I started a blog of this name in 2006, which turned into a monthly column in Book and Magazine Collector. As the name suggests it was written to encourage book-lovers to take a different approach to building up a collection. There are millions of old books out there, and many are far more interesting than the same old titles and themes trotted out by established authorities like… well, Book and Magazine Collector, for one. I hated all those ‘Hundred Most Expensive Books You’ll Never Own’ articles and encouraged collectors to look elsewhere for inspiration. I still do…
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Belle Tout, Birds and Beachy Head Lighthouse in 1902
Like a lot of book dealers I cannot buy stock at the moment due to the lockdown*. I never seem to have much left over at the end of the month as I sell it all at book fairs and…
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That’s TV West Anglia report from Cambridge PBFA Book Fair.
If you’ve never been to a PBFA book fair, look at this! It’s an excellent report about the recent Cambridge fair from That’s TV West Anglia. I’m the PBFA’s publicity officer and told reporter Mirva Villa all about the wonderful…
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A Cross-Dressing Mystery From 1830
‘You never know what you’ll find’ is more than just a slogan when it comes to P.B.F.A. book fairs. The range of stock is so large and the quality so high that even the professionals are often surprised, and this…
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Meet The PBFA 2: York January 2020 Book Fair and Bernard Sleigh’s 1920 Faery Calendar
‘You never know what you’ll find’ is a great way to describe our book fairs and it’s especially true at York – our January extravaganza is the UK’s biggest one day book fair! Over 120 professional dealers bring more than…
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Meet the PBFA Episode 1: The best book fairs in the country!
I’ve always loved book fairs. You never know what you’ll find because the quality and variety of the books, ephemera, maps and prints is simply staggering. In the last year alone I’ve bought and sold Elizabethan vellum documents, unique diaries,…
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