Going Books in Fairs

Well, frankly, the first thing you wouldn’t associate fairs with books.

They’re lacklustrous, unexciting and you wouldn’t probably want to spend an entire day being lost in a library-like environment. But what’s different about book fairs, is you get to see an amazing difference rather than just your standard trip into the library.

But book fairs, in my nerdy sort of way, are awesome. It’s a library-shop. Well, okay, that sounded boring. It’s basically just like a bookstore. Except there’s not much of the elevator music they keep playing in the background, you hear more noise because the fair is either outside or inside the mall, and you get to read while standing up, instead of lounging around in the bookstore’s reading area.

The redeeming thing about Book Fairs is rarity. Yes, you get to find a book not available in any bookstore. That book could well have been the last of its kind, the surviving copy of a failed printing operation, or the diary of a legendary person. One would never comprehend the sensation unless one experiences it.

Those books could be from a personal collection, an antique, even something familial. I’ve seen my share of hand-bound, leather-covered books in a modern book fare and the feeling one gets is like finding Captain Whatsisname’s treasure chest. Never mind if the book talks nothing but farming or some boring stuff, but the important thing is value. (I once found a book on necromancy, but let’s not go into that.)

You could resell it in the next year’s fair for an even heftier sum, or start your own personal collection of rare classics. Who knows, in a few year’s time, you might be the proud owner of the literati’s Holy Grail. Now that would count for something, wouldn’t it?