Fairs | February 2011 | Rebecca Rego Barry

Books in California Preview, part 1

Pasadena is where it all begins this weekend, commencing a string of three major book fairs in California over the next ten days (next is Codex, and then the CA book fair in San Francisco). I'll offer some preview highlights of them over the next few days, and our correspondents "on the ground" will chime in with post-fair recollections when they can.

The 12th annual Pasadena International Antiquarian Book, Print, Photo, and Paper Fair will be the first stop for many booksellers and buyers.

Book Hunter's Holiday will be there, with some handmade history: an intriguing photo album filled with 150 images from the Soviet Union in 1932 composed by a far-right German nationalist ($3,500) and a 54-page scrapbook of the Battle of Manila Bay from 1898 created by the navigator of the flagship U.S.S. Olympia, with official, signed documents tipped in ($1,000).

Athena Rare Books has a generous selection of philosophy titles, priced from $65 to the mid-five figures. They are also offering a range of titles, both in Pasadena and next week in San Francisco, that include Mary Woolstonecraft's The Vindication of the Rights of Women ($18,000) and Bill Wilson's Alcoholics Anonymous, first edition, in first dj, inscribed by the author ($50,000).

Likely to please buyers at the Thorn Books booth are several sets of nineteenth-century Valentine's Day Cards. They also have several first editions, such as a near fine first edition of Truman Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms ($300) and some children's titles, such as an early edition of Mother Goose illustrated by Kate Greenaway ($100), among the variety on offer.

The fair runs February 5-6, 2011 at the Pasadena Center ??Exhibit Hall A, ??300 E. Green Street, ??Pasadena, CA. Hours: Saturday 10am - 6pm??, Sunday 11am-4pm. For a full list of dealers, click here.