On the second weekend of March, antiquarian booksellers and collectors gathered at the Park Avenue Armory for the 58th Annual New York International Antiquarian Book Fair. Hosted by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, collectors of rare books, art, and documents spent the weekend searching through the compendia of over 200 exhibitors.
Though antiquarian book collecting has historically centered around older works, modern book collecting has forced a sudden shift. Within the past twenty years, collectors have shown a greater interest in modern firsts—the first editions of contemporary works. At the Antiquarian Book Fair, exhibitors like Adrian Harrington Rare Books boasted an exceptional display of modern first editions. Adrian Harrington began humbly collecting in 1971, and his business has since expanded—three generations of the Harrington family are now involved in running the business. Their collection consists of modern first editions, leather bound library sets, children’s books, and illustrated books.
At their booth, Jon Gilbert took out a first edition, first issue copy of “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess.
With an expert knowledge of the history and condition of the book, Gilbert explained the process of validating a first issue. “The first issue has an extra-long paper flap,” he explained, pointing to the inside of the dustwrapper. “The binding was black and gold for the first issue, those are very limited. The second issue is bound in purple.” The book’s price was estimated at £2,250.
Antiquarian book collecting is changing dramatically. Though most of the exhibitors had pieces so old and delicate that they could not even be touched without the fear of damage, collecting is largely shifting to be inclusive of modern first editions. Adrian Harrington Rare Books are paving the way for new generations of book collectors, with an evolving focus on nonconventional collecting.
This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
