You'll find amazing ephemera at the book fair

Famous Chicago Tribune of November 3, 1948 was on display at the 2013 Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.

Sometimes people who haven't been to the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair before wonder if it's all books, and nothing else. Not that that would be a bad thing but the book fair is so much more.

Case in point. Ephemera, those pieces of printed matter not intended to last a long time but that give us insight into our past. There is always tons of ephemera at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.

Correction type was put in upside down.

Last year, one of our dealers had this gem. The famous 1948 Chicago Tribune edition that prematurely declared that Republican Thomas E. Dewey had defeated Democratic incumbent Harry S Truman for president. Oops!

Story is that the returns were coming in very slowly and early returns showed Dewey would win. Deadline was looming and editors decided to go with a story based on the early returns. In fact, there was such haste to get the edition out that a compositor inadvertently put a five-line correction into the page upside down. Another oops!

When they discovered the major error, Tribune executives sent circulation employees out to recover papers from newsstands and the Chicago suburbs. Naturally, they didn't recover all of them. Staffers took some home and some were recovered from the trash after they had been clipped to indicate they were returns. This particular copy was completely intact and not clipped – a remarkable find!

All of this just serves as an example of the kinds of amazing items you'll find at the book fair. No, it's not just about the books.

Book fair tickets are available online

Tickets for the 2014 Florida Antiquarian Book Fair can be purchased online now.

For a limited time, you can take advantage of a special offer that gets you tickets at a remarkably low price.

Just in time for the season of gift-giving, we have the Holiday Gift Special. What a great opportunity! You can purchase four Weekend Pass tickets for the price of two. That means you can buy the tickets you were going to buy anyway to go to the book fair and get two more tickets free to give to other book lovers you know.

Tickets for the entire weekend normally cost $10 each but with this deal you can get four tickets for the price of two. Wrap up three of them as gifts and you've made great progress on your Christmas list.

When you give tickets to the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, you're giving so much more than admission. You're giving a weekend experience that you and your friends will always remember. Plus, when you and  your friends discover the remarkable treasures that await at the book fair, you've given delight for the ages.

Who knew a simple, very astute purchase on your part could give so much?

Here's a link to Eventbrite where you can purchase tickets. 

Too early to talk about the book fair?

We don't think it's a bit too early to start talking about one of the most anticipated events of the coming year – the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. Sure, we're still three and a half months away from that wonderful weekend in March when book lovers from far and wide gather at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg for their annual tryst.

No, indeed! Not too early at all.

Consider this. That other widely anticipated event – the premiere of Downton Abbey Season 4 – happens on January 5, and devotees have been in the throes of longing since the summer. Heck, if truth be told, frenzied anticipation began as soon as Season 3 was over. By September, (about the same distance from the Downton premiere as we are now from the opening of the book fair), the Downton-sphere was already atwitter about the new season. Indeed, PBS was showing teasing little previews to increase the salivation.

The foreplay has continued and will continue right on up to that glorious first Sunday of the new year, when, at last, there will be relief!

We know where we'll be on that Sunday night. We have a date with the Granthams and the Crowleys, and, of course, Mr. Carson and his staff.

We also know where we'll be on that glorious Friday night in March when we hear those sweet, sweet words: "Ladies and Gentlemen, the 2014 Florida Antiquarian Book Fair is now open."

But pardon us while we salivate in the meantime.

And now, a bookmark for all seasons

Our new bookmarks are in and they have a special distinction. There's no date on them so they never go out of style. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair is always the second full weekend March and that's what it says on the bookmark. So it's true for 2014 (our next book fair) but it's also true for 2015, 2016 and so on. It saves money because we don't have to do them over again next year and it reminds our fans when to plan for the book fair. If you'd like some bookmarks, stop by the St. Petersburg Public Library and ask for one, or send us an email at floridabookfair@verizon.net.