Florida Antiquarian Book Fair - 2023

 

We take a break from the regularly scheduled book review for this special blog post!  While this blog has been always about reviewing books and comics and graphic novels that I have read, as well as audio books to which I have listened, I thought I would interrupt the regular posting for a special post about the FLORIDA ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR.  Held every year in St. Petersburg, Florida, this year was the 40th annual book fair, so it was definitely a special event.  I have been going to the book fair since around 2017 or so, and up until now, I have always just driven down on Saturday, spent the day there shopping, then driven back home after.  This year, however, I decided to do the whole three-day event, and boy, am I glad I did!  From the opening night on Friday, March 10th to the closing day of Sunday, March 12th, I found myself lost among the many book dealers, staring in awe at books old and new, inexpensive and way out of my league, for children and for adults, and just about everything else you can imagine.  It truly is a book lover's paradise, and it's an event every book collector should attend! 

 

The book fair has been held at The Coliseum just outside of downtown St. Petersburg, which has been its home for well over 20 years.  It's a quaint little building, and it hosts plenty of other events throughout the year.  And something I found out this year while speaking with a marketing director for the event, is that the facility appears in the movie Cocoon, where portions were filmed right there in that banquet hall.  What is even more incredible is that next year, 2024, will mark the 100th anniversary of The Coliseum (and the 41st anniversary of the book fair), so I have no doubt there will be some special events next year to honor this centennial celebration!  

Now, back to that marketing director - when he found out that I had been coming for several years, but that I had never gone upstairs to the small alcove that overlooks the hall, he gave me the grand tour.  There is a small stage up there, as well as a lengthy area where tables are set up for special dinners.  But best of all, from that second floor alcove, you can look out over the whole hall and see all of the dealers (and all of those books!!!).  With the lights hanging overhead, and the small alcoves on either side of the hall, it makes for a breathtaking sight. I could have stood up there and stared out over all of those books for quite a while - but had I done that, I would have never been able to buy any books!  And let's face it, I didn't drive all the way down there to spend three days at a book fair without buying any books!

There were a large number of dealers there, and the variety of books would astound you.  When I previously just spent one day at the convention, I would start on one side and work my way to the other, going down each and every aisle, and once done, I would do a second trip through the hall - by which time, it would near the end of the day.  But this year, being there all three days, it allowed me to truly take my time, examine each and every booth, and even then, I managed to find things each day that I had no seen the day before!  Of course, I was thrilled to see some of my friends who are dealers and who I get to see each year here at the show - Steve, Sharon, Kerry, Matt, Gary, and others - plus meet so many new ones along the way.  

A special treat this year was seeing a copy of the last book in the Judy Bolton series signed by the author, Margaret Sutton.  Sharon Kissell had purchased the book from Sutton's daughter - but that's not the best part.  On Saturday, an older woman was browsing her booth and came across the book.  She asked Sharon about the book, and when Sharon explained how she came into possession of the book, the woman told her that she was the owner of a bookstore up in New York, and that Margaret Sutton had purchased that very book from her store years ago specifically to give to her daughter!  Now, after all these years, the book store owner and the book were reunited!  Talk about a small world!  But, of course, those of us in the book collecting community already know just how small it really is...

But let's get back to the show.  So, it opened Friday night at 5 pm for just four hours; but, it was exciting to be there on opening night and see what kind of wonderful finds I was missing out on each year by not coming until Saturday.  

Steve Bolter brought a number of wonderful Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Melody Lane books, along with some other fantastic treasures.  He even had a copy of Pirate Brig autographed by Mildred Wirt and an Altemus Doris Force book!  

Sharon, of course, had some great Judy Bolton books, as well as some of those not so easy to find Cameo edition Nancy Drew books in dust jacket (and a beautiful copy of the picture cover edition of Midnight Trolls from The Happy Hollisters!).  

Kerry Johnson, who owns the Family Bookstore up in DeLand (my backyard!!!), brought some Happy Hollisters books with nearly pristine dust jackets (and lucky enough, he had one of the few I was missing, so that was the first book I bought over the weekend!).  

Matt Whalon was offering some red-board Hardy Boys books, including a first printing of one (which my friend Ray snagged without hesitation!).  

And Gary Overmann is always guaranteed to have PLENTY of children's series books, and this year was no exception!  Lots of Nancy Drews, Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames, Dana Girls, Bomba the Jungle Boy, Rick Brant, Tom Swift, Vicki Barr, Happy Hollisters, and more!

And this was all just Friday!  After two trips around the hall, it was time to head back to my bed and breakfast and grab some sleep so I would be well-rested for Saturday.  I was told there were hundreds of people who were there on Friday night, and on Saturday, they were anticipating close to a thousand throughout the day!  It was definitely busy, but as I made my way up and down the aisles, I had no trouble at all checking out the various booths, dealers, and books.  I found one booth that had fairy tales from around the world ... another booth that had tons of pulp novels from back in the day ... yet another booth that specialized in science fiction novels ... another booth offering up plenty of mysteries from nearly a century ago ... there were Big Little Books to be found ... medical and religious books of every kind ... picture books and Little Golden books ... Oz and Harry Potter ... I even spotted some Aunt Jane's Nieces books by Edith Van Dyne (a pseudonym for L. Frank Baum, the author of the Oz books!).  While I already have that complete series, it was nice actually seeing some still out in the wild, so to speak.  

 

This weekend also introduced me to Bernie Goodman, a bookseller out of Tavares, Florida.  He had some books by Robert R. McCammon, who was an author I read some years ago back when his books originally were published.  Bernie let me know that McCammon had new books that were being published, of which I was not aware, so we got into a discussion about the author and his various books.  I also met Rebecca McNulty, who gave me the heads up about a book that might interest me with a girl detective short story in it (as she had noticed the Nancy Drew book bag I was using to carry all the books I bought!).  I have that book on my Amazon watch list now and once I buy it and read it, no doubt you'll be seeing a review here on this blog.

Sunday, sadly, was the third and final day of the show.  I had been careful not to spend all of my money the first two days, so on that final day, I was still able to buy some more books (and get a few bargains in the process, since the dealers did not exactly want to take all of these books back home with them!).  I also came across a few books that I would love to have bought, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay the price.  One of them was an old pulp-style book called hurricane nurse by Peggy Gaddis.  Those familiar with the Cherry Ames or Sue Barton series might think this is a title from one of those series, but it was not.  From the blurb on the back of the book, I saw that it was set in Florida, and so I was very tempted to pick it up.  But the I just couldn't bring myself to shell out $35, so I put it back and told myself that I will find it again someday at a cheaper price ... now we will see if I was right!

At this point, you're probably wondering what books did I buy while I was there for the weekend?  Well, that would be telling ... but I can say that I managed to get a few steps closer to completing my Happy Hollisters set in dust jacket ... my Connie Blair series in dust jacket ... I did finish my Jane Withers series (found the third book I was missing) ... I picked up the complete set of Peggy Stewart books ... stumbled across two Tom Swift books with the $1 box ... and picked up a few other unexpected finds that have now sent me off looking for two new series of books (well, new to me, anyway). 

It was a busy weekend, a tiring weekend, but overall, and exciting and fun weekend.  Ray and Rob joined me there on Friday night, and Russell and his fiance, Farrah, joined me on Sunday afternoon, so I had some friends to share the experience with.  I am already anxious for next year's event, which will be the first weekend in March, and the theme for which is Dr. Seuss!  But, as Matt Whalon and I were discussing - if they can have a Dr. Seuss weekend, I think it's only right that they have a series books them one year!  After all, the Hardy Boys 100th anniversary is coming up in 2027, and Nancy Drew just three years later!

The FLORIDA ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR is definitely an event I would recommend to any book collector, because it is probably the best show I have ever attended!

RATING:  (yes, I'm giving this a rating, how could I not?)  100 vintage, antique books out of 100 for offering up a paradise for book lovers to enjoy three days of absolute heaven!  Here's to the next 40 years of book fairs!