From collection building to cartoons, sex, spies and counterculture and always "condition, condition, condition"...

The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair celebrates its 47th year at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston’s Back Bay, November 7-9, 2025. This annual fall event features the top international dealers offering the most sought-after collections of fine and rare books, maps, illustrations, and ephemera available on the global market.

More than 100 rare book dealers from Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Serbia, and 22 U.S. states will exhibit an alluring treasure trove for seasoned bibliophiles and first-time attendees. Prices range from the millions to the eminently affordable. Whether immaculately preserved or intriguingly weathered, each item tells its own story. Booksellers hold a seemingly bottomless wealth of knowledge, both artistically and historically, about each item in their collections. A complete list of exhibitors can be found at https://www.abaa.org/bostonbookfair/exhibitor-list1

The fair has just announced a special events/cultural programme at this year’s fair; kicking off with an Opening Night celebration on Friday, November 7, from 4-8pm; and featuring in-person talks all weekend.

Talks include:

• Visibility Through Invisibility: Black Librarianship in the Early 20th Century

• Edgar Allan Poe: A Life

• Condition, Condition, Condition: How to Spot a Repair

• Boston in Transit: Mapping the History of Public Transportation in The Hub

• A Mistress, A Spy, and a Rare Book: The Ephemera of a Gilded Age Scandal

• The Ticknor Society Collectors' Roundtable: Collector-Built Collections in Libraries focusing on Irish History at Boston College, Sex & Drugs at Harvard, and Counterculture Artists Books at the Boston Athenaeum.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7
4-8pm | Opening Night
Get a first look at items for sale at this festive opening—an opportunity to browse and buy from the collections of more than 100 U.S. and international dealers and to mingle with other bibliophiles, collectors, museum curators, and special collections librarians. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at the event or online.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8
12:30 PM | The Ticknor Society Collectors' Roundtable: Collector-Built Collections in Libraries

This year’s Collectors’ Roundtable will highlight three distinctive collections, created by passionate and engaged collectors, that are in libraries today, where they are fully accessible to researchers, students, and curious readers. Each speaker worked closely with the collector/donor, or their family in one instance, to bring their collections to these libraries, and they will talk about how the collections were acquired and how they are being used. We will also see highlights from the collections.

MODERATOR: Beth Carroll-Horrocks | Retired Special Collections Curator, State Library of Massachusetts

Christian Dupont, Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Resources and Burns Librarian, Boston College, will talk about the Anthony Mourek Collection of Irish Political Cartoons, History, and Culture.

Leslie Morris is Gore Vidal Curator of Modern Books and Manuscripts in Harvard’s Houghton Library. The subject of her presentation will be “The Ludlow-Santo Domingo (LSD) Library: Sex and Drugs at Harvard.

John Buchtel, Curator of Rare Books and Head of Special Collections at the Boston Athenaeum, will discuss the Weston Naef Collection of Counterculture Artists Books at the Boston Athenaeum.

2:00 PM | A Mistress, A Spy, and a Rare Book: The Ephemera of a Gilded Age Scandal

Elizabeth DeWolfe, PhD | Author; Professor of History and Co-Founder, Women’s & Gender Studies Program, University of New England

In 1894, Jane Tucker, a Boston stenographer, spied for a U.S. congressman. Her target: Madeleine Pollard, the congressman’s mistress, who had sued him for breach of promise when he failed to marry her. The trial captivated the nation, and opportunists sought ways to cash in—generating illustrated trial recaps, a novel, and Tucker’s spy memoir, as well as photographs, a play, advertising, and a plethora of popular culture referents. In this illustrated talk, we’ll explore the material history of this gilded age scandal.

3:30 PM | Boston in Transit: Mapping the History of Public Transportation in The Hub

Steven Beaucher | Co-Founder and Proprietor, WardMaps LLC

Join local author Steven Beaucher for a visually rich presentation featuring rare photographs, maps, and ephemera covering nearly 400 years of public transit history in Boston. Boston in Transit is a comprehensive history of public transportation infrastructure and the modes of transit that have moved Boston for nearly four centuries. This book tells the entire story from the simple ferry serving an English settlement perched on the edge of a new world, through the arrival of steam trains and fleets of electric streetcars and buses, to the creation and evolution of the present-day MBTA.

5:00 PM | Visibility Through Invisibility: Black Librarianship in the Early 20th Century

Erica Ciallela, Instruction & Outreach Librarian, Schlesinger Library, Harvard

Belle da Costa Greene left a significant legacy in librarianship. While she was building the now-iconic collection at the Morgan Library, other Black librarians were also making their mark on the field. With their unique paths, individuals like Catherine Latimer and Dorothy Porter Wesley, alongside Belle Greene, contribute to the rich history of Black Librarianship in the early 20th century. Join librarian and former Belle da Costa Greene curatorial fellow Erica Ciallela as we discuss these librarians, explore how each left a legacy, and see how current librarians build on their foundations. Co-sponsored by the Bibliographical Society of America

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9
12:00 PM | Edgar Allan Poe: A Life

Richard Kopley | Author; Distinguished Professor of English, Emeritus, Penn State DuBois

Richard Kopley, author of the recent critical biography Edgar Allan Poe: A Life (University of Virginia Press), will introduce and present a series of extracts to depict “Poe in Richmond in 1836.” The extracts will include passages from long-lost letters from 1908. Kopley will offer a description of young Poe, an account of his wedding to Virginia, a rendering of his friend John’s Darby Town farm, a sketch of the Poes’ apartment, a narrative about Poe’s drinking; an elaboration of the joy of the Poes at Darby Town, as well as a passage about Darby Town drawn from Poe’s tale, “Eleonora.”

1:30 PM | Condition, Condition, Condition: How to Spot a Repair

Natasha Herman | Proprietor, STILT® Book Cradle; Fellow, International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works

Like the humans who make them, books begin aging the moment they’re made. Some aging—like a rich patina—can be harmless or even beautiful, while other forms are more problematic. To understand a book’s condition, we first need to know how it falls apart. This talk will guide you on where and what to look for to read a book’s traces of repair. Together, we will uncover the hidden material histories of books, exploring what kinds of damage truly matter to us as collectors, caretakers, and readers.

The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair (BIABF) celebrates its 47th year November 7-9, 2025, at the Hynes Convention Center in Downtown Boston. This three-day event welcomes the top international dealers offering the most sought-after collections of fine and rare books, maps, illustrations, and ephemera on the global market.. For information, visit www.abaa.org/bostonbookfair or call 617-938-8879.

HOURS & ADMISSION

Friday, November 7, Opening Night, 4PM-8PM. Tickets: $25 (available online or at the box office)
Saturday, November 8, 12PM-7PM. Free admission.
Sunday, November 9, 11AM-4PM. Free admission.

LOCATION

Hynes Convention Center (Hall A), 900 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02115