The 9th annual Cooperstown Antiquarian Book Fair was held this past June 28 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, New York. We had a full house again this year with dealers representing ten states and a multitude of collecting interests. The fair has now become an established yearly event in the final weekend of June in this beautiful and historic Catskill village of upstate New York.
The fair was once again sponsored by the New York State Historical Association, which is located in Cooperstown and operates the very fine Fenimore House Museum as well as an excellent research library. The gate receipts from the book fair are donated each year to NYSHA.
We try to attract a wide mix of dealers to exhibit at the fair. Both specialist and general dealers in books, maps, prints and paper ephemera bring a broad range from their stock. Among the fields of interest that seem to sell well are baseball and sports. Cooperstown, of course, is the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, but not many people are aware of the Soccer Hall of Fame down the road in Oneonta, New York. Classical music and opera also seem to sell well here. The highly acclaimed Glimmerglass Opera presents its summer performances in Cooperstown through July and August and the singers, musicians and production staff had been here for several weeks by the time our fair set up at the end of June.
Preparations have already begun for the 10th annual fair, which will be held next year on Saturday, June 26, 2004. This will again be a one-day fair, open to the public from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Set-up hours for the dealers are on Friday from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM and/or on Saturday morning from 7:00 AM until the doors open at 10. The air-conditioned Clark Sports Center is located on the outskirts of busy Cooperstown and has plenty of parking for both exhibitors and the public. Admission to the fair for the public is $3.00; NYSHA members are admitted free.
We have begun to put together our list of dealers for the next fair. Depending on the mix of full and half booth, we normally have space for approximately 60 exhibiting dealers. If anyone is interested in either a full booth (3 eight foot tables) at $225.00 or a half booth (1-1/2 eight foot tables) at $175.00 please call Ed Brodzinsky at (607) 638 9962 or Willis Monie at (800) 322 299: E
Ed Brodzinsky