6th - 7th November

Chelsea Old Town Hall, King's Road,

London SW3 5EE

With The London Library's Exhibition

"Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam"

THE CREAM RISES TO THE TOP

Increased visitor numbers and strong sales across the board made this year’s Chelsea fair a success for its exhibitors and the organisers, the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA).

The Antiquarian Book Fair at Chelsea showcased 75 UK and international exhibitors. The fair’s unique charm was enjoyed by a record number of visitors, 1,390 in total, which was 12% up on last year.

Looking at sales results after the fair, the ABA reported an increase in sales to the trade by 13% and to private clients by 22%. These came mainly from the UK but were also to Russian, US, Canadian and European buyers with an interest in English as well as foreign books.

The fair is well known for its breathtaking range of rare books, prints, atlases, maps, photographs, ephemera, letters and manuscripts. Conveniently located in its central London venue, the Chelsea Old Town Hall, this year the fair also accommodated a loan exhibition by the London Library, which celebrated Edward Fitzgerald’s first publication of the magnificent 11th century Persian poem, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

The majority of booksellers confirmed that there was a good mixture of private, academic and trade buyers.

Patrick Marrin of Marrin’s Bookshop, Kent, reported his busiest fair in four years with more than 30 individual sales this year.

Justin Croft sold a very rare copy of Domenico Angelo: The School of Fencing with a general explanation of the principal attitudes and positions peculiar to the art., published in London in 1787, which was undoubtedly a highlight of the fair.

Emma Doyle of Peter Harrington reported, as many dealers did, strong sales on Friday, increasingly to private clients.

The exhibiting German dealers confirmed London again as a key market place in the international book buying calendar.

Roger Treglown, Chair of the Chelsea fair: “I am thrilled about the good results for our exhibitors and members of the association. It is encouraging that sales were significantly up on last year and that we have increased visitor numbers. It gives a confident message to the trade.”

Issued 10 November 2009
By Angelika Elstner on behalf of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association

London Library

Opening Hours:
Friday 2pm to 7pm
Saturday 11am to 5pm
Free tickets can be downloaded in advance from this page, or
are £5.00 on the door.

The ABA Antiquarian Book Fair, Chelsea, is the most visually attractive and undoubtedly the friendliest event in the UK book trade calendar. Like our ‘big brother’ at Olympia it brings together on a smaller scale the cream of UK and overseas exhibitors under one roof in the exquisite venue of the 100 year old Chelsea Old Town Hall. The Old Town Hall is positioned on the lively Kings Road in the heart of fashionable Chelsea. The Hall is surrounded by excellent shops, restaurants, bars, and hotels and due to the timing of the Chelsea Fair, the area is always buzzing with early Christmas shoppers looking for something a little different this year… If you visited us in 2008, thank you for coming and please join us again in 2009!

The ‘Exotic East’ Comes to the Chelsea Book Fair

Not only is the Chelsea Book Fair a keenly awaited international event, but this year it also has the extra attraction of a special exhibition staged by a great institution, The London Library. The world's largest independent lending library, it was founded in 1841 by Thomas Carlyle - himself a Chelsea resident -and it has retained a place in the hearts of literary Londoners ever since.

2009 sees the 150th anniversary of the first publication of Edward Fitzgerald's translation of the magnificent 11th century Persian poem, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Ignored on its first appearance, Fitzgerald’s translation was 'discovered' by Rossetti and Swinburne and rapidly became a best-seller. It was produced in hundreds of editions in all sizes and shapes, many of them illustrated, catering to the taste for the ‘exotic east’ in late Victorian England.

Celebrating the anniversary of its publication, the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association (organiser of the Chelsea Book Fair) has arranged an exhibition in conjunction with The London Library, which holds one of the most comprehensive collections of Fitzgerald's Rubaiyat. The Library's collection was donated by Edward Heron-Allen, a London solicitor who himself produced a prose translation of the Rubaiyat. Representative samples from the Heron-Allen collection, including the earliest editions (and even some of the strangest), will also be on show.

Tennyson, Kipling, T.S. Eliot and Isaiah Berlin have been among the former presidents and vice-presidents of The London Library; we cannot promise they will be at Chelsea Old Town Hall in November, but we do hope that Sir Tom Stoppard, its current president, may spare a moment to see the show.

The Chelsea Book Fair is an annual favourite amongst those ‘in the know’; as the Chairman Roger Treglown succinctly says, “It doesn’t matter what your interest, you’re bound to find a book about it at Chelsea!” The Fair enjoys a reputation for its friendliness, charm and variety and it prides itself in offering something for everyone, and this year is no exception.

The Chelsea Book Fair is on Friday 6th November 2pm-7pm and Saturday 7th November 11am-5pm. Tickets can be obtained in advance by printing them from the left hand column of this page, or may be bought for £5.00 on the door.

For further press information and illustrations please contact: admin@aba.org.uk