The Assembly Rooms
George Street,
Edinburgh

Friday March 14,
noon - 6.45pm

Saturday March 15,
10.00 am - 5.00pm

Admission Free

Where is it? - map

Please click here for a map of the town and directions to Edinburgh or use the ""Travel and Hotel" Link above

BOOK FAIRS 2008

If you are unable to get to Edinburgh 2008, then take a look at other PBFA Book Fairs nearer to home this year.

PBFA
The Sign of a Good Book Fair

The Provincial Booksellers Association has been organising book fairs since 1974. We aim to provide a wide ranging selection of books at all prices, in a variety of subjects, for both the reader and the serious collector. Wherever possible we welcome disabled visitors to our fairs and strive to provide a relaxed atmosphere in which customers may browse at leisure.

Who is the Book Fair For?

Anyone interested in books, collecting and reading. This is a Fair designed for everyone young and old, and a great place to start collecting. You will find books from over 500 years old to modern first editions, and everything in between. With a great variety and quantity of books for sale, where else can you look at, touch, enjoy, and even purchase so many rarities under one roof? If you are already a collector then it is a great opportunity to meet new dealers in your area.

Members of the P.B.F.A. also sell books through the web site: Booksatpbfa.com

Exhibition: The Pre-History of the Motor Car - 1550 to 1850

Exhibition Catalogue

Images accompanying
the Exhibition Catalogue

All enquiries to the webmaster
click here

Edinburgh Book Fair

In 2004 the first ever joint fair between the country's two major antiquarian book-selling organisations was established and building on the success of this pioneering venture a third joint fair was held again in Edinburgh in 2007.

Our fourth joint fair in March 2008 will see over 80 leading dealers from the P.B.F.A. and A.B.A. exhibiting in the Music Hall and the Supper Room of Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms.

Edinburgh

Scotland's capital is one of the most rewarding cities in the world. Not only one of the most historic cities in Europe; it is also one of the most attractive, with architectural glories, such as the New Town, the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Edinburgh Castle vying with treasures of national heritage, such as the fantastic art collections of the Scottish National Gallery, the book collections in the National Library of Scotland and other great museums of the city.

The Pre History of the Motor Car 1600-1850

is a private collection of books, prints, photographs and memorabilia and is the fruit of a life-time's passion. The Antiquarian Book Fair, Edinburgh 2008 is delighted to be able to display a portion of Keith Fletcher's astonishing collection. A long time member of the prestigious Antiquarian Booksellers Association and exhibitor of many of the ABA's fairs, Keith first started collecting books on motor cars over 50 years ago.

Although the story of the motor car is usually regarded as beginning in the last quarter of the nineteenth century with Daimler and Benz, Keith soon discovered that most histories touched on the ancestors of the automobile. The earliest illustrated printed suggestions for mechanical vehicles are those of the Italian Roberto Valturio, whose De rei militaria was first published in 1472 and which Fletcher still does not have, however he does have an unillustrated incunable edition of Vegetius (Rome,1487)and the first edition in English (London,1572).

Books of 'scientific amusements' often have suggestions for mechanical vehicles.The earliest is probably Wilkin's Mathematicall Magick (1648),various editions of which are in Keith Fletcher's collection.

Links for Visitors

National Library of Scotland
Unesco City of Literature
Royal Society of Edinburgh
Undiscovered Scotland
Antiques Scotland
Edinburgh Tourist Board
City of Edinburgh Museums
and Galleries
Scottish Tourist Board

P.B.F.A. Premier Fairs

All our fairs are good, but at these selected major two-day fairs around the country we aim to try that little bit harder to put on a special show:

CAMBRIDGE: Friday & Saturday 22nd and 23rd February in the historic Guildhall building in Market Square.

EDINBURGH: Friday & Saturday 14th & 15th March in the splendid Robert Adam designed Assembly Rooms in George Street (run jointly with the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association)

HARROGATE: Friday & Saturday 28th & 29th March in the Pavilions of Harrogate, Great Yorkshire Showground

BATH: Friday & Saturday 16th & 17th May in the magnificent Assembly Rooms on the corner of Alfred & Bennet Street

YORK: Friday & Saturday 12th & 13th September in the marvellously spacious Knavesmire Suite of York Racecourse - some 200 exhibitors. We even lay on a free shuttle bus from York railway station to make book buying even easier for our visitors.

The organisers would like to acknowledge the support of
Lyon and Turnbull (Auctioneers)