Summer Book Fairs and the Open Road
The summer book fairs are in full swing and unless my perception is skewed, it appears that more fairs have been scheduled for the current summer travel season than has been the case in recent years. The Rose City Book Fair (Portland, OR) took place in mid-June, but so far we've had no report on participation or attendance other than the event was a success.
The Cooperstown Antiquarian Book Fair on June 29th was the most well attended in years and there was a significant increase in the number of booksellers participating. Hotel accommodations in Cooperstown can be expensive at almost any time of the year, but in summer it is especially so. To alleviate this ongoing problem, book fair organizers Willis Monie and Mary Brodzinsky arranged with fellow members of the Cooperstown Foundation for Excellence in Education (CFEE) to host visiting booksellers in return for a tax deductible contribution to the foundation, whose purpose is to fund educational enrichment programs not ordinarily provided for by the school budget. The experiment, which turned out to be a winning arrangement for everyone involved, has helped to ensure the future of the event which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. Cooperstown is fairly close to Cazenovia and for us it's always a perfect excuse for an early summer bookman's holiday, afterwards relaxing with friends on the veranda of the Otesaga Hotel overlooking Otsego Lake (the source of the Susquehanna River which begins a few hundred yards from the hotel at the lake's outlet, a short walk from the Baseball Hall of Fame).
After posting our first notice of the revival of Bernice Bornstein's Berkshire Antiquarian Book & Ephemera Fair by Book Arts Promotion, we were informed that several more booksellers have signed up and their names have been added to the roster published in the original story which remains on our site. And by the time you read this there may be more.
Also, we've been notified that the future of the Vermont Summer Antiquarian Book Fair, which was in some doubt after John Hess was no longer available to organize it, is secure for the moment and will be taking place at the Grace Christian School, 104 Kocher Drive in Bennington, Vermont on Sunday, August 11th.
The Rocky Mountain Antiquarian Book & Paper Fair (Denver, CO), which has been in existence longer than most people have been alive, is scheduled for August 2-3. At one time it was held in conjunction with the summer rare book school and seminar organized many years ago by Margaret Goggin and the ABAA, but we've heard very little about the seminar in recent years.
