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Literary anniversaries, Japanese James Joyce, Booker abashment, Yeats celebrated

To mark its 65th year, London’s Rare Book Fair is turning X-rated. Known for always showcasing a plethora of hard-to-find works of literature, memorabilia and artefacts, the fair is taking over three floors of the Saatchi Gallery across the weekend to focus on the beauty of banned books.

The book worms among you may be excited to hear that the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea will be hosting the 65th edition of London’s Rare Book Fair.

Being cancelled, in 2022, of course means the end. But for a long time getting your book banned was a sure-fire way of gaining notoriety: call it the forbidden fruit effect.

Pom Harrington, owner of Peter Harrington Books, calls it the “perhaps the most elusive prize in 20th-century literature”—the only known copy of The Catcher in the Rye that JD Salinger signed with his childhood nickname, Sonny. The London bookseller is asking £225,000—$263,000—for the edition, which will go on sale later this week at a book fair with a “banned books” theme

Let’s be honest: if you have £225,000 to spend on something as frivolous as a signed copy of The Catcher in the Rye instead of giving it to some nuns at a train station, Holden would definitely have considered you a phony. (“Goddam money. It always ends up making you blue as hell.”) Salinger also apparently “resentful of friends and family cashing in on the success of his 1951 novel” by, say, selling the edition he lovingly personalized.

Some of the world's most controversial books are on display at the 2022 edition of Firsts: London's Rare Book Fair

JD Salinger did not want his friends cashing in, so inscribed copy of classic novel is one of the hardest titles for collectors to acquire

Bibliophiles are in for quite the treat this month, with the 65th edition of one of the world’s most esteemed rare book fairs set to take place at Chelsea’s Saatchi Gallery.

The motive behind this month's attack on Rushdie is still unclear, but the incident "highlights that suppression and censorship of books has been going on for centuries and is still happening today," said Pom Harrington, director of the upcoming Firsts: London Rare Book Fair, which centers around the theme of banned books.

The original autograph letter will go on display next month with a price tag of over £75,000

Une lettre écrite de la main de Beethoven sera bientôt mise en vente, dans le cadre de la 65e édition de "Firsts", le salon de livre rare de Londres qui se tiendra du 16 au 18 septembre prochains. La librairie In Libris, basée à Vienne, y mettra en vente la missive de la main de Beethoven datée du 23 mars 1812.

La missive montre le musicien au travail, aux prises avec des délais difficilement tenables...

En plus des nombreux exposants de retour, Firsts London accueillera pour la première fois 49 nouveaux revendeurs. Parmi ceux-ci, Sam Fogg, l’un des principaux marchands d’art du Moyen Âge européen, exposera une sélection de manuscrits médiévaux enluminés.

In the run-up to Banned Book Week, the rare book fair Firsts London will feature censorship from past centuries.

Firsts: London’s Rare Books Fair has added an impressive 49 dealers to the roster for its 65th edition thanks to an influx of international traders.

“We are very lucky to have this kind of fair…. It’s not elitist, it’s not specialist, you don’t have to be a scholar, you just have to be someone with an immense thirst for the glory of books” – Stephen Fry, actor, writer and book collector

This year’s theme for the Fair ‘Banned Books’ was inspired by the 100th anniversary of the publication of Ulysses - one of the most famous censored books in modern times

This year’s theme for the Fair ‘Banned Books’ was inspired by the 100th anniversary of the publication of Ulysses – one of the most famous censored books in modern times – but also responds to contemporary conversations around censorship across literature, the media and online.