Bookdealer - London Book Fairs Issue - 29th June 1996 - 1262

Bookdealer – London Book Fairs Issue – 29th June 1996 – No. 1262
Bookdealer • ISBN: none (it’s a trade paper, not a novel) • Condition: Good
Pre-digital book-trade drama, from Crappy Old Books

Before online catalogues, before AbeBooks, before dealers spent half their lives swearing at upload forms, there was Bookdealer – the weekly paper where the British book trade went to:

• Advertise fresh stock

• Gossip via small ads

• Announce fairs, catalogues, bargains, and minor heartbreaks

This is the London Book Fairs Issue, dated 29th June 1996, No. 1262 – a special snapshot of that glorious era when people descended on dusty halls, school gyms, hotels, and vaguely alarming conference centres to buy and sell books in person, armed only with cash, cheques, and questionable optimism.

Think of it as The Radio Times for people who smell like old paper.

Condition: Good (like a dealer’s tweed jacket)

When Crappy Old Books says Good, we mean:

• The cover is intact, still bearing its period typography and general air of “if you know, you know.”

• The spine/fold is sound – not split, not flapping, just pleasantly creased from being opened and read like an actual newspaper.

• All pages present and attached – no missing centre spreads, no torn-out fair maps, no dealer list mysteriously removed for “research purposes.”

• Modest, honest wear: slightly softened corners, a hint of age-toning, maybe the ghost of having lived in a briefcase or on a shop counter.

No tea tsunami across the London fair listings, no biro rage scribbles shouting “ALREADY SOLD!!!”, no unspeakable stains. Just a Good, complete, dignified copy that has seen some shelves.

What’s inside this very specific slice of 1996?

You’re getting the full mid-90s book trade ecosystem, printed on nice, sensible paper:

• London Book Fair announcements and adverts

  • Who’s dealing where, when, and with what

  • Which halls you needed to brave that weekend

  • Fairs in venues ranging from respectable to “is this technically a sports hall?”

• Dealer ads full of:

  • Fine bindings, incunabula, modern firsts, detective fiction, topography, children’s books, theology, left-wing pamphlets, and anything else someone thought might shift

  • Phrases like “Catalogues issued” and “Visitors welcome by appointment” – the pre-website equivalent of “we exist, please ring bell”

• Stock lists and wants lists

  • Dealers begging the world for that one elusive title

  • Others proudly offering exactly the obscure nonsense you didn’t know you needed

It’s a world of phone numbers, fax numbers, and absolutely no email addresses. “Search” meant flipping pages. “Networking” meant going to an actual pub.

A time capsule of the trade

Reading this now is like:

• Standing in a book fair foyer in 1996, hearing the rustle of bags, seeing the glint of Brodart covers and glass-fronted cases

• Eavesdropping on the pre-digital marketplace where stock moved via postal catalogues, fairs, and hopeful phone calls

• Noticing which authors and genres were hot in ’96 – and which prices will make you quietly weep with hindsight

It’s full of:

• Dealer names you might still recognise today

• Others lost to time, retired, absorbed, or vanished between one fair and the next

• That unique trade-paper tone: brisk, factual, quietly obsessed

No lifestyle features. No listicles. Just Books For Sale, Fairs To Attend, and People Who Care.

Why you might irrationally want this

This issue is perfect if you:

• Collect book-trade ephemera and think old dealer papers are as exciting as the books themselves

• Have fond (or frightening) memories of 1990s fairs where everyone smoked outside, priced inside, and complained about VAT

• Are writing about the antiquarian/second-hand trade and want authentic period detail – real adverts, real dates, real venues

• Just love the idea that the entire UK book scene once ran on printed weekly papers and shared grumbling

It’s also a weirdly wonderful artefact for:

• Shopowners and dealers who want to frame a bit of their own history

• Librarians and cataloguers who enjoy seeing how the trade looked from the commercial side

• Anyone who believes the phrase “Fair at Bloomsbury, 60 dealers” is more exciting than “new app launch.”

Why a Good used copy is just right

From Crappy Old Books, this Good copy:

• Looks like it’s done what it was meant to: circulated, consulted, folded, and kept

• Has enough wear to feel authentic, but not so much you’re afraid to turn the pages

• Can be read, annotated, waved around, or used as reference without the terror of damaging a museum-grade relic

This isn’t a precious artefact in a glass case. It’s a working snapshot of the trade, surviving long after the fax machines gave up.

The bare bibliographic bones

• Title: Bookdealer – London Book Fairs Issue – 29th June 1996 – No. 1262

• Author/Editor: Bookdealer

• Publisher: Bookdealer (1996)

• ISBN: None – it’s a trade periodical, not a coffee-table book

• Condition: Good – complete, lightly worn, structurally sound, chronically bookish

Bookdealer – London Book Fairs Issue – 29th June 1996 – 1262: for when you want to step back into a weekend where the biggest question was “Have you seen Stand 42 yet?” and Wi-Fi wasn’t there to interrupt you. Supplied in honestly Good condition by Crappy Old Books, committed dealers in paper ghosts of the book world’s recent past.

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