The Virtual Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair: September 11th -14th
- by Bruce E. McKinney
It seems only a year ago that book fairs were in-person experiences. Ah, for the old days. Covid-19 changed the stakes and the rare book field has had to actually answer the question; you want your money or your life. And the answers are: they want both - their lives and interesting printed material.
The solution has quickly become the electronic book fair.
Marvin Getman, the show promoter, now month by month, is developing this selling approach into an art form.
For this month’s iteration Marvin is presenting his Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair in the fully electronic form he has been developing. As is now standard, until it’s considered safe, book fairs are electronic until sometime in 2021 when and if dealers and collectors venture out of their homes to meet in person. For now electronic affairs seem to be satisfying both sides of the market.
As well, now here are some changes and new features as well as an additional day with some fresh inventory to reward the attentive:
Up until now, Mr. Getman had been limiting his monthly fairs to 150 dealers, with a growing waiting list, demand was so high for the Brooklyn Fair that he decided to raise the limit to 200+. That means that with a limit of 15 items each, there will be 3,000 items to browse.
“With so many items to browse I made the decision recently to add a fourth day and to make things exciting for the last day, dealers will be loading 3 fresh items into their booths for a total of 600 fresh items. The show will now end on Monday September 14th at 6:00 pm EDT.”
Dealers represent The United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, and Australia. Getman’s Virtual Book Fair is truly becoming an international affair. His platform will soon be used by shows across the U.S. for RareBooksLA, The Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar benefit Book Fair, The Fox Valley Antiques Show in Chicago, The Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair, and The Amsterdam International Antiquarian Book Fair.
The Brooklyn Book Fair will open at noon EDT on Friday September 11th and continue around the clock through Monday September 14th at 6:00 pm EST.
Admission to the show and webinars are free with registration. Link here.
The webinars are:
Special Guest: Michael Horse, aka Deputy Hawk, from the cult television series “Twin Peaks.”
Michael Horse will appear live at the Brooklyn Antiquarian Book and Paper Fair to give a seminar on American Indian ledger art and alternate worlds in his artwork. A small exhibition of his art and jewelry will be on display as well at the fair as well.
Horse is of Yaqui, Mescalero Apache, Zuni, European, and Hispanic descent. His mother trained him in the flat style of painting promoted by Dorothy Dunn at the Santa Fe Indian School known as ledger art. (She was also a potter and a kachina carver.) As a young man, Horse studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts (also in Santa Fe) with painter Fritz Scholder, sculptor Allen Houser, and potter-turned-jewelry-maker Charles Loloma. He eventually built a successful career of his own as a sculptor and jewelry-maker, working the fairs, markets, and Native American arts festivals, and has also built an impressive catalog of ledger art that includes an alternate history of America and a symbol-heavy map used in “Twin Peaks: The Return” (2017).
Exclusive Exhibition:
“Appeal to the Great Spirit: Designing the Beach Boys”
https://www.brooklynbookfair.com/beach-boys
So what else will you find? 200+ dealers and thousands of collectibles available.
For additional information and the schedule of events, go to