News from Stockholm!

What are, in your opinion, the most unusual items at the upcoming Stockholm fair?

Oh, such difficult questions! We will have a number of rare Swedish illustrated propaganda pamphlets from the Thirty Years War. I know there will also be a fine collection of letters of Swedish 19th-20th century authors!

Are there new exhibitors in 2018?

New participants this year come from our Nordic neighbours, Ruuds from Norway and Hagelstam from Finland. New is also Harrison-Hiett Rare Books from Holland, so it will be a more international fair this year with six exhibitors from abroad!

A new feature this year is a program with lectures, arranged in cooperation with Biblis (the Friends association of the Royal Library), held in the Royal Academy library about books and book artists. New is also a kind of popular stand for evaluation service to the public. There will also be bookbinders, book collection societies and - of course- antikvariat.net.

You and the team at SVAF have organized the fair for many years – after the fair is before the fair: What is the exciting moment when organizing a book fair?

I think the most exciting moments (or our most nervous moment…) are just before exhibitors arrive. Will everything be built on time and has everybody received what they asked for at their stands? A lot of detail is required. And of course, the moment when the first visitors enter the fair and the organizer discreetly checks to see how many they are. This is the fruitful result of a year’s work.

Bookseller parties? Glögg or Absolut Vodka?

The bookseller parties will certainly not have Glögg, because we only drink Glögg in December before Christmas. But there might be some Absolut Vodka, who knows, but otherwise, like everywhere else, there will mostly be sparkling champagne and red wine. We have a large dinner on Saturday evening at the Royal Academy for all participants. We are optimistic there will be reason for a well-deserved drink.

The Stockholm Antiquarian Book Fair 2018 will run from 17-18 March 2018 at Stockholm’s beautiful Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

31 exhibitors from Sweden,Finland, Norway, England and Holland, including 4 bookbinders and 3 book related associations are participating in the fair.

The 2018 fair will see an exciting programme of events which is organised in association with Biblis, the journal of the Royal Library of Sweden.

SATURDAY
1. 12.00 Svante Tirén: Blott dekoration? Idé och gestaltning i 1800-talets dekorationsmåleri
2. 13.00 Ulf Nordqvist: Om 1806-års bibliotek
3. 14.00 Björn Dal: Naturaliesamlarna Wheelwright och Wolley
4. 15.00 Tim Bolton: Sweden's important but elusive manuscript collectors

SUNDAY
1. 12.00 Gunnel Furuland: Henk Rispens - bokens textilkonstnär
2. 14.00 Tomas Lidman: Sällskapet Bokvännernas utgivning
3. 15.00 Magdalena Gram: Edvard Munch illustrerar August Strindberg

Please note that the Scandinavian Booksellers' Associations (Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland) relaunched the Scandinavian online platform www.antikvariat.net in 2017 - find rare books, maps, prints and more online, prior to the fair!

For more information, visit: www.svaf.se