You never know what you'll see at the book fair

We were looking back through some of the photographs taken at the 2013 Florida Antiquarian Book Fair last March and we came across this delightful little scene that had slipped our minds.

It looks like Marlowe has made a new friend. Marlowe the puppy came with Sunday Steinkirchner and Josh Mann of B&B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA in New York. Sunday and Josh will be back for the 2014 Florida Antiquarian Book Fair next March. Betcha Marlowe comes, too. 

Anyway, we thought we'd share this little vignette of cuteness. It was delightful surprise not only for us but for many fairgoers who saw it in person. That's what we love about the book fair. You never know what you're going to see. One year a couple of the dealers burst into a spontaneous fiddle concert. (We'll have to dig that out of the archives and share it sometime soon.)

The point of all of this, of course, is to remind you to expect the unexpected at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.

Steinway Artist BK Davis to perform opening night

Steinway International Artist BK Davis

Sarasota musician BK Davis will perform live classical music for opening night at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. He is part of the Steinway International Artists roster that also includes Elton John, Billy Joel, Harry Connick, Jr., and Herbie Hancock. Davis has been performing for four decades, since he was a teen.

With his group, the BK Davis Trio, Davis is a frequent headliner at The Fox Jazz Club in Tampa. He returned earlier this year from a national Steinway concert tour that took him to venues in the East, South and Midwest, including his hometown of Davenport, Iowa.

Davis grew up in a music family. His father, a church bishop, pressed him into service as a teenager to serve as musical director for seven churches he oversaw. His mother, an accomplished vocalist, taught him to sing and play. Davis also plays guitar, organ, drums, and a dozen other instruments.

At 13, he composed his first song. At 14, he directed a 150-member church choir performing his song on national television. He wrote theme music for the Boy Scouts of America and for an Indianapolis 500 race, and for numerous television commercials. He co-wrote music with Little Richard and played in bands for B.B. King and Billy Preston. Though known as a jazz artist, Davis is accomplished in classical music, gospel and Latin genres as well. 

At home, Davis composes on a gold-trimmed ivory Steinway Concert Grand, a gift from his wife Rasheen for his devotion to her as she underwent chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer in 2011. She wrote of her experiences in her new book The Chemo Room, which will be available at the book fair. A former corporate executive, Rasheen Davis is now her husband's manager.

New NYC top cop's special childhood book

NYC Police Commissioner Bill Bratton with his special book. | NBC News via The New York Times

Our theme for the 2014 Florida Antiquarian Book Fair is built on the principle that reading for children and to children is a good idea for civilization. The childhood reading experience is fundamental to a person's development. So it was a delight to see The New York Times' article about the city's newly appointed police commissioner. During a news conference, he was holding up a children's book.

2014 book fair children's theme poster.

This is actually the second time Bill Bratton has been Gotham's police commissioner. The first time was back in 1994, when he had a hand in significantly reducing the crime rate during his two years in the job. The passion of the prominent crime fighter for police work, though, began when he was a nine-year-old Boston youngster. That's when he went to a local library and picked up an illustrated book titled Your Police (Garden City Books, 1956) by George J. Zaffo.

In its day, the book was a favorite and found in libraries throughout the country. It told how to become a police recruit, the training involved and the duties of officers. Bold illustrations and typography showed guns, police helicopters, mounted police, and a forensics lab and equipment. It had everything a kid needed to know to become a policeman.

A Times article quoted ILAB rare book dealer Helen Younger, of Aleph-Bet Books in Westchester County, as saying the book was beautifully designed and unusual for its time. The book is long since out of print, and remaining copies listed online were bought immediately from abebooks.com and other websites. 

Turns out the book has had a special place in Bratton's life throughout his four-decade career in law enforcement. He has taken his copy to every police department he has work for, including Los Angeles, where he was police commissioner for seven years.

"I've taken this book everywhere I've ever gone, every department," The Times quoted him as saying at the news conference. "It's always proudly displayed because it had such a profound influence on me."

We hope fairgoers will have equally good fortune in finding the meaningful books in their lives when they come to the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in March.

Here's a link to The New York Times article about Bill Bratton's appointment and a video from the news conference.

Why we say: 100+ bookstores. Paradise.

So, this "100+ bookstores. Paradise." What's that all about?

Well, to a book lover, having more than 100 bookstores all in one place is paradise. That much is pretty clear. Book lovers revel in the experience of leisurely perusing volumes in a single bookstore. Give 'em many more times that one and they're joyous beyond reason.

We know one such happily afflicted fellow whose wife is always thrilled to find a bookstore (or a bevy of them) when they travel. She's a reader, too, just not as fanatical as he is. She claims she can drop him off at the bookstore, go shopping to her heart's content in all the little curio shops and gift shops and dress shops in whatever place they happen to be visiting, and return hours later to the bookstore where he's still contentedly grazing in the stacks. Hope she drops him off at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in March.

The other reason we use the slogan "100+ bookstores. Paradise." is that the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair happens to be presented in the leading tourist destination on the gulf coast. More than 13 million visitors drop by every year. And why not? We live in paradise! World-class beaches. Great accommodations. Fine dining. Spring training. Great museums. People make coming to the Suncoast a vacation.

No reason why book lovers shouldn't do the same.