A Fair Duet - Sacramento and Seattle Book Fairs 2009
- by Karen Wright
The Seattle Book Fair.
By Karen Wright
We had the great good fortune to be able to attend both the Sacramento and Seattle Book Fairs this year. Though we did not have booths this time, we are probably going to do both in 2010. Both shows were overflowing with thousands of wonderful, mostly collectible books.
Though you might expect the two fairs to be very much the same as they are both west coast and had many of the same participants, the fairs were very different from one another. There are more readers and collectors in the Pacific Northwest than there are in Central California and I’m sure the weather has a lot to do with it.
Let's face it; the weather in Seattle is much more conducive to reading than the weather in Sacramento. In Seattle, the gray skies and damp, chilly weather make one want to sit by a nice warm fire, drink tea or wine, and read a good book; in my case, probably a new British mystery. The Seattle fair seemed to attract more serious high end collectors whereas the Sacramento fair attracted more of a medium range collector and more affordable books to the general reading public. After all, in Sacramento most of the year it's warm and sunny and one wants to be outside working in the garden and going for bike rides along the river; or maybe fishing.
We pulled into Seattle after a very long, two-day drive from the wilds of Nevada. We had reserved a room at La Quinta Hotel just about 6 blocks from the Seattle Exhibition Hall where the book fair was being held. It was surprisingly reasonable (I didn't say cheap!) and very, very clean and nice; quite luxurious, actually, when you take into account that we usually stay at Motel 6. We were on the seventh floor which was a new experience for our dog, Sassi, who got to ride in her first elevator. There is a really nice dog park directly across the street from the hotel, so she had a great time. And for other dog owners/booksellers who come to future Seattle fairs, there is a terrific doggie day care called the Dog Lounge Downtown just about 5 blocks from the hotel where they pamper your pooch. It is open 7 days a week, free for the first day, and quite reasonable every day after that. Call first because they have lots of requirements to bring a dog there - immunizations and the like.
A surprising number of the United States were represented in 88 booths in Seattle with booksellers from Minnesota, Massachusetts, New York, Chicago, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Connecticut, Utah, Alabama, lots of Oregon, California and Washington State. The prize for most distance, however, goes to Adrian Harrington Rare Books who came all the way from London!
Sacramento was more of a local a-Fair with most sellers being from California, Arizona, Oregon, and Nevada. Jim Kay, from Bookbomb in Sacramento, is the organizer of the Sacramento fair. He said the general consensus was that most of the dealers at the Sacramento Fair did well. "If the books were reasonably priced," he added. The really high end books did not do as well. This year, he had 400 people, with 50 plus dealers, some sharing booths.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
