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Meet Me in Frankfurt

posted by Adrian Lucia

The Frankfurt Book Fair is staggering in scale. The American hall alone feels like it could fit two football fields comfortably within its walls, and it’s only one of eight exhibition spaces in the Fair, many of which are two levels. The small Marquand Books booth is a tiny speck in a sea of books. But we like it just fine that way.

The Frankfurt Book Fair’s origins date back 500 years to the nearby city of Mainz, Gutenberg’s birthplace and the cradle of European printing. The Fair in its current incarnation is an expression of our time: publishers, booksellers, librarians, and others from hundreds of countries buying and selling international rights, promoting services, fingering some wonderful books, and smoking a whole lot of cigarettes. (Smoking was “banned” in the halls last year, which seems to have meant only that each booth wasn’t provided with an ashtray.) The global economy churns away.

While the overall effect can at times be overwhelming and somewhat numbing, the experience of looking at books is always an intimate one, no matter the setting. At the Fair there are countless stands of fascinating, surprising books; books whose designs catch your attention; books whose production techniques spark ideas for future projects; books you didn’t know you needed but resolve to buy the second you get home. I’m not complaining.

Marquand Books attends the Fair primarily to meet with American publishers, to whom we present books we’re producing for museums—usually exhibition catalogues that may be worthy of wider distribution. I love the chance to talk with the art editors, figuring out which subjects they’re drawn to and what books fit best on their lists, hearing the buzz on their favorites at the Fair, catching bits of publishing gossip. When I can sneak away, I’ll be poking around the stands of illustrated book publishers, especially in hall 4, where I’ll be spending as much time as possible in the Stiftung-Buchkunst area.

If you happen to be going to the Fair, you can find Marquand Books in hall 8, row O, stand 934. It will just be me this year. Come by and say hello.