One of the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association’s (PBFA) most renowned fairs is almost at maximum exhibitor capacity.
The annual York National Book Fair runs this year at York Racecourse on Friday and Saturday, September 13-14, with 220-plus stands.
Some of the UK and Europe’s top booksellers exhibit here, selling between them around 100,000 rare, antiquarian and out-of-print books at prices from just a few pounds into the multi-thousands.
Co-organiser and York bookseller Janette Ray said: “The York book fair is a high spot in the bookselling calendar and reaches out to a wide audience.”
At a time when the book trade’s fortunes face an increasingly challenging landscape, events like this are an important fixture in the marketplace.
Something unusual this year is York-based artist Lu Mason’s mobile bird installation which draws for inspiration on John James Audubon’s vast book, Birds of America, first published between 1827-38 and considered to be the archetype of wildlife illustration. Mason’s large artwork is made from fishing line, paper and bamboo hanging from seven moving carousels and is for sale in sections or as a whole.
