At the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, we'll be in Alcove 3. We hope you'll come to see us!

The excitement builds as we approach time for the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. We've been sorting books and putting them in boxes for weeks now in preparation for the book fair. At this writing, we're only a week away, and as always, it seems like an insurmountable task to get all the selections made and everything ready for the short trek over to The Coliseum.

After 34 years, though, we know it'll all come together in the end.

We're looking forward to seeing many old friends who will be coming to town specifically for the book fair. We hope they'll make some time to take in some of the events that are a part of SunLit Festival, the springtime celebration of literature that begins today and runs through the next ten days, including the book fair next weekend. A lot of folks in town have been instrumental in building SunLit Festival 14 events in its inaugural year last year to more than 40 event this year. Follow the link to more information about the SunLit Festival.

When the book fair starts next weekend, you'll find us in Alcove 3, our usual spot. We'll have shelves and cases and tables full of all the books we specialize in, including Florida history, antique maps, vintage prints and more. We expect to see a lot of old friends both in the antiquarian book industry and book lovers who can't stay away from the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.

Most people coming to the book fair know what to expect but sometimes we encounter book lovers who haven't experienced the book fair before, and invariably, they'll wonder if they will be able to find something that suits their tastes – and their wallet. For the newly initiated fairgoer, we say that you can rest assured that you'll find books of all types, from very rare and very expensive to remarkable inexpensive find of delightful reading copies. We always have a table of $5 books, and we know that many other booksellers do, too.

Above, we're sharing a video that is running on local television stations to promote the book fair. It was made by visitors to the book fair last year.

More later, but we've got to finish packing.

We're in the Tampa Bay Times this weekend

SCOTT KEELER | Times (2014)

We're humbled and honored to be featured in Piper Castillo's Nightstand column in the Tampa Bay Times this Sunday. Thank you, Piper, Thank you, Colette Bancroft, Times Book Editor. Thank you, Tampa Bay Times.

The column was part of Tampa Bay Times coverage of the SunLit Festival, which runs March 4-13. This is the second year for the springtime celebration of literature, and oh, my, how it has grown! Last year there were 14 events over ten days. This year there are 46 events in the same time period. We're grateful for the coverage the Tampa Bay Times is devoting to this endeavor that is made possible by the efforts of so many people and organizations in town dedicated to the written word. The Times' stories come out on Sunday but they're available online at the links above.

It is gratifying to see the attention being paid to the books, writing and reading during this time. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair is now in its 34th year in the Tampa Bay area, and it's a pleasure to see the development of SunLit Festival. We're happy to be a part of it. When the book fair began, we held it at the University of Tampa in what once was railroad mogul Henry Plant's opulent Tampa Bay Hotel. It was a beautiful location but we've long since outgrown it. For many years now, we've been in The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. It is a superb location for an antiquarian book fair.

We want to thank John Collins at the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance, who has helped tremendously to facilitate the growth of the SunLit Festival, as well as other dedicated individuals such as Randi Hillesø at the Arts Alliance and Maureen McDole of Keep St. Pete Lit, who have worked so tirelessly to expand the vision.

We're' looking forward to a fun-filled SunLit Festival and Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.

It'll be book fair time before you know it

A new post on the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair blog reminds us that the book fair is not that far away. It's on March 11-13, 2016, at this writing just 81 days away, according to the counter on the Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association website.

Of course, we've already been putting books aside we're planning to bring to the book fair. It's a process that takes time. We have an alcove to fill up and it isn't something that you can do instantly. As usual, we expect to be in Alcove 3, and we're looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends there.

The pitch on the book fair blog is to buy book fair tickets as stocking stuffers for Christmas, which isn't a bad idea but since there are still a few days left before Christmas, we'd also suggest making a stop in the store. We have lots of books from which to choose, and most of them would make great Christmas gifts. If you have a real bibliophile you're buying for, we'd suggest both a book (or books) and the book fair tickets.

The book fair in March will be the 35th one, and we've been there for all of them. We'll have more to say about all those intervening years later but suffice it to say that we've enjoyed every one of them.

In the mean time, we're finishing up on this year's run up to Christmas, and we're wishing all our friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

LIVE at the Times Festival of Reading

We had a grand time at the Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading on Saturday, not because we had scores of people waiting to have their books evaluated. We didn't. In fact, there weren't any. However, it did afford us time to look more closely at some recent acquisitions of our own.

We appeared on the new Blab.im live streaming platform program Rare Book Cafe, which is sponsored by the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. There's a recording of the program above.

It's always a delight to talk with Steven Eisenstein and Thorne Donnelley, the co-hosts of Rare Book Cafe. Steven is the owner of A-Book-A-Brac Books in Miami Beach and Thorne owns Liberty Books in West Palm Beach.

We showed an emblem book from the 1550s with its elaborate illustration and design. We wanted to contrast that design with a Kelmscott Press edition from the 1890s, also a beautiful volume.

Although we had a few technical difficulties, the session went well. It was good to be able to share these beautiful books. After we left, Steven and Thorne went on to discuss a number of other interesting volumes, and Edie Eisenstein joined in with some of her miniature books.  Thank you to Steven and Thorne for hosting Rare Book Cafe.

You can visit Rare Book Cafe live on Blab.im. Episodes are broadcast every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. ET and Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET.