This week on the Rare Book Cafe: Books and cigars in Ybor City, Florida

Saturday- the 30th of July- the Rare Book cafe team will have a chat with Gigi Best-Richardson, owner of Best Books, Rich Treasures in Ybor City, Florida.

Doing business nearly twenty years, BBRT has a fascinating, roving past:

"Best Books Rich Treasures is an Independent, Veteran and Woman-owned family bookstore providing exceptional used, rare and new books, high quality gift items, and reliable service to our customers...We first opened Best Books & Rich Treasures in 1997 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  Though we began as traveling vendors, we quickly opened a two-story storefront bookstore there. 

"We then moved to the Virginia Beach Farmers Market and Antique Mall and since that time we have taken our store to four other cities and two different countries (Korea and Turkey) before re-opening in Tampa, FL.  

"For many years we have brought our business to military and civilian communities as a military family ourselves.  We are currently close to MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, FL and are excited to, not only, serve the local military and civilian community, but also have our business on the web, where we are accessible to the world."

Ybor City flourished as the cigar capital of the world for half a century from the 1880s. A multicultural immigrant army settled in villages built around the cigar factories to make a community of storied vitality and diversity.

Production peaked at 500 million cigars in 1929; the arrival of the Depression that fall led to Americans' switching to cheaper cigarettes and mechanization of the cigar-making process over the next two decades, driving wages down and workers into other occupations.

After nearly being wiped out by depopulation and neglect, Ybor City revived in the 1990s and is now a celebrated jewel in the cultural and artistic life of greater Tampa, filled with entrainment venues, galleries, and artists: the perfect place for a bookstore!

Visiting the Tampa area? Here's BBRT's contact information:

1501-B Ninth Avenue, Tampa FL 33065

(Located in historic Ybor City)

813-944-2112

Days/Hours: Tu/We/Th/Sa, 10 am- 5 pm

Fri, noon- 8 pm

Su/Mo closed

Rare Books Cafe is a weekly Internet production sponsored by the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. It's live at blab.im every Saturday from 2.30 to 3.30 pm EDT/6.30 to 7.30 GMT.

The program encourages viewer participation via its interactive features and video: if you've got an interesting book, join the panel and show it to us!

Regular co-hosts include Thorne Donnelly, owner of Liberty Book Store in West Palm Beach; Steven Eisenstein, longtime Miami-area dealer and appraiser and host of the weekly radio program Buck$ on the Bookshelf at wdbfradio.com; T.Allen Smith, retired journalist, bookseller, and photographer for the Florida book fair; and Lindsay Thompson, owner of Henry Bemis Books in Charlotte, North Carolina.

To access the show, look up blab.im on your browser. Sign in using your Twitter or Facebook account, and type "Rare Book Cafe" in the search box.

Past programs are archived at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair site, as well as on Rare Book Cafe's YouTube Channel.

On the July 23 Rare Book Cafe: We talk books with Mike Slicker

Today's guest on The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair's Rare Books Cafe will be Michael Slicker, owner of Lighthouse Books in St. Petersburg. 

A member of the Antiquarian Booksellers of America, Slicker is also founder and chair of the Florida Book Fair, the largest- and oldest- event of its kind in the American Southeast. As one of one only 450 ABAA members in the United States, Slicker resides at the pinnacle of the profession.

Slicker will be talking with the RBC panel about recent acquisitions, lore of the book trade, and the change in date for the Florida Book Fair, which is moving from its longstanding March dates to new ones in April for 2017.

Here's how Lighthouse Books describes itself:

Lighthouse Books, ABAA is a family-owned and operated book shop located near Tropicana Field in downtown Saint Petersburg, Florida. We have been in business more than 35 years. We're open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.   

Our specialties include Florida history and literature, Americana, literature of the South, military history (including, but not limited to, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korean War), children’s literature, antique maps, leather bindings and rare & unusual items.  

We also have a wide variety of general stock, including a large landscape/gardening section, a great selection of Christian/church history/Bible study titles, Beat literature, fishing, aviation, maritime, Asian history, African history, European history, South Pacific, British history, archaeology, psychology, philosophy, Latin American and Caribbean history, Canadian history, discovery & exploration, art, antiques & collectibles' reference, pop-up books, railroads, hunting, fire arms, etc.   

About 25 per cent of our total stock is listed in our online inventory. If ever you're in the area, we invite you to come in and browse; to show our appreciation, we'll offer a 15 per cent discount off any purchases made on your first visit.  

In addition to keeping regular hours at the storefront location, Lighthouse Books participates as a vendor in about a dozen book fairs, antiques shows, map fairs and related events each year. One such show is The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, an annual trade show/charity benefit held in downtown St. Petersburg the second full weekend in March, that has become the oldest and largest antiquarian book fair in the Southeast. Slicker has served as chair since its inception twenty-nine years ago. 

The company also provides certified appraisal services.

Visiting St. Petersburg? Here's Lighthouse Books' contact information:

By email at LighthouseBooksABAA@gmail.com

By phone (Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST)
(727) 822-3278.

Or at the following address:
Lighthouse Books, ABAA
1735 First Avenue North
Saint Petersburg, FL 33713  USA

Rare Books Cafe is a weekly Internet production sponsored by the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. It's live at blab.im every Saturday from 2.30 to 3.30 pm EDT/6.30 to 7.30 GMT.

The program encourages viewer participation via its interactive features and video: if you've got an interesting book, join the panel and show it to us!

Regular co-hosts include Thorne Donnelly, owner of Liberty Book Store in West Palm Beach; Steven Eisenstein, longtime Miami-area dealer and appraiser and host of the weekly radio program Buck$ on the Bookshelf at wdbfradio.com; T.Allen Smith, retired journalist, bookseller, and photographer for the Florida book fair; and Lindsay Thompson, owner of Henry Bemis Books in Charlotte, North Carolina.

To access the show, look up blab.im on your browser. Sign in using your Twitter or Facebook account, and type "Rare Book Cafe" in the search box.

Past programs are archived at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair site, as well as on Rare Book Cafe's YouTube Channel.

RARE BOOK CAFE: Madlyn Blom, president of the Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association, on new book fair dates

WATCH LIVE: Madlyn Blom, president of the Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association, will appear on Rare Book Cafe on Saturday, June 4, at 2:30  p.m.  ET to discuss the date change for the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair to April. The change to April is very unusual. Long-time book fair fans know that for the last 35 years the book fair has been in March most years. Join us live to ask questions. A recorded version of this session will be available here after the broadcast.

Listen to this announcement and share it with friends

Please listen to this special announcement from Sarah Smith, manager of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. This is about the change in dates from our usual time on the second full weekend in March to April 21-23, 2017. This change is taking place because the New York Antiquarian Book Fair and two shadow fair are moving to our usual time in March. We have taking this step to accommodate booksellers and book buyers who attend the New York show and are regulars at our show.

Please watch Michael Slicker, chairman of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair committee on Rare Book Cafe on Blab.im this Saturday, May 28 at 2:30 p.m. Mike will discuss the date change of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair and answer questions from call-in viewers.