"Few other things are as fulfilling, as decelerating..." The Stuttgart Rare Book Fair returns with higher international exhibitor numbers

"Few other things are as fulfilling, as decelerating and highly satisfying as reading a rare first edition, caressing centuries-old paper and parchment and admiring a vibrant hand-colouring. Interested for more? We welcome you to visit our exhibition stands, which await in a new look: after months of planning, the German Antiquarian Booksellers' Association presents its fair with a modern and fresh appearance at its traditional location in Stuttgart. Nearly 70 exhibitors invite you to view and buy the treasures of our trade and to enjoy stimulating conversations and new experiences in the world of antiquarian bookselling." writes Markus Brandis, President of the association.

The Stuttgart Rare Book Fair, Germany's international fair for valuable books, autographs, illustrated works and graphic art, will once again be held at the Württembergischer Kunstverein from 24 to 26 January 2025, organised by the German Association of Antiquarian Booksellers.

The Stuttgart Rare Book Fair is the annual meeting place for the graphic arts and antiquarian book trade in Germany and also attracts visitors and exhibitors from far beyond its borders. This year, the fair has seen a noticeable increase in the number of international exhibitors. Over 60 antiquarian bookshops and galleries from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as from Belgium, Hungary, France, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Great Britain and the USA will be presenting valuable and bibliophile books, manuscripts, prints, autographs and illustrated works.

"The fair in Stuttgart is and remains the most important fair in the German-speaking world and is one of the most important in Europe." says long-standing exhibitor Robert Schoisengeier of the Vienna Antiquariat Burgverlag.

For all information about the fair, visit the website >> HERE

A list of all exhibitors can be found >> HERE

Every year, the Stuttgart fair prints an extensive catalogue, which is now available. You may order a printed copy at the organiser's office via >> EMAIL or download the catalogue >> HERE

Some selected highlights of the Stuttgart Rare Book Fair 2025

The PRINTING REVOLUTION: A page from the Gutenberg Bible, the first European book printed with movable type

The Dutch antiquarian bookshop De Roo is offering a leaf (one of the "noble fragments") from the "Biblia latina" from 1455, the first comprehensive European book printed with movable type and still today a symbol of the printing revolution.
This leaf stems from the 1455 Biblia latina – the first substantial European book to be printed with movable types and the symbol of the printing revolution. This Bible was produced over five years, from 1450 to 1455, at the workshop of Johannes Gutenberg and Johann Fust in Mainz, Germany. Each of the two volumes featured over 300 leaves of text in double columns, 42 lines per page. Only 49 copies (several fragmentary) have survived out of approximately 158 to 180 originally produced, a quarter of which were probably printed on vellum. These copies all required the addition of initials and book headers by the hand of rubricators. In 1455, the then papal legate, and future Pope Julius II, wrote to the Cardinal Juan de Carvajal that he had seen quires from the Bible exhibited by Gutenberg in Frankfurt: „The script is neat and legible, not at all difficult to follow. Your grace would be able to read it without effort and glasses. […] buyers were said to be lined up even before the books were finished“

The Gutenberg Bible is still regarded today as one of the most beautiful and valuable printed books and marks the beginning of the age of book printing.

Biblia latina. A leaf from the Book of Jeremiah. Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg and Johann Fust, 1455.
€ 145 000,-
Antiquariaat De Roo

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Sophie Scholl was 21 years old when she was executed, her name stands like few others for the resistance against the Nazi regime.
The Budapest antiquarian bookshop Földvári Books is offering an extremely rare, signed document from the Nazi resistance fighter Sophie Scholl, in which she requested the cancellation of her membership of the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM), the female branch of the Hitler Youth, in 1939. It is one of the few surviving documents with her signature.
Sophie and her brother Hans Scholl are still known today as members of the "White Rose", a circle of friends and resistance group that distributed leaflets in Munich from the summer of 1942 calling for resistance to the Nazi dictatorship and an end to the war.
They were discovered on 18 February 1943 and betrayed to the Gestapo. The two were interrogated for three days and sentenced to death and executed on 22 February.

Scholl, Sophie. Signed application for exclusion from the Bund Deutscher Mädel by Sophie Scholl. Dated 4 December 1939 in Hamburg. 210× 148 mm. Landscape format, printed form on light green paper. Signed by Scholl in ink.
€ 50 000,-
Földvári Books

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who is best known for his literary works, entered into the world of science with his "Versuch über die Metamorphose der Pflanzen". Goethe was opposed to Linné's theories and his relatively static ideas on botanical classification based on identification. He postulated an "original plant" from which all plants were a variation of an original, archetypal plant.
The central idea of this work was to present an imaginative perspective on plant morphology. Instead of dissecting plants into individual parts, as was common in contemporary botany, Goethe wanted to understand the unity and transformation within the plant world. He claimed that plants were not just a collection of leaves, stems and flowers, but instead were living beings that evolved through a process of metamorphosis.
One legacy of Goethe's "Metamorphosis of Plants" is the view that nature should be explored with aesthetic sensitivity; he believed that scientific research and artistic perception should go hand in hand. The influence of Goethe's ideas can be seen in the works of later scientists and thinkers, including Darwin.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Essay on the Metamorphosis of Plants. Translated by Friedrich Soret, together with historical supplements. / Essai sur la métamorphose des plantes. Traduit par Fréderic Soret, et suivi de notes historiques. Stuttgart: Cotta'sche Buchhandlung, 1831.
Just nine months before his death, he wrote on the flyleaf: "Herren Girardin zu freundlichem Andencken a Weimar und 30. Jun. 1831."

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From Albrecht Dürer, the most important German Renaissance artist, to Japanese or modern and contemporary works: every year, the Stuttgart Rare Book Fair presents not only a wide selection of antiquarian books, but also original prints of the highest calibre.

Albrecht Dürer (1471 Nuremberg 1528)
Das Grosse Pferd (The large horse). 1505. copper engraving, 16.7 x 12 cm.
€ 52 000,-
August Laube Buch- und Kunstantiquariat

Dürer created the counterparts of the "Large Horse" and the "Small Horse" in the same year. While the "Small Horse" depicts a racy, spirited ideal horse with an oriental flavour, the "Large Horse" is a stoically calm, a northern Alpine workhorse. The animal corresponds to the typical warhorse of the time, which could easily carry a man and his armour.
The horse is held by the bridle by a warrior who appears to be moving forwards. Horses were at the centre of many of Dürer's prints.
A splendid early impression with a deep black and velvety effect.

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Finally, a little game:

One of the earliest "Fantaskop" games that used optical illusions to create motion sequences.
The wheel of life was one of the first optical toys to produce moving images, making it one of the earliest precursors of film. Based on the observations of the famous English physicist Michael Faraday, the Belgian Joseph Antoine Plateau (1801-1883) and the Viennese Simon Stampfer (1792-1864) developed the first "illusion viewers completely independently of each other around 1833. The principle is based on the so-called strobe-scope effect, which first described scientifically by the English mathematician William George Horner in 1834. Through a rotating disc with viewing slits, the gaze falls on the sequence of movements via a mirror. The result is a fluid sequence of movements. Stampfer developed a model with two oppositely rotating discs, which made viewing via the mirror superfluous.

Alphonse Giroux. Complete phenakistiscope game. 12 lithographed and coloured motif discs, 1 disc with viewing slits and a brass holder with wooden handle. Diameter of the motif discs approx. 17.5 cm, the additional disc 22 cm. In original box with lithographed lid title. Paris 1833.
€ 3700,-
Antiquariat F. Neidhardt

For more highlights, browse the catalogue of the fair >> HERE