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| Yes, that's Slicker in 1978. The photo ran in the Times. |
Whew! Three decades of bringing the best in antique, rare and collectible books together under one roof for Florida book lovers. It gives one pause, doesn't it? But, frankly, we're looking forward to the event. It'll be great to see old friends again.
The photo accompanied a 1978 article in the St. Petersburg Times by Charles Benbow on used bookstores in St. Petersburg at the time. It predates the beginning of the antiquarian book fair by a couple or three years. Charles Benbow was a writer at the Times for a couple of decades. He covered the arts mostly, but also wrote about television and architecture. For many, he was one of the favorite writers at the newspaper and well thought of in the arts community. He passed away in 2003.
The article contrasted the small, individually owned book stores like ours with the big chain-store operations. Benbow's sentiments clearly lay with us little guys. "What can compare with the pleasure of rediscovering your favorite old best-seller," wrote Benbow. "A dusty hardback of Anthony Adverse, Gone With the Wind, The Good Earth or Hawaii can cause a flood of nostalgia aboout the time and place they were first read."
Sadly, some of the establishments mentioned in the article have closed but we're still here and we're looking forward to the book fair in March.
Here's a list of the more than 100 dealers who will be at the antiquarian book fair. You also can send an e-mail to ask for more information about the book fair.
Before that, though, we have a lot of other shows we'll be attending. There are three in January alone: the Sunshine City Antique Show, the Pilot Club of Jacksonville Antiques Show and the Citrus County Book Festival in Dunnellon. More about all of those as we get closer to them.
Meantime, we're still looking through the Lighthouse Books, ABAA archives. No telling what else we'll find.
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