This weekend the annual Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair takes center stage. Nearly 100 booksellers from far and wide converge on the Seattle Center to showcase their stuff.
Don’t let the name antiquarian fool you – the fair will be packed with all sorts of printed goodies at all sorts of price points. The fair is a must for any book enthusiast so don’t let the terminology scare you away.
Here’s some highlights.
Division Leap from Portland is bringing an archive of Seattle fanzines that documents essentially the history of the Seattle punk scene which also includes possibly the very first mention of ‘grunge’ in relation to music!
Collection of Fanzines Documenting The Seattle Punk Scene and Birth of Grunge.Seattle: c. 1977-1991. 50 fanzines, offset printed or Xeroxed on a variety of paper stocks. Aside from a couple of issues which have come unstapled, generally very good to near fine.A significant collection of zines from Washington State, most published in Seattle. Includes complete runs of the rare fanzines Attack! and Desperate Times. The second issue of the latter zine prints a fake hate letter from Mark Arm directed at his own band at that time, Mr. Epp and the Calculations, which is thought by many to be the first use of the word Grunge as a noun to describe music.
Also included are issues of zines Sub Pop, Stelazine, Rock -n- Bowl, Patio Table, Punk Lust, The Fringe, Strictly Confidential, My Awe, Courtney Hate! Sand, Zero Hour, Sweet Fuckin’ Jesus, Suburban Life Sux, Suburban Muckraker, Slam, Spastic Culture, Discotext, Zioniz, and 10 Things Jesus Wants You to Know (the last not pictured). The collection consists of zines that are for the most part very uncommon.
Lucius Books from the UK will have on hand an original copy of the War is Over flyer from 1969 signed by both John Lennon & Yoko Ono.
Kelmscott Press from Baltimore will have a copy of the Yolly Bolly Press edition of the John Steinbeck short story Flight, A story about a young boy from Calfornia who kills a man and is forced to flee into the wilderness.
The book is signed by Wallace Stegner who wrote the afterword and the illustrator, Karin Wikström.
John Windle of San Francisco offers a omplete 4 issue run of the counter-culture magazine Horseshit. The Offensive Review bound in full morocco, with an “American Flag” design which incorporates an erotic image within wavy red and ecru stripes topped by white stars on a blue background by master binder Arthur Johnson.
and there will also be lots of the old stuff too. There will be plenty on the Northwest and other locals here is an 1810 account of the first United States Government exploration of the Southwest. AN ACCOUNT OF EXPEDITIONS to the Source of the Mississippi.. by Zebulon Pike
Hope to see you there!