Rare Book Monthly

Articles - February - 2004 Issue

Notes on the Recent San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print & Paper Fair

Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Prink of Beach, Oregon, dealers in Oz and children's books; on right Ed Hoffman of Hoffman's Bookshop, Columbus, Ohio.

Mr. and Mrs. Laurence Prink of Beach, Oregon, dealers in Oz and children's books; on right Ed Hoffman of Hoffman's Bookshop, Columbus, Ohio.


By Bruce McKinney

Book collectors have come to expect at least one book fair in San Francisco during the January-February period. Every two years the ABAA brings its west coast show to San Francisco during this period but this is the off-year. Their tents this month are pitched in Los Angeles. Fortunately there is a San Francisco book fair that is put on every year. It is the San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print & Paper Fair and it recently was held at Fort Mason along the water off of Lombard Street Saturday and Sunday January 31st and February 1st. It’s a good show because it is open to all interested exhibitors. It has no association requirements and attracts an interesting variety of dealers.

The venue, one of the old airplane hanger sized wharf-warehouses that is now a convention and show center, provided ample room for 165 dealers to display a variety of interesting materials including books, maps and ephemera as well as some art. Free parking was ample and paid parking also available for the locationally-challenged. For those who ventured in there was much to consider: firsts, literature, fine books, bindings and printed art; history and Americana in all its forms including maps and ephemera; philosophy and science, sci-fi, and mystery. And of course there was more. Basically every category of books had some coverage. The ABAA shows that run three days and this Larsen show which this year ran two both have more success in attracting audiences on Saturday. Sundays have, for a while, been problematic. Compounding this issue this year February 1st was, in addition to being the second day of the show, also Super Bowl Sunday, a fact that every dealer I spoke to dismissed with a “I don’t even know when it starts.” Collectors seemed to know about the Super Bowl however and most were home in front of their televisions by 3:15 pm with their garbage bags of nachos waiting for the kick-off and the parade of commercials. This event conflict was unfortunate for collectors because this really was an interesting show and they are going to have to wait a while for another opportunity to see so many dealers together under one roof. The football game, and of course the half-time show, can also be see in reruns. The book fair won’t be back for 365.

I spoke with John Wong of Moe’s Books who exhibited at the fair and mentioned liking the location. He indicated that while they don’t regularly do shows, this one was reasonably good. “The bottom line: we made some money.”

William Maxwell of Maxwell’s Bookmark said, “Pretty good show. I’ve done San Francisco shows for the past 5-6 years and this is the first time at Fort Mason. I liked the venue. Overall I was happy and I’ll be doing it again.”

Jeff Carr, another exhibitor and an ephemera dealer for 30 years, said, “The show was very good. I met many new customers.”

Rare Book Monthly

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  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.

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