Book Fairs | October 16, 2017

Northampton Book and Book Arts Fair, Dec. 2-3

Northampton, Massachusetts--The region’s leading used & antiquarian booksellers and fine letterpress printers, book binders, paper makers, and artist book makers will be showcased at the third edition of the Northampton Book and Book Arts Fair on Saturday, December 2, 2017, 1 to 5 pm and Sunday, December 3, 2017, 10 am to 4 pm at the Smith College Campus Center. 

In addition to an exhibition and sale, the fair will feature a keynote address, “Among the Gently Mad,” on December 2nd at 5:15 pm by Nicholas A. Basbanes at Smith College Graham Hall Auditorium in the Brown Fine Arts Center.  Basbanes will sign copies of his books from 3:00 to 4:00 pm at the Smith College Campus Center.  

Admission to the book fair and the event program is free and open to the public. 

For more information, go to: www.northamptonbookfair.com

Keynote Talk by Nicholas A. Basbanes: Among the Gently Mad. Saturday, December 2, 5:15 pm at Smith College, Brown Fine Arts Center, Graham Auditorium 

Basbanes, is an acclaimed bibliophile and independent scholar of book culture and history. His talk is a reflection drawn on thirty years of in-the-field research conducted among a variety of book people:  collectors, booksellers, librarians, conservators, and readers -- people he affectionately refers to as the "gently mad." 

Basbanes is the author of nine critically acclaimed works of cultural history, with a particular emphasis on various aspects of books and book culture. His first, A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books (1995), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction, and was named a New York Times Notable Book. His most recent, On Paper: The Everything of Its Two Thousand Year History (2013) was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities research fellowship, and was one of three finalists for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. 

The author will sign copies of his books on Saturday, December 2 from 3:00 to 4:00 pm at the Northampton Book and Book Arts Fair at the Smith College Campus Center.

In 2015 Basbanes was awarded a Public Scholar research grant by the NEH in support of his work-in-progress for Knopf, Cross of Snow: The Love Story and Lasting Legacy of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  He also writes the “Gently Mad” column for Fine Books & Collections magazine, lectures widely on book related subjects, and is a frequent contributor to Humanities magazine. 

Northampton Book and Book Arts Fair Exhibitors by Location

Massachusetts:

L&T Respess Books, of Northampton

Double Elephant Press, of Northampton     

Zea Mays Printmaking, of Northampton             

White Square Fine Books & Art, of Easthampton

Warwick Press, of Easthampton 

Shelburne Falls Booksellers 

Wiggins Fine Books, of Shelburne Falls 

New England Auctions, of Deerfield

Brier Hill Gallery, of Ashfield and West Roxbury

Swamp Press, of Northfield 

Monroe Bridge Books, of Greenfield

Messenger Press, of North Adams

29 Press, of Cheshire 

Willow Bindery, of Shrewsbury

Third Year Studios, of Boston

Herringbone Bindery, of Boston 

Laurie Alpert, of Brookline

Vermont:

Auger Down Books, of Brattleboro, VT

Book Arts Guild of Vermont

Country Bookshop, of Plainfield, VT

Shattuck Studio and Gallery, of Rutland, VT

Maine:

Design Smith Creative Ventures, of Camden, ME

New Jersey:

Le Bookiniste, of Hopewell, NJ

Jeffrey Bergman Books, of Fort Lee, NJ

Memory Press, of Plainsboro, NJ

New York: 

Furious Day Press, of New York

Connecticut: 

Colebrook Book Barn, of Colebrook, CT

John Bale Books, of Waterbury, CT

Yesterday’s Gallery, of East Woodstock, CT

Robin Price, of Middletown, CT

Pennsylvania:

William Hutchinson, of Mendenhall, PA

The Northampton Book and Book Arts Fair is produced by Book Arts Promotions, in association with community sponsor Smith College Libraries. Media sponsor is New England Public Radio, WFCR-FM and WNNZ-AM.  Book Arts Promotions is a collaboration between Mark Brumberg, of Boomerang Booksellers and Duane A. Stevens, of Wiggins Fine Books.