'The Florida show, I think, draws a younger crowd'

Among book fairs, some people think the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair attracts a particularly younger crowd. We happen to agree, and indeed, we celebrate it. And why not? St. Petersburg is a young, vibrant town. So is the whole Tampa Bay area. Young people are increasingly drawn to traditional books, and away from the devices that seem to permeate our lives.

So it's no wonder that booksellers like Jerry Merkel of Xenia, Ohio, made the remark about the Florida show on a recent live streamed broadcast of Rare Book Cafe, the internet's only regularly scheduled program devoted entirely to rare and collectible books.

 Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, the southeast's largest antiquarian book fair, runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 26, 27, and 28 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. Tickets are now on sale at Eventbrite.com.

Coming April 21 at 4: the 1st Book Fair Beige Carpet Sample Pre-Show, Live!

“Melissa knew someone at E!,” [the late Oscar Red Carpet co-host Joan Rivers] explains of how she—Emmy winner, legendary comedian, and fashion novice—came to sizing up stars’ styles in expert capacity on E!. “And they were saying, ‘Who should we put out on the red carpet?’ It is a horrible job and no one was doing it then. [And her co-host daughter] Melissa said, ‘My mother.’” Laughing, Joan adds, “It was a very low time for me [in my career].”

Julie Miller, “The Evolution of Hollywood’s Red Carpet, from the Golden Age to the GlamCam360,” Vanity Fair, August 11, 2014

From the first Hollywood movie premiere in 1922 until the late 1960s, nobody watching the stars arrive for the Oscars could tell there was a red carpet. The show was in black and white, and when it wasn’t, most homes’ TVs still were.

The celebrities just got out of their cars, waved a bit, and went into the theater.

Regis Philbin did a local, LA station’s red carpet coverage once, in 1979.

But just as Aristotle declared, “Nature abhors a vacuum,” and H.L. Mencken snorted, “Nature abhors a moron,” Hollywood publicists abhor a wasted photo op, so from the late 1970s on, Oscar attendees began dressing in increasingly individualist, even eccentric ways, egged on by the new dental office and laundromat classic, People magazine.

Which, of course, led to Joan and Melissa Rivers’ “Who are you wearing?” Decade of Terror and the rise of safe, even dull, couture to avoid the claque of cable station demicelebrity reporters throwing up questions and scrambling the gauntlet of couture criticism we know today.

So when the idea to televise the opening of this weekend’s 36th Florida Antiquarian Book Fair came up, Rare Book Cafe cohost Lindsay Thompson piped up, “We need a red carpet show!”

It’s why he’s kept 606 miles away in Charlotte.

But he persisted. So producer Allan Smith asked Book Fair director Sarah Smith (“No relation,” both emphasize), “Can we get a red carpet?”

“No. People get married there all the time on the floor it comes with. Get over it.”

We won’t even go into when Lindsay asked for a drone.

So it wasn’t hard to figure there was no budget for talent. Lindsay was under lockdown in North Carolina. Co-hosts Steve and Edie Eisenstein and Thorne Donnelley chimed in, “We’ll be busy in our booths!”

Which left Allan Smith. He was a natural: he has a horrible job nobody was doing: producing Rare Book Cafe every week, and he was going to be at the Book Fair anyway

“But the doors don’t open until 5,” Thompson whinged. “People just gonna be standing around. It’s made for a red carpet show!”

Smith (Allan, that is; Sarah- like the Secretary in Mission Impossible, long since disavowed any knowledge), whose job included humoring The Talent on Rare Book Cafe, went to work. After a very short search, he presented Thompson with a compromise: The Beige Carpet Sample Pre-Show:

“It’s a start,” he explained. ‘After all, that’s kinda how it looked in black and white all those decades at the Oscars.

“And back then it was dark and you could barely see it anyway.”

Our thanks to the St Petersburg branch of Bob’s Carpet Mart for both the main and backup beige carpet floor samples. You can see Allan Smith interviewing guests on it Friday, April 21, from 4 to 5 pm, Eastern Daylight Time, on Book Fair Live!

The program- which will include the first hour of the opened show as well- can be seen on The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair’s Facebook page. It will also be archived on the Book Fair Blog and the Book Fair’s YouTube Channel.

The show’s studio hosts, Thompson and Florida books and ephemera expert Kara Accettola, welcome guests! All you need is to install the Chrome browser and click on the entry code we’ll post on the Facebook page.

So watch some old Joan & Melissa classics and come prepared to help cover the Famous Booksellers’ Parade this Friday!

In 30 seconds, they tell you everything you need to know about the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair this weekend

Here's the latest spot for the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. It includes several fair goers who volunteered to participate  In 30 seconds, they tell you everything you need to know about the book fair. You won't want to miss this. The show opens at 5 p.m. on Friday and runs all weekend. Play it and SHARE  it with your friends.

First Folio, ABAA, Paris, TN -- Dennis Melhouse

Delaunay, M.  LES EVANGILES DES DIMANCHES ET FETES DE L'ANNEE SUIVIS DE PRIERES A LA SAINTE VIERGE ET AUX SAINTS. Paris: L. Curmer, 1864. Three volumes. 4to. The first two volumes are illustrated with hundred's of illuminated pages in chromolithography by Lemercier, including sumptuous pictorial and decorative borders and full-page plates. Volume III is in black and white with decorated and illustrated borders. The section on the Saints is illustrated with small mounted photos. Sumptuously bound by or for Alexandre Segouin in full red crushed morocco with textured brocade like cloth paste-downs and flyleaves in maroon and gold, a.e.g., the spines in six panels with gilt titles and ornate panel frames, the covers with ornate gilt rolled frames with cornerpieces with a similar inner frame and an inlaid green frame between the two with floral devices and trailing vines, fancy dentelles.  The volumes housed in a brown pebbled cloth padded silk lined box with brass clasps and handle on top. The box opens from the top with a drop down front panel. The volumes lie flat and are separated by padded yellow silk. The binding in very fine and bright condition but for two slight dents from the box handle, Box lightly worn. Contents fine but for some foxing around the mounted photos in the third volume.
As in Curmer's L'IMITATION DE JUSUS-CHRIST, hundred's of stones and up to fourteen successive tints were required to achieve the rich colors and gold of these beautiful images. "The text [of L'Imitation] is surrounded by the richest conceivable ornamentation, in gold as well as in color... Nine hundred stones were required, each of which was employed for three to fourteen successive tints." (Ray. French Illustrated Book #264) for Curmer's L'IMITATION.

The best of chromolithography and the best of bindings in presentation form. Exquisite! (21120)

RARE BOOK CAFE: It's here at last! The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair opens Friday at 5 p.m. at St. Petersburg Coliseum

WATCH LIVE: We're going to be live on Saturday afternoon at our regular time -- 2:30 ET. We're going to be visiting with various booksellers who are exhibiting at the fair who will show you some of their special items. Please make sure you tune in for this special broadcast. If you are within driving distance, we urge you to come to the book fair. It only happens once a year and this is it. If you're going to visit, please take pictures and share on social media using the hashtags #floridabookfair and #sunlitfestival. Please follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

RARE BOOK CAFE: Today we're talking about the book fair, and the potential value of your books, especially golf books

WATCH LIVE: Steven Eisenstein, co-host of Rare Book Cafe, is packing boxes as he gets read for the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair next week in St. Petersburg. He'll be taking a break this afternoon at 2:30 for the show. Joined by co-host Thorne Donnelley, he'll be discussing the upcoming book fair, the value of books you may have in your library, and how to learn more. One topic of discussion will be golf books, a popular item that might hold considerable value.

Tune in today right here on the book fair blog or join Steven and Thorne on Blab.im to join in the conversation. It's easy to sign into Blab. Launch your Twitter account first, then, in a new window on your browser, go to Blab.im. Blab will use the information in your Twitter account to sign you onto the platform. Follow the prompts for getting set up, then find Rare Book Cafe under SCHEDULED if you're signing in before the show. If the show is already in progress, you'll find it in ON AIR.

RARE BOOK CAFE: Sarah Smith, manager of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, on 35 years of the Florida book fair

NOTICE: Sarah Smith's appearance on Rare Book Cafe has been rescheduled to Saturday, January 9 at 2:30 p.m.

WATCH LIVE: Sarah Smith, manager of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, will be the guest on Rare Book Cafe Saturday at  2:30 p.m. The program will be broadcast live and you can watch it right here. This is the 35 year for the antiquarian book fair. It was started before Sarah was born but she has been a part of the book fair from the time she was a toddler. Sarah will share some of her memories of the book fair over the years. It's a program you won't want to miss but if you do, it'll be available to view right here on replay.

TONIGHT ON RARE BOOK CAFE: Your antiquarian book collection in 2016.

RARE BOOK CAFE: Boe Rushing, Back in the Day Books, on setting up an independent rare bookstore in today's market

WATCH LIVE: Boe Rushing is opening his bookstore next year for the third time in the Tampa Bay area. Boe opened Back in the Day Books in 2010 in Tarpon Springs. In 2013, he moved to Dunedin, where he was in two different locations, one on the main street in town and the other slightly off the beaten path. Boe reluctantly decided in 2015 to close again. Now, through a special public-private lease arrangement, Boe has a new location in downtown Dunedin and expects to reopen in March in a new building with an historic facade.

Boe believes in supporting local businesses, and particularly local bookstores. He'll discuss both topics on Rare Book Cafe. You can watch Boe's appearance on Rare Book Cafe on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET on blab.im. You also can watch the program live right here on the book fair blog.

Boe received a law degree from Stetson University's College of Law in 1993 but he has spent little time in his career as a lawyer. In 2001, he moved to Canada to get married but he wasn't able to practice law there without jumping through too many hoops so he decided to find a career where he could be self-employed doing something he loved.

A conversation with a rare book dealer led to the realization that the antiquarian book business was perfect for him. He opened a shop in Canada in a 150-year-old building a couple of doors down from a coffee shop. The neighborhood had lots of "book people" and the business thrived.

After the birth of his daughter, Holly, in 2004, Boe sold off his inventory, closed his first bookstore,  and he and his family moved back to his native Florida. Boe sold books online. A scholarship to the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar in 2009 led to the conviction that he really wanted to have a bricks-and-mortar store and the rest is history.

Boe is president of the Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association and an annual exhibitor at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.

You can watch Rare Book Cafe on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET and Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. ET on blab.im. Replays of the program also are available at blab.im as well as on the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair blog. Selected episodes also can be watched on the book fair's YouTube Channel.

A new series: Get to know the booksellers

Okay, this is an early notice about a new occasional series we're introducing soon about the book sellers who will be at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in March. It may surprise some readers to know that some booksellers have lives beyond their realm as booksellers. We're going to be looking into the special interests of some of the booksellers you'll see at the book fair. Stay tuned. If  you know a bookseller you think would be a good subject for our series, please let us know. Send an email to floridabookfair2@gmail.com and put SECRET LIVES in the subject field.

RARE BOOK CAFE LIVE: Watch the replay right here!

You can watch the latest edition of Rare Book Cafe live streaming at 3:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, November 4 right here on the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair blog. Michael Slicker, owner of Lighthouse Books, ABAA, and chairman of the book fair, will be a guest on the show. If you are unable to see the show live, don't worry. It'll be recorded and you can watch it right here.

This is a relatively new development for Blab, the live streaming platform where Rare Book Cafe occurs. The feature was added last week and our first embedded session was on Saturday. This makes it really convenient to see these programs.

The Rare Book Cafe is sponsored by the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. It features antiquarian book dealers from around the world who share stories, information, and a look at some of the books, maps, prints, and ephemera in their collections. It's a wonderful opportunity for book lovers everywhere. For anyone who would like to embed Rare Book Cafe on your own blog or web site, just send us an email to floridabookfair2@gmail.com.

SunLit Festival receives Best of the Bay Award

Michael Slicker and T. Allan Smith display Best of the Bay Award from Creative Loafing.

A new festival for book lovers launched last March in the week before the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, and we were proud to be part of it. The first annual SunLit Festival began on Saturday, March 7 and culminated with the book fair the following weekend. It was fourteen events in nine days, all celebrating the written word.

On Wednesday this week, Creative Loafing, the magazine-style weekly newspaper that covers the arts, entertainment, dining, and politics in the Tampa Bay area, presented an award to SunLit Festival in its annual Best of the Bay Awards. SunLit Festival was proclaimed the Best New Fest for Bookworms, an entirely appropriate title certain to be worn with pride.

The first SunLit Festival featured such diverse activities as honoring the Poet Laureate of St. Petersburg, live literary combat, a tribute to the writing talents of Dave and Iola Brubeck, a focus on reading to infants, a celebration of the 100th anniversary of St. Petersburg's library, dramatic readings of local writers' works, a pub crawl with literature, an examination of how childhood reading shapes our lives, the opening night of the first season of the St. Petersburg Shakespeare Festival, a night hike in the woods with poetry, a celebration of Jack Kerouac, a Passover cookoff, word games with libations, and, of course, the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.

It was the work of many individuals and organizations, who came together in the common cause of celebrating literature to produce an exciting series that drew attention to each of their efforts. It was a great surprise when Creative Loafing sent word that it was honoring SunLit Festival, and it was a great tribute to the efforts of so many people. It was all under the able guidance of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance.

The future of SunLit Festival looks very bright, indeed, with planning now under way for the second annual edition. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair invites book lovers from all over to come to St. Petersburg for SunLit Festival and the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.

Below: A recording of a live streaming session from the night of the Best of the Bay Awards. For live streaming about the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair and things to see and do in the Tampa Bay area during these events, follow @FLBookFairPhoto on Twitter and Periscope. 

Rare Book Cafe: Auto books for the grand prix?

Interesting discussion the other day on Rare Book Cafe. Everybody knows the Firestone Grand Prix will be two weeks earlier next year, coinciding with the weekend of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. That, of course, will make securing hotel rooms a challenge. (Best to book your rooms early.)

But Thorne Donnelley, who by now is a regular guest on Rare Book Cafe, had another take on the race car event. The town will be full of automobile enthusiasts. Why not capitalize on that, was Thorne's reasoning. Booksellers ought to make sure they plenty of such books in their inventory.

We think that's a great idea, and we encourage booksellers to put automotive books, particularly those great big pretty coffee table books with gorgeous photography that will have you drooling over Lamborghinis and Ferraris, near the top of their priority list if they can.

Tampa Bay author's article features the book fair

Tampa Bay mystery writer Carol J. Perry’s article about this year’s Florida Antiquarian Book Fair just came out in Kings River Life Magazine. Evidently Carol spent her time at the book fair hunting down vintage mysteries, and found some remarkable ones for her effort.

Carol’s article reveals everything from a stack of 1960s Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazines marked at $10 each to a 1936 first edition of Graham Greene’s This Gun For Hire at $3,000. There were numerous examples of mystery books priced between those two extremes with familiar names like John D. MacDonald, Ellery Queen, Raymond Chandler, Stephen King, and Franklin W. Dixon. She even tells of a Florida mystery by Alfred Payson Terhune, who was better known for his Lad, A Dog and other books about collies. The book: a 1929 first edition of The Secret of Sea-Dream House. Price: $400.

The article is vividly illustrated with a photograph of Sonny Ideker's alcove, which featured many beautiful leather-bound volumes, and with closeups of many of the books discussed.

Kings River Life Magazine is an online publication that covers the San Joaquin Valley in California. In addition to local features, the magazine also includes a mystery fiction section that highlights author interviews and short stories.

Carol J. Perry’s Witch City Mysteries, a juvenile mystery series, are published by Kensington Publishing Corp. Her books include Look Both Ways, Tails, You Lose, and Caught Dead Handed.

Please join the conversation at the Rare Book Cafe

RARE BOOK CAFE (dress rehearsal) Saturday, August 29, 2015 - Clockwise from top left: Thorne Donnelley, Steven Eisenstein, Larry Kellogg, and T. Allan Smith.

Imagine a place where you can mingle with knowledgeable booksellers, ask them questions, share some stories and some laughs – a place where you can have a cup of coffee and join in the fun. That's called the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair but it happens only once a year. Well, now we've created a virtual place like that – and you don't even have to leave your house, though you do have to bring your own coffee.

Welcome to the Rare Book Cafe, a free-form Internet conversation about antiquarian books, maps, prints, ephemera, and more – all the stuff you love. You can see and talk to book dealers, people who know the details of publishing over hundreds of years. What a treat! What's more, it's free. All you need is a computer or IOS device and a good wi-fi connection and you're ready to go.

We're always looking for ways to leverage social media to help tell the story of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in particular and the antiquarian book trade in general. When we discovered the platform called Blab, we knew we had found something special.

Some think the name is unfortunate and we're inclined to agree. The odd name notwithstanding, Blab provides the perfect blend of eyeball-to-eyeball interaction and flexible structure that we think will facilitate booksellers and book lovers getting to know each other. It's the same sort of thing that happens in rare bookstores all over the country (heck, all over the world) but Blab makes it possible to connect with anybody anywhere who has a decent wi-fi connection. We think the result will be positive for everyone involved.

It's an axiom in business that people do business with people they know, like and trust. If  you can't meet them in person, what better way to get to know a favorite book dealer than interact with them eyeball-to-eyeball in the Rare Book Cafe? Suddenly the world is a much smaller place when you can talk in real time with people all over the world who have the same interests as you do.

We've been practicing with this new way of communicating for a short time but most of the sessions weren't recorded. On Saturday, we did what we called a dress rehearsal. It's a preparation for our first official Rare Book Cafe session on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. At the top of this article, you can see a video of the session. It will give you a glimpse into what to expect. However, you have to experience it in person to really get the full effect.  For instance, in the LIVE version, the names of the participants show up on screen. They're not in the recorded version so you need a scorecard to tell who the players are. (We'll give you one below for the session we show here.) In the LIVE version, the four boxes where you see speakers are in a different position. In the LIVE version, you can type a comment and it'll show up in a column at the right. You don't have that option in the recorded version. in fact, the comments that were given during the event don't even show up in the recorded version.

Here's the short of it. The Blab platform is in beta, meaning they're still working on it. In fact, the developers are  drawing on the experiences of people who are using Blab to make improvements. We have been seeing upgrades on a daily basis.  It's kind of fun to watch, actually.  So, we're jumping in because we think this is a great place for lovers of antiquarian books to be. We'd like you to come along for the ride and have some fun with us.

The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair is happy to sponsor Rare Book Cafe. We're doing it two days a week – Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. (ET) and Saturday at 2:30 p.m. (ET) That's for now. It's subject to change, depending upon what people want. So let us hear from you. You can send comments to floridabookfair2@gmail.com.

This coming Wednesday, our topic: Is the antiquarian book fair a thing of the past?  It is worthy of discussion, especially with the upcoming book fairs in our immediate future. We're expecting to talk to folks from the 2015 Georgia Book and Paper Fair, which will be next weekend (September 5- 6) in Decatur. We have been delighted with the support of Josh Niesse and Megan Bell, who own Underground Books in Carrollton, home of the University of West Georgia.

Okay, the scorecard we promised. The boxes move around as the video progresses but this who's who is based on where they are at the beginning.

In the upper left box is Thorne Donnelley, who owns Liberty Book Store LLC, FABA, in Palm Beach. Thorne's great-grandfather founded R.R. Donnelley & Sons,  one of the largest commercial printing companies in the world. Thorne formerly ran a jet and helicopter service in Los Angeles. He specializes in coffee table books about planes, boats, and cars, as well as fine collectible first editions.

In the upper right box is Steven Eisenstein, owner of A-Book-A-Brac Shop in Miami Beach. Steven is a well-known South Florida bookseller, and long-time exhibitor at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. He also is host of the popular Internet-based radio show Bucks on the Bookshelf, which is broadcast live on Saturdays from noon to 2 p.m. on WDBFradio.com and repeated on Sundays. Steven will serve as a host for Rare Book Cafe.

In the lower right box is Larry Kellogg, who served as manager of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair for more than two decades. He is former print journalist and public relations professional, and an avid collector of circus memorabilia. He writes for the collectibles website WorthPoint.

In the lower left box is T. Allan Smith (that's me), a retired journalist and former bookseller, who serves as the resident Internet techie and official photographer for the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. If you've been to the book fair, you've probably seen me taking pictures all over The Coliseum during the three-day event. You'll find my pictures on this blog and the various websites of the book fair.

So that's it. Rare Book Cafe is a work in progress as is Blab. (By the way, we've taken to jokingly calling it B-Lab for Broadcast Laboratory just to avoid saying the name.) We hope you'll join in, be part of the process, and help us shape Rare Book Cafe. But bring you own coffee. They haven't figured out how to serve a cup of joe over the Internet.

-- T. Allan Smith

TIPS FOR GETTING ONTO BLAB

Getting onto Blab is really easy if you can navigate around something like Facebook or Twitter or YouTube but here are some quick tips that may help.

• It's easier and advantageous to use your Twitter account to sign up for Blab. You'll see why once you get in there. Just remember a little bird told you.

• Apps are available for IOS devices (probably soon for Android devices, too). The icon is a strange little purple baby owl-like symbol. There's another app out there called Blab that looks like a child's cartoon character. That's not the right one. Look for the purple owl.

• On a desktop computer, you can also go to blab.im on a Google Chrome browser or a Firefox browser. Safari and Internet Explorer won't work.

• Blab is easier to navigate now than it was  a couple of weeks ago. They've put the growing number of Blab sessions into categories and added a search function so finding the Blab session you're looking for is easier.

• It's a good idea to follow the principal people in a Blab session because you'll get automatic notices when they set up new Blabs. You can also follow them on Twitter for redundant notices. Blab sessons will be set up in advance. You can subscribe to them and receive notices if there are any changes and alerts before they start.

• Lurk on the sidelines of a Blab session to get an idea of how the Blab works but then jump in and participate. That's what's going to make it a rewarding experience for you. Type in comments to take part in the discussion. When there's an empty seat, jump in and add your two cents worth. Don't be shy. We won't bite.

• Ask questions. Most book dealers love to talk books, and they'll reveal nuggets from their vast storehouse of information if you  get them going.

• Above all, have fun. This is a cafe. Relax and enjoy.

These are a few of our favorite things

We we saw all the people at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair on Friday night lugging away boxes and package it brought to mind Oscar Hamme4rstein's lyrics from The Sound of Music: "... brown paper packages tied up with string. These are a few of my favorite things." Never mind that the book lovers we saw had boxes and plastic bags. We know that these are a few of their favorite things, too.

And why not? Book lovers know what they love and they know they'll find something to love at the book fair. Judging by the sizes of the packages many were carrying, they were finding many things to love.

The book fair continues on today and Sunday, of course, and we're certain that book lovers will ferret out the most wonderful tomes. See you at the book fair.

Book fair opens tonight at 5 p.m. See you there!

Well, the weekend we've been waiting for all year is finally here. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair opens tonight at 5 p.m. There is always a crowd waiting to get in so if you want to be near the front of the line it's best to get there early. You can get an advance look at who will be at the book fair by downloading a program. Just click on the link. Download a program. There's so much to see at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair that it's never a bad idea to plan to come all three days. Tonight you can get a lay of the land, browse through the entire fair so you have an idea what's where. If you've been to the fair before, you know you're going to see old friend. Most of the booksellers come back year after year so you get to know them and they get to know you.

Come back on Saturday for some serious digging. Often dealers bring more great items than they have room to display. You'll only find out about them if you talk to them. That's also a good way to learn more about your particular interest. These folks are knowledgeable and they're perfectly willing to share their knowledge but they won't know what you're looking for if you don't tell them. There's so much to explore and so little time so make the best use of it by spending Saturday delving into what interests you. A word of caution, though. If you see something you've got to have, buy it right then. Don't wait. If you do, it might be gone.

On Sunday, you can relax and enjoy the day. Revisit some dealers and some items you've been mulling over. Providing they are still there, of course, you can decide to go ahead and purchase them. In any case, get around to dealers you might have missed. Make new friends. Exchange email addresses so you can stay in touch.

It's over all too quickly so savor it why you can. See you at the book fair.

Okay, everybody, this is last call. Sign up now!

Sign up for the Book Fair Bulletin and get special insights into the upcoming Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, plus nifty ticket deals unavailable anywhere else. This special email report is coming soon but it'll be available only for those who sign up. We promise not to bomb you with a ton of emails, and we promise never, ever to share your email with anybody else. We'll just stay in touch two or three times a year, and especially just before the book fair (like now). It's FREE, and you can cancel it at any time (but you won't want to because the Book Fair Bulletin will be full of all sorts fun stuff.) Anyway, you've been alerted. Here's how you sign up.

Modern Literature: One man's must-reads

Author Sterling Watson, co-director of Writers in Paradise at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, took time for wide-ranging interview on our theme for the 2015 Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, Modern Literature: The Truth and Beauty of Fiction. This is an excerpt from that interview. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, March 13, 14, and 15 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg.

Have you seen the latest news on papyrus?

Pompeii fresco of Greek lyric poet Sappho.

We've been reading with utter fascination the recent developments with ancient papyrus writings that have been in the news recently. A few days ago, there were reports from all over about the biblical scholars who may have found a fragment of the oldest known Gospel of Mark inside an Egyptian mummy mask. If it turns out to be authentic, that surely is an astounding find.

Now comes news from Smithsonian Magazine that new x-ray technology is allowing Italian scientists to study for the first time ancient scrolls from Pompeii blackened in the volcanic eruption in 79 AD and made so fragile that they could be destroyed just touching them.

With the new x-ray machine, scientists won't have to touch the scrolls to study them. They'll just scan them like CT scanner, only a little different. It's all quite technical but the gist is that ancient inks sit on top of the papyrus fibers just enough that they can be seen in the x-ray images.

Anybody who is attracted to the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, of course, is going to sit up and take notice when developments like this pop up so we figure we're probably not alone in seeking all the details. From what we've seen, the technological breakthrough has just begun to yield something the scientists can work with so it may be some time before there are any great revelations. Apparently there are some 1,800 blackened scrolls that have been discovered.

As it happens, next year's theme for the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair is Written Relics: Papyrus to paperbacks. It's a great theme that gets to the heart of the many varied reasons collectors collect books. It'll be fun to explore in 2016. Maybe by then there will be some new developments on these two stories.

In the meantime, we're focused on this year's book fair. The theme this year is Modern Literature: the truth and beauty of fiction. We'll be talking about that in much greater detail in these days leading up to the book fair, so stay tuned and share with your friends.

For book lovers, something a little different

Here's something a little different for book lovers. We came across a Washington Post article about this lady. Her name is Maria and she has gained something of a celebrity status for her practice of making videos in which she speaks very, very softly.

For some people, her whispers induce a pleasurable tingle all over their bodies. It's known as autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR). It's like what might have happened as a kid and your friend whispered in your ear and you felt a shiver and pulled away giggling. In the Post article, Maria described it as a "shower of sparkles" and "like warm sand being poured all over you ..."

Hey, we like the beach so it was enough to send us poking around her YouTube channel, GentleWhispering, and wouldn't you know it, we discovered Maria's offering for book lovers that you see embedded above.

She had another interesting one set in a library in which she seemed to be portraying the world's quietest librarian. She typed information to issue us a library card but we left before it was ready. You'll have to find that one for yourself. This ASMR effect may not be for everyone but some will enjoy it.

We'd rather sit in our own library and listen to the sound of pages turning in a book we bought at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.