscript leaves. They don't fit into any of my three main collecting paths, so I sadly passed on them. At Les Enluminures, I picked up the catalogue for its current gallery show of medieval manuscripts, Paths to Reform, and I'll be nearly as happy paging through it.
Two purchases were made in the final hour -- both in the natural history/nature literature category, a collection my husband and I share -- which caused us to meet two booksellers we will surely seek out at future fairs: Jeffrey H. Marks and Jeff Bergman.
The NYABF is still open today. Happy hunting.
