The ABAA Pasadena Book Fair: the field is recovering

It's been three years since the California International Antiquarian Book Fair returned last month to Pasadena to some trepidation considering how long it has been. The result was a very good event as collectors have begun to emerge from their Covid-induced hibernation. The fair has survived Covid and that is a very good thing because the west coast ABAA fair has long been a marquee event. The field wants and needs it. We can now look forward to many more.

This said, this year the number of exhibitors was down. And it’s being attributed to Covid, age and taxes. Older dealers are increasingly wary to travel. As well, the State of California has been aggressively collecting taxes and fees from exhibiting dealers who file as C corps. Those who have been caught up with this requirement have found it takes time and costs money. By one estimate this issue deterred 20 exhibitors this year.

Whatever the causes, the fair was a bit smaller than recent events. This year 120 exhibitors

participated, a bit fewer than experienced hands hoped. Many dealers have reported good sales and of course a few came home disappointed. Such fairs always have had an element of kismet.

Covid, notwithstanding, the impulse to organize around face to face book fairs continues to be

strong among dealers, institutions and collectors. What’s different now is that, while the field

was responding to the Covid crisis, the community has become more used to relying on the Internet to efficiently connect to the dominant listing, research, auction and show sites. What was once seemed unlikely, collectors and collecting institutions have become increasingly confirmed and secure in managing their collecting experience from their phones and consoles. Once the interested get used to this approach, our experience suggests, there is no going back.

While many of the sectors and categories of the rare paper world have been nestling into the emerging Internet based one-world concept, book fairs, by comparison, are a bit behind to have their upcoming material merged into the worldwide dataflow. That’s a lot to ask, but virtually all other data streams are merging. The electronic book fairs are joining the flow but the traditional fairs not so far.

By tradition, these events hold pre-fair opportunities for exhibitors to have the first crack to buy. It’s an approach that’s anathema to the emerging doctrine of openness. Can you imagine an auction that openly prefers certain bidders?

The ABAA membership and management have learned to deal with complex issues. They recently achieved success in Pasadena and no doubt the New York fair is going to be a gem. They now accept that ABAA members run their own auctions in some circumstances and I believe they are stronger for it.

Their fairs will need their community’s wisdom to maintain their exalted status in the rare book business worldwide. The world has been changing.

Returning to the recent Pasadena experience, as the last purchased books were being shipped, the cognoscenti are casting glances toward New York to the April bacchanal, and thinking about the 56th California International Antiquarian Book Fair at Pier 27 in San Francisco 9-11 February 2024. There’s a sense of strong optimism about the ABAA’s February 2024 San Francisco event will be bigger and better. Great dealers, good food, a beautiful and safe area, plus good hotels will make this fair a very positive experience.