Off To Brighton! This image is from 1862 and shows Brighton’s crowded seafront. As you can see there’s no room to move on the pavements, everyone is wearing the latest fashions, wheeled vehicles are fighting for space on the roads and loud music is blaring away. How things have changed!
‘Off To Brighton’ is a great way to illustrate some great news: we’re Off To The Fair. The PBFA Brighton Book Fair is back and this year’s event is fast approaching. It’s on Saturday 22nd October up at the racecourse and I do hope you can make it. It’s like a huge second-hand book shop coming to town for just one day. You’ll find thousands of beautiful old books, maps, prints, manuscripts, postcards and pieces of ephemera like the one in the picture. All the PBFA book dealers are professionals; we’re also friendly and welcoming. Book fairs are fun, not fuddy-duddy.
I’ll be posting more news here and you can also keep up to date by visiting our facebook page.
The picture, by the way, is the cover to some sheet music. This is a remarkably quiet corner of collecting. There is a lot on the market and prices are low which makes it a great opportunity. Fashionable dances were written to exploit all the latest inventions and events and they always had an eye-catching coloured illustration too. You can see this one and many more at the fair.
Not seen - the details have been snipped away from the bottom edge., 1862. First edition. A quadrille, as the name suggests, was a type of square dance.
