Northampton Antiquarian Book, Ephemera, and Book Arts Fair Slated for December
Northampton, MA — We are pleased to announce the 2021 Northampton Antiquarian Book, Ephemera, and Book Arts Fair, our sixth edition, will be Friday, December 3rd from 5 – 8pm and Saturday, December 4th from 9am to 4pm at the Northampton Community Arts Trust at 33 Hawley Street in downtown Northampton.
General Admission is $5. Students and Children Free. $10 Admission 12/4 9-11am to benefit Forbes Library, Northampton's Public Library.
The Northampton Community Arts Trust, a recently renovated building, just off Main Street, is located within easy walking distance to the many restaurants, shops, and galleries in the vibrant downtown area. The Hotel Northampton, a member of the Historic Hotels of America, is an easy ten-minute walk. Many other motels, inns, and airbnbs, suitable for your weekend in Northampton, are just a short car ride away. The art trust’s rehearsal studios, versatile performance spaces, and bright art galleries will house the sixth edition of our popular Northampton Antiquarian Book, Ephemera, and Book Arts Fair. For exhibitors and attendees, there are more than 100 free, on-site parking spaces surrounding the 25,000 square foot building, which is just one block off Main Street. Access to the building, for exhibitor load-in and load-out, is excellent with wide outdoor ramps and large elevators indoors to all three levels. The Community Arts Trust is a recently renovated, energy efficient structure with new wood floors, excellent acoustics and lighting, designed to invite prospective visitors into their building. During these pandemic times, you can rest assured that our venue has state-of-the-art HVAC systems with HEPA filters, assuring a safe and healthful indoor environment.
This year, the fair has garnered the support of the Southern New England Antiquarian Booksellers (SNEAB) as their new community sponsor. SNEAB was born in 2014, as an expanded incarnation of Massachusetts and Rhode Island Antiquarian Booksellers, which began in 1976. Southern New England Antiquarian Booksellers encompasses Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. SNEAB includes open shops, and others who sell by appointment, mail, catalog, online or at book fairs. Members offer early, modern, collectible, rare, scholarly, fine and used books, manuscripts, ephemera, prints, maps, autographs, postcards and photographs in a wide range of specialties.
For the second year, the Northampton Center for the Arts is the fair’s community sponsor. For more than 30 years, they’ve been producing community arts events in Northampton that have drawn large and diverse audiences. At 33 Hawley Street, the Center for the Arts hosts performances, workshops, family programs, and community events; offers dance, theater, writing, and visual arts classes; and provides rehearsal space for actors, dancers, and musicians. We look forward to working with the Center for the Arts to make this year’s Northampton Book and Book Arts Fair a success for all involved.
As they have for the past five years, New England Public Media (NEPM) will be the fair’s media sponsor. New England Public Media provides an essential and trusted voice for the region through local reporting and locally-produced music programming, and by connecting the region to the world through its partnership with NPR and other national and international public media organizations. Its flagship signal, 88.5FM WFCR (and 5 repeating stations in Berkshire County), presents news, jazz, and classical music, while the six stations of the NEPM News Network provide the region with news, talk and cultural programming 24/7.
The Northampton book fair draws 500+ book buyers, collectors, librarians, and booksellers from throughout New England and beyond to browse and purchase from exhibitors from throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. To view our 2019 roster of participants: www.northamptonbookfair.com/exhibitors
The book fair is now accepting exhibitor space reservations on a first come – first served basis until it reaches capacity. We expect that with the end of the pandemic, our exhibitor space will fill up fast, according to Mark Brumberg, of Book Fair Promotion. Exhibit space is available for sellers in booth configurations ranging from a single six-foot long table, to the typical 3-table u-shaped stall. A limited number of larger booths are available, please inquire - by email - to the book fair producer.
“We are proceeding on the assumption that bricks and mortar, in-person book fairs are now, once again, a viable option due to the high level of Covid-19 vaccinations in the region, the very low level of new Covid19 cases, and the lifting of the state of emergency in Massachusetts. If gatherings of more than 50 people are NOT possible in December; with social distancing and personal protective equipment (gloves & masks) required, we will determine whether it is feasible to produce the Northampton book fair as planned at the Center for the Arts. Please note: If the book fair is cancelled due to a recurrence of the pandemic, all exhibitor fees will be returned,” says Brumberg.
