Rare Books Advent Calendar

If you like to celebrate the progression of Advent but can't seem to find an advent calendar in the shops celebrating the world of fine books and collections, then Bernard Quaritch has got your back.

In the runup to Christmas Day, the London-based rare books and manuscripts dealer is putting up on its X/Twitter feed 24 lovely books taken from its upcoming catalogue of bindings. The first, pictured above, is the smallest to feature, a silver filigree binding over blue silk on a miniature London Almanack. Behind today's door is a 19th century prayerbook printed in what is now Czechia in a Bauerneinband or 'peasant binding' which features printed figures of Saints Barbara and Lucy.

To see how other dealers and organisations have had a crack at the same concept in the past, take a look at the marvellous efforts of the Cambridge University Library Special Collections, back in 2013, Jonkers Rare Books' calendar in 2020, and Patrick Pollak Rare Books on Instagram and Fordham University Library in the same year.