ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair

Attendees, exhibitors & solutions

Who this event is for

Industry trends

Key trends shaping this market and its wider industry.

Arrival airports

Choose from the following airports, with convenient access to the event and venue.

Hotel tiers

A range of accommodation options near the venue and across key areas.

Local transport

Get around the city with these convenient transport options.

Frequently asked

Glossary

1

Antiquarian book

A rare or out-of-print book valued for age, scarcity, condition or provenance rather than for current retail circulation. At the New York Antiquarian Book Fair the term covers everything from 16th-century imprints to 20th-century first editions.

2

Incunabula

Books printed in Europe before 31 December 1500, in the first half-century of movable-type printing. Usually shown in the fair's earliest-material stands, often in vellum or contemporary blind-tooled bindings.

3

Colophon

The end note in an early printed book recording printer, place and date of printing. For incunabula and early modern imprints the colophon is often the primary evidence of the edition.

4

Provenance

The recorded ownership history of an item, traced through bookplates, inscriptions, auction records and catalogues. Dealers at the fair quote provenance chains as part of the condition and value statement for major items.

5

Association copy

A copy linked to a person connected with the book's creation or subject, for example an author's own copy or one inscribed to a friend. Association copies command a premium over ordinary first editions.

6

First edition, first printing

The first published appearance of a text in its earliest printing, with all the issue points described in the standard bibliography. Dealers will usually state which bibliography they follow.

7

Binding

The physical covering of a book, whether publisher's cloth, leather, vellum, boards or a later collector's rebind. Original bindings in good condition generally hold more value than fine rebinds.

8

Vellum / parchment

Prepared animal skin used for leaves or covers of early books and for manuscript documents. Sensitive to humidity, so vellum items at the fair are usually displayed in climate-controlled cases.

9

Folio, quarto, octavo

Format terms describing how many times the printed sheet was folded: once for folio, twice for quarto, three times for octavo. They describe page size and structure, not the number of pages.

10

Ephemera

Printed or handwritten material made for a short-term purpose, such as trade catalogues, postcards, playbills, tickets and advertising. A core collecting category alongside books and prints at the fair.

11

Manuscript

Handwritten material, from medieval leaves and colonial letters to modern literary drafts and annotated typescripts. Manuscripts are usually catalogued by author, date, extent and provenance.

12

Broadside

A single large printed sheet, historically used for proclamations, advertisements and ballads. Often framed and displayed flat in the print and map sections.

13

Foxing

Brownish age spots on paper caused by mould or metal-particle oxidation. Foxing is a standard condition note in dealer descriptions and affects price.

14

Catalogue raisonné

The scholarly listing of an artist's complete graphic work, used to identify and date prints. Print and map dealers at the fair reference these standard catalogues by name.

15

Dealer catalogue

A printed or online list of items for sale, with collation, condition and price notes. Collectors often request a dealer's recent catalogues after meeting them at the fair.