This Saturday is Dr. Seuss’ 120th birthday, and at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, we’re celebrating it in a big with a big cake and the antics of The Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2. It all begins at 2 p.m. We hope you’ll come join us.
During his career, Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) wrote and illustrated more than 60 books, most of them innovative stories for children. Most fairgoers either grew up with the phenomenon that became Dr. Seuss or knew someone who did.
Today The Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2, the Grinch who stole Christmas, Horton (who heard a Who), that gastronomic oddity Green Eggs and Ham, the Fox in Sox, the environmentally active Lorax, are enmeshed in our culture.
In the program for the 2024 Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, we delve into some of the back story of the man who created the wonderful world of Dr. Seuss. We hope you’ll take the time to learn more about this beloved and creative man.
Of course, the Dr. Seuss’ birthday is only a small part of the phenomenon that is the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. Booksellers from all over the country gather once a year here in St. Petersburg to present opportunities for book lovers and others who are attracted to old prints, maps, photographs, and all sorts of ephemera like post cards, brochures, newspapers and so much more.
Please enjoy the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, and come all three days if you can. That way you can take your time and see everything.
Collecting Civil War ephemera never goes out of style. For some, it is an obsession. For others, an interesting pastime. For our ever-curious co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn, it is the thrill of the discovery. Both have fascinating correspondence originated by participants in the war.
Please SHARE this program with your book loving friends.
This is another one of the earliest episodes of Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK, our new series offering short programs, usually on a single topic.
Watch for more in our Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK series. Rare Book Cafe is on YouTube and Facebook and YouTube podcast. Please SUBSCRIBE to our show on your favorite platform, share Rare Book Cafe with your book-loving friends, and LIKE us. Join us in the Book Lovers’ Rendezvous. This program is prerecorded.
Co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn are veteran antiquarian booksellers. Ed owns Montgomery Rare Books in Portland, Oregon, and Lee owns The Ridge Books in Calhoun, Georgia.
Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK is made possible by the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, the oldest and largest rare, used, and collectible book fair in the southeastern United States. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair will be presented March 1-3, 2024 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. More information at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com
The program also is made possible by Biblio.com, a website featuring used, rare, and out-of-print books from independent booksellers. Biblio is celebrating 20 years of serving book lovers. It’s better than ever. Biblio spotlights “the core of our business model: the independent booksellers who bring their expertise, enthusiasm, and professionalism to soon the used and rare book trade.”
************** Music by Kevin MacLeod Hyperfun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ **************
Rare Book Cafe is a periodic gathering of collectors and lovers of old, rare, and collectible books. It is a virtual cafe, accessible anywhere in the world, where the subjects are priceless and the conversation is free. It is truly the book lovers' rendezvous. Rare Book Cafe is presented periodically on Facebook and YouTube, and will also be available on podcast.
Rare Book Cafe features conversations about antiquarian books, rare books, collectible books, unusual books, vintage photographs, antique maps, rare prints, and a wide variety of ephemera. Guests include antiquarian booksellers, authors, collectors, and anyone else with an interest in and knowledge of these topics. Rare Book Cafe is based in Florida.
Rare Book Cafe The Book Lovers' Rendezvous™ YouTube and Facebook Also soon as a podcast on fine platforms everywhere.
Nineteenth century ephemera dealer Barbara Loe presents some of the
fascinating handmade items she has acquired recently, including a
perpetual calendar, a hand drawn dinner party menu, a bridge game tally
with real feathers, and a red, white, blue Fourth of July greeting card
from the early 20th century.
Barbara is the owner of Cardtique LLC in Osprey, Florida, and a frequent
contributor to Rare Book Cafe.
Please SHARE this program with your book loving friends.
This is another one of the earliest episodes of Rare Book Cafe COFFEE
BREAK, our new series offering short programs, usually on a single
topic. Watch for more in our Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK series.
Rare Book Cafe is on YouTube and Facebook and will soon be available on
podcast. Please SUBSCRIBE to our show on your favorite platform, share
Rare Book Cafe with your book-loving friends, and LIKE us. Join us in
the Book Lovers’ Rendezvous. This program is prerecorded.
Co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn are veteran antiquarian booksellers.
Ed owns Montgomery Rare Books in Portland, Oregon, and Lee owns The
Ridge Books in Calhoun, Georgia.
Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK is made possible by the Florida Antiquarian
Book Fair, the oldest and largest rare, used, and collectible book fair
in the southeastern United States. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair
will be presented March 1-3, 2024 at The Coliseum in downtown St.
Petersburg. More information at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com
The program also is made possible by Biblio.com, a website featuring
used, rare, and out-of-print books from independent booksellers. Biblio
is celebrating 20 years of serving book lovers. It’s better than ever.
Biblio spotlights “the core of our business model: the independent
booksellers who bring their expertise, enthusiasm, and professionalism
to soon the used and rare book trade.”
**************
Music by Kevin MacLeod Hyperfun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed
under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
**************
Rare Book Cafe is a periodic gathering of collectors and lovers of old,
rare, and collectible books. It is a virtual cafe, accessible anywhere
in the world, where the subjects are priceless and the conversation is
free. It is truly the book lovers' rendezvous.
Rare Book Cafe is presented periodically on Facebook and YouTube, and
will also be available on podcast. Rare Book Cafe features conversations
about antiquarian books, rare books, collectible books, unusual books,
vintage photographs, antique maps, rare prints, and a wide variety of
ephemera.
Guests include antiquarian booksellers, authors, collectors, and anyone
else with an interest in and knowledge of these topics.
Rare Book Cafe is based in Florida.
Rare Book Cafe
The Book Lovers' Rendezvous™
YouTube and Facebook
Also soon as a podcast on fine platforms everywhere.
Co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn share their summer reading lists, as does their guest, Rare Book Cafe regular Richard Mori, who is known as The Road Warrior. Also, Lee recently had a birthday and, of course, there was cake.
PLEASE SHARE your reading list in the comments. And SHARE our program with your book loving friends.
This is another one of the earliest episodes of Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK, our new series offering short programs, usually on a single topic. Watch for more in our Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK series.
Rare Book Cafe is on YouTube and Facebook and will soon be available on podcast. Please SUBSCRIBE to our show on your favorite platform, share Rare Book Cafe with your book-loving friends, and LIKE us. Join us in the Book Lovers’ Rendezvous. This program is prerecorded.
Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK is made possible by the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, the oldest and largest rare, used, and collectible book fair in the southeastern United States. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair will be presented March 1-3, 2024 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. More information at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com
The program also is made possible by Biblio.com, a website featuring used, rare, and out-of-print books from independent booksellers. Biblio is celebrating 20 years of serving book lovers. It’s better than ever. Biblio spotlights “the core of our business model: the independent booksellers who bring their expertise, enthusiasm, and professionalism to soon the used and rare book trade.”
************** Music by Kevin MacLeod Hyperfun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... **************
Rare Book Cafe is a periodic gathering of collectors and lovers of old, rare, and collectible books. It is a virtual cafe, accessible anywhere in the world, where the subjects are priceless and the conversation is free. It is truly the book lovers' rendezvous.
Rare Book Cafe is presented periodically on Facebook and YouTube, and will also be available on podcast. Rare Book Cafe features conversations about antiquarian books, rare books, collectible books, unusual books, vintage photographs, antique maps, rare prints, and a wide variety of ephemera.
Guests include antiquarian booksellers, authors, collectors, and anyone else with an interest in and knowledge of these topics.
Rare Book Cafe™ is based in Florida. Rare Book Cafe The Book Lovers' Rendezvous™
In this post is the first episode of the new video series Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK. In this series, co-hosts Ed Mankiewicz and Lee Linn will offer quick bites of the delectable world of books and book collecting.
Please forgive our food metaphor but we think you’ll find the offerings delicious, even though we all know that one must keep actual food and drink well away from rare and collectible books.
Like a coffee break, these short programs are intended to be a brief and enjoyable respite from the daily routine. Please subscribe either here on the blog or on Facebook or YouTube so you’ll be alerted when there’s a new Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK available to view. We’re always up for a coffee break. How about you?
At the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, we’re proud to help make this program possible, and we appreciate the support of Biblio.com, our long-standing book fair sponsor, and we congratulate our friends at Biblio.com as they celebrate 20 years of serving the interests of book lovers around the world.
We’d love to hear from you, so leave us a comment below or send us an email.
WATCH LIVE: When we last left author Larry Baker, he was dashing off for another engagement and had to tear himself away from our company. That was last Thursday, and we had a bit of a late night, too, because of a schedule conflict.
Unfortunately, our edition with Larry Baker was much too short. We barely had time to make introductions and give him The Third Degree. Almost immediately after that, he left. We don't think those two incidents were related. :-)
The good news is that we invited Larry back and he said yes and we won't have to do The Third Degree since we already did it, so we can pick up where we left off, which is fine with us.
So, Larry Baker will join us at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 4, right here on the Rare Book Cafe.
You can watch Rare Book Cafe right here on the Florida Antiquarian Book
Fair blog or you can log into Blab.im using you Twitter account. Search
for Rare Book Cafe and join the conversation.
Rare Book Cafe is sponsored by the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair,
celebrating 34 years in March 2016. Watch for interesting information
about the book fair on upcoming episodes of Rare Book Cafe. Subscribe to
the broadcast so you won't miss anything.
The next edition of the Rare Book Cafe will feature Madlyn Blom, owner of Old Bag Lady Books in Sun City Center, Florida, across Tampa Bay from St. Petersburg. This will be Madlyn's second appearance on Rare Book Cafe, but her first as our Special Guest. Early on in the development of Rare Book Cafe, Madlyn visited the show and spoke to us upside down for a brief time. In this appearance, Madlyn will be right side up. More about all that in another article.
Madlyn is on the board of directors of the Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association and is an exhibitor at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair each year. Madlyn will gladly tell book dealers considering doing a show for the first time the benefits of such a decision. For one thing, dealers who only sell online lose touch with real people – their customers. The book fair is an opportunity to reconnect with old customers and meet new customers and learn what they are reading and why.
Of course, the other great reason Madlyn will tell a book dealer to exhibit at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair is to meet other dealers face-to-face, and buy books from them or sell books to them. You could end up with a collection of signed first editions to sell to other customers, a stash of cash from all the books you sell, and a notebook full of contact information from new customers.
When she's not selling books or buying books, you might find Madlyn out with her camera shooting award-winning shots. Madlyn took up photography only a short time ago and already has surprised herself and others by winning top honors in local contests. We'll have more about Madlyn's photography exploits in another entry.
In the meantime, you can watch Madlyn on Rare Book Cafe by logging in to blab.im using your Twitter account, then searching for Rare Book Cafe. The live streaming program will be on the air on Wednesday, November 18 at 3:30 p.m. ET. You don't even have to log in to Blab to watch. You can see it right here on this page above. What's more, if you miss the live stream or just can't get enough of watching Madlyn, you can see the replay of the program right here, too. It'll happen automatically and you can tune in any time to watch. We hope you will.
Okay, folks! This is a first! You will be able to watch Rare Book Cafe right here on the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair blog Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET. The developers of the Blab live streaming platform have added this feature to make it possible to embed a Blab session in other venues. Now you can watch the programming almost anywhere. No longer will be it be necessary to log into the Blab platform.
Keep in mind that this is a test. We don't know, for instance, if embedding this program here will make it unbearably slow, thus rendering it useless. We don't know if you'll be able to participate, though it looks as if you might be able to type in comments if you sign into your Twitter account then send a direct message to @beachbookman or @rarebookcafe.
After the program is finished, you should be able to view the recorded version here as well. This is all so new, it's hard to tell what will happen but if it works we know it's going to be exciting.
If you watch the LIVE version, please let us know about your experience. And thank you for being part of history as we adapt 21st century tools to spread interest in the subject we love – books, maps, prints, and ephemera of the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries.
UPDATE: We've now slightly widened the blog so it will accommodate the Rare Book Cafe broadcast and the comments next to it. This embedded platform will allow book lovers to watch the program from right here on the book fair blog and see the comments. Although the comments remain on the screen, you can't scroll through them yet. In fact, they disappear, only to return when the broadcast is over. Still, this is nothing short of amazing.
Please join us for the next Rare Book Cafe on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. ET. Watch for a post soon.
Bookseller Vivian Moore of Alpharetta, Georgia, will return to the book fair in March.
We were pondering the other day all the amazing things you see at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair each year. This year the theme is children’s books, and we know that our dealers will have plenty of unusual children’s books to see. But, as always, the book fair is much more than any one theme.
When you think about it, it’s really hard to take it all in. Veterans of the book fair say it’s a good idea to plan to come all three days because you couldn’t possibly take it all in on just one day. You really need time to leisurely browse all the booths then home in on the items that really interest you.
Actually, the name book fair is so inadequate because it is so much more. Don’t worry, we’re not changing our name to the Florida Antiquarian Books, Regular Cool Books, Children’s-Books-You-Remember-From-When-You-Were-A-Kid, Signed-First-Edition-Books, Antique Maps, Illuminated Manuscripts, Vintage Photographs, Antique Autographs, Cool-Printed-Pieces-From-The-Civil-War, Awesome-Sauce-Extremely-Rare-Published-In-The-16th-Century-Books, And-Other-Stuff-We-Haven’t-Even-Mentioned Fair.
Book Fair will have to do.
Besides, you already know that “Book Fair” really means much more. It’s sort of a code phrase, isn’t it? Sort of like a speakeasy in the Roaring Twenties – knock on the door, say the secret password and they let you in. Those who know the code know the joys of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. Of course, there's no password at the book fair but you get the idea.
This post started out to be about the picture you see at the top but obviously we got a little sidetracked. That’s our friend Vivian Moore, who will be exhibiting at the book fair in March. Vivian lives in Alpharetta, Georgia, now but she used to live in Tampa, and she was part of the very first Florida Antiquarian Book Fair 33 years ago.
We don’t know exactly what Vivian will be bringing to the book fair this year, but we do know that what she brings is always fascinating. In this picture, she’s holding a very cool photo post card of downtown Tampa in the 1920s produced by the Florida News Company.
See, now that’s what we’re talking about. How very amazing! How very unusual! It is discoveries like these that keep people coming back year after year. There’s only one Florida Antiquarian Book Fair and it only happens once a year. That’s why people mark it on their calendar and make sure they are here.
“Yeah, it’s a Book Fair.” (Delivered with an arched eyebrow and a knowing smile.)
What a delight to see a return of flappers to The Coliseum! The '20s-era dance venue has been home to the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair for years but those exuberant young women were long gone. But on Friday, booksellers Cynthia Gibson and Sunday Steinkirchner brought them back — if only for a little while. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair runs March 9-11, 2012 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg.
Bookseller Boe Rushing reveals one of the special items he'll be bringing to the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. Look for items other dealers plan to have at the book fair under this series Treasures We're Bringing.
The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair runs March 9-11, 2012 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. The book fair is the largest of its kind in the southeastern United States. More than 115 dealers in rare books, antiquarian books, antique maps, vintage photographs and more will exhibit at the book fair. | Music by Kevin MacLeod: Night Cave
Bookseller Robb Versandi says one of the extraordinary things about the book fair is the amount of information dealers willingly share with one another and with their customers.
The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair runs March 9-11, 2012 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. The book fair is the largest of its kind in the southeastern United States. More than 115 dealers in rare books, antiquarian books, antique maps, vintage photographs and more will exhibit at the book fair. | Music by Kevin MacLeod: Night Cave
Bookseller Boe Rushing says that anyone who loves books ought to come to the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair to see the amazing selection. They may see books they'll never see again in their lifetime.
The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair runs March 9-11, 2012 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. The book fair is the largest of its kind in the southeastern United States. More than 115 dealers in rare books, antiquarian books, antique maps, vintage photographs and more will exhibit at the book fair. | Music by Kevin MacLeod: Night Cave
Cartoonist Rob Smith Jr, creator of Swampy's Florida, is enthusiastic about the "Book Sail" theme of this year's Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. It speaks to Florida's maritime heritage. Rob will draw caricatures at the book fair and discuss his passion for Florida history.
The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair runs March 9-11, 2012 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. The book fair is the largest of its kind in the southeastern United States. More than 115 dealers in rare books, antiquarian books, antique maps, vintage photographs and more will exhibit at the book fair. | Music by Kevin MacLeod: Night Cave, Accralate
Bookseller David Brown shows a copy of Ernest Hemingway's Green Hills of
Africa, one of the special volumes he'll be bringing to the Florida
Antiquarian Book Fair. Look for special items other dealers will be
bringing to the book fair.
The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair runs
March 9-11, 2012 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. The book
fair is the largest of its kind in the southeastern United States. More
than 115 dealers in rare books, antiquarian books, antique maps, vintage
photographs and more will exhibit at the book fair. | Music by Kevin
MacLeod: Night Cave
Bookseller Robb Versandi discusses the advantages of the book fair for anyone seeking to add to their collection or begin building one from scratch.
The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair runs March 9-11, 2012 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. The book fair is the largest of its kind in the southeastern United States. More than 115 dealers in rare books, antiquarian books, antique maps, vintage photographs and more will exhibit at the book fair. | Music by Kevin MacLeod: Night Cave
Bookseller George Spiero discusses the people in their 20s he enjoys seeing at the book fair. He's not worried about Kindle, iPad and Nook. Dealers will find an audience for traditional books for a long time to come, he says.
The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair runs March 9-11, 2012 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. The book fair is the largest of its kind in the southeastern United States. More than 115 dealers in rare books, antiquarian books, antique maps, vintage photographs and more will exhibit at the book fair. | Music by Kevin MacLeod: Night Cave
