Events coming up:

ALL PLA MEMBERS – The next Council meeting and the 63rd AGM will be held on Wednesday 5th June 2019 at 2.00 pm at the Seng Tee Lee Seminar Room, Senate House Library, Malet Street WC1E 7HU, London.

Come and see us at The PFBA London Fair 6th to 7th June Stand 105.

In June there are 4 PBFA events left which are:

6th-7th London – ILEC Conference Centre, IBIS London Earls Court, 47 Lillie Road, London SW6 1UD. Thursday 12pm to 7pm and Friday 10-7pm. Free Admission. Over 100 booksellers from all over the world will be exhibiting.

15th Penzance – St. John’s Hall, Penalverne Drive, Penzance, TR18 2QZ. 10-4pm. Admission £1.

15th Edinburgh – Radisson Blu Hotel,80 High Street, Royal Mile, EH1 1TH. 10-5pm. Admission £1.

22th Abergavenny – The Priory Centre, St. Mary’s Prior, Abergavenny, NP7 5ND. 10-4pm. Admission £1.

As usual look at the PBFA web site for further details: www.pbfa.org or email info@pbfa.org

The arrival of June marks the start of the summer literary festivals of which the many that are occurring can be found on the Literary Festivals UK website – http://www.literaryfestivals.co.uk/

31st May to 8th June 2019 – Derby Book Festival – The Derby Book Festival celebrates the joy of books and reading for all ages and interests, with a programme featuring great writers, poets, historians, politicians, illustrators, storytellers and musicians. Each year internationally celebrated, best-selling authors as well as a broad range of local writing talent take part and include an exciting children, families and educational programme. Various locations in the city but mostly held at The QUAD. Admission fees apply. email: hello@derbybookfestival.co.uk  http://www.derbybookfestival.co.uk/

7th – 9th June 2019 – Firsts – London’s Rare Book Fair – The ABA summer fair at Battersea Evolution in Battersea Park. This major three-day event is one of the largest and most prestigious antiquarian book fairs in the world. To be opened by Stephen Fry. Opening times: Friday 7th June: 12pm – 8pm, Saturday 8th June: 11am – 7pm and Sunday 9th June: 11am – 5pm. Entry is £20 for Two on opening day, Friday 7 June. You can register for free tickets via the web site. https://www.firstslondon.com/about/general-information

13th to 16th June The Greenwich Book Festival returns for its fifth year in with a lineup of leading fiction, non-fiction, independent, emerging and children’s authors with Michael Palin as the main author attending.

19th June–25 July 2019 – The Society of Wood Engravers’ (SWE) 81st annual exhibition travels to Penwith Gallery, Back Road West, St.Ives, Cornwall. TR26 1NL. Opening hours: Monday to Saturday 10.00 – 17.00. Telephone 01736 795579 or email – mail@penwithgallery.com

Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th June – The Hot Bed Press in Salford, Manchester are having a Wayzgoose Print Fair and are open between 11am & 5pm with free admission. Printmakers’ Studio, The Casket Works, Cow Lane, Salford. M5 4NB. Tel: 0161 743 3111. Email: info@hotbedpress.org

Friday 7th June to Sunday 8th September 2019 – British Library Exhibition: Leonardo da Vinci: A Mind in Motion. To mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, The British Library brings together highlights from three of his remarkable notebooks. Admission fee applies. https://www.bl.uk/events/leonardo-da-vinci-a-mind-in-motion

Writing: Making Your Mark, opens Fri 26 Apr – Tue 27 Aug 2019 at The British Library – A new exhibition that follows the evolution of writing from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs carved in stone and early printed text such as William Caxton’s edition of The Canterbury Tales, to the art of note-taking by some of history’s greatest minds to the digital communication tools in use today. https://www.bl.uk/events/writing-making-your-mark

Etc Fairs run the Bloomsbury Book Fair at The Royal National Hotel in Bloomsbury WC1H 0DG with the next book fair being their one of the 2 main events in the year, this being The Summer Book Fair on Sunday 9th June, 10-3.30pm admission £2 untill 12.30pm and thereafter is free. On the 30th June, The Book, Ephemera and Postcard Fair will be held in from 9.30am to 3pm with £1.50 admission all day.

For further information look at https://www.etcfairs.com/

The Society of Bookbinders various regions begin to have events and meetings and this UK-based educational charity which is dedicated to traditional and contemporary bookbinding and to the preservation and conservation of the printed and written word showcases annually the best of British bookbinding. https://www.societyofbookbinders.com

INFORMATION SOURCES

There are many web sites dedicated to specific aspects of the book trade and specialists will know of them. Listed below are a few that give an overview of fairs, news, bookshops and services to the trade:

http://www.anzaab.com/ – The Australian & New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers – Represents the antiquarian book trade in Australia and New Zealand.

https://www.letteringartstrust.org.uk/ – Site for calligraphy, letterpress, linocut and letter carving workshops

http://new-north-press.co.uk/about-us/ – Letterpress printers offering training courses

https://lithub.com/ – American based daily update on all aspects of the book trade, authors, news, publications and even scandal.

http://2seasagency.com/international-book-fair-calendar/ – Details of international book fairs and festivals

https://www.societyofbookbinders.com/about-us/ – The Society of Bookbinders; events, competitions and news

http://www.literaryfestivals.co.uk/ – gives details of literary events mostly in the UK and Ireland but good coverage of overseas events

https://www.inprint.co.uk/thebookguide/index.php – overview of fairs, news, bookshops

https://www.thebookseller.com/news – modern authors and trade news

https://www.vialibri.net/ – sourcing rare and out of print books but with insights into the market, pricing and regulations

https://www.cphc.org.uk/ – The Centre for Printing History and Culture run by the two Universities of Birmingham

http://www.oxfordguildofprinters.com/ – Britain’s leading Fine Press printers, a wide range of design, printing and publishing amateurs and professionals.

http://typeand.press/ – International letterpress and printmaking information from a Belgium graphic designer

http://www.bookfairs.com/index.html – North American book fair, literary events and auctions information site that also has international information.

https://www.atypi.org/ – ATypI, Association Typographique Internationale – The global forum and focal point for the type community and business.

Videos:

Videos of proprietors of presses and publishers talking about their art and creative path can be found online with https://vimeo.com/studiointernational a broad brush coverage of the arts including publishers but mostly of painters and installation artists.

https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/ has a comprehensive advice and how to do and who does what in publishing for writers and artists.

OVERSEAS

June International Book Fair and Literary Events Calendar:

There are other European literary events and details of these can be found on http://2seasagency.com/international-book-fair-calendar/

BookFairs.com based in America has a useful list of book fairs, auctions and literary events being held in North America and overseas. See http://www.bookfairs.com/fairs.html

The National Print Museum, Dublin, Ireland – A Letterpress Celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Moon Landing.  The National Print Museum is delighted to announce an exhibition of work by Year 2 BA [Hons] Illustration students of the National College of Art and Design. Runs until 21st June 2019. info@nationalprintmuseum.ie. Web: https://www.nationalprintmuseum.ie/

Early Private Presses 1730-1900, by David Chambers

This is the first comprehensive study of the private presses in the British Isles that were active in the 18th and 19th centuries. It will be printed in early 2018. In two volumes: Vol. 1 The Presses, c 300 pp, 75 illus. Vol 2: Bibliography, c. 300 pp. Cloth boards, imperial octavo. Both volumes will be issued as the free member book for the two years 2017 & 2018 combined. (To be included in the distribution of free copies of this standard edition, the PLA membership subscription must be paid for both years.) It is priced at £80 for both volumes, trade discount 25%. Special editions also available, 30 copies, both volumes bound in full morocco, in slip cases, with selected original leaves taken from 14 volumes of the presses concerned, price about £750. A further 70 copies will be issued with both volumes bound in quarter morocco, in slip cases, with original leaves from the same volumes, price about £375. 25% discount to PLA members or the trade. Postage extra. Join today and receive for free or reserve your copy using our order form. If you would like the prospectus pdf emailed to you, please send us a request using the contact form. The book description is on the publications books page.

Join today! 

Become a member today and join an ever growing community of book enthusiasts…at last count over 450 individual members and over 80 institutional members! The year 2016 marked our 60th anniversary and the momentum of enthusiasm for all things PLA continues to grow. 2017 was the beginning of what we are confident will be another 6 successful decades for the PLA and 2018 will offer exciting new publications as well as fairs and events for our members.

We want to encourage all bibliophiles – anyone who loves books – to join at an annual subscription of only £30. You will receive our well-respected quarterly journal, packed with interesting articles on all manner of subjects relating to books. Members also receive discounts on all our publications and a complimentary members book every 2 years. Students and anyone under the age of 26 will receive membership at only £15…so all young book collectors should sign up today!

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