Rare Book Monthly

Articles - July - 2021 Issue

Detroit Festival Of Books: July 18th, 2021 - Get Ready!

- by Maureen E. Mulvihill, Guest Writer

Book vendors getting organized, 2021 Detroit Bookfest, Eastern Market, Detroit.

As cities begin to open up, post-Covid, Detroit (again) is showing its commitment to books and the culture of the book. The upcoming Bookfest, again at Eastern Market, Detroit, may set another attendance record, with participating booksellers from Michigan, Illinois, California, and some online sellers from Canada and Europe. This will be a face-to-face event, in real time, with online viewing as well. As you see in our photo, sellers are setting up, unpacking their wares -- printed materials, posters & prints, ephemera, vintage collectibles. Come celebrate in a spirit of recovery, cultural health, ethnic diversity.


For Maureen E. Mulvihill's article (and she knows the city well), CLICK HERE.

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Posted On: 2021-07-01 20:19
User Name: wrb

Dr. Mulvihill's great article captures the excitement which surrounds this event. C. Hedger Breed, Book Club of Detroit.

Posted On: 2021-07-02 11:18
User Name: rplace36

It is an honor to be featured here. Thank you for the marvelous write-up. We are very excited for Bookfest! https://detroitbookfest.com/rare-book-hub-bruce-mckinney/

Ryan M. Place, Detroit BookFest 2021/ Book Club of Detroit

Posted On: 2021-07-02 21:47
User Name: mairin

Posting for D. Levine, M.D., former Detroiter.
___

This article is absolutely wild -- it put me over the moon, my friends!
Thank you, RBH & M. Mulvihill, an amazing piece.
I knew Detroit in the '60s -- worked for The Fifth Estate underground
newspaper, knew John Sinclair, promoted the MC-5 band,
attended Monteith College, read all the right books -- no one was hipper.
So this piece was a gift: it glittered, it dazzled me. Sending it around. Thanks
from many here, and congratulations Detroit Book Club, glad it's still around.
And Ryan Place, Bookfest organizer, a serious credit for you & your people.
- D. Levine, M.D., formerly of Cass Corridor, Detroit.
____

Posted On: 2021-07-03 01:38
User Name: mairin

Posting for Mark Samuels Lasner, Distinguished Book Collector (Delaware Book Club):
_____

Detroit — never been there, but Maureen Mulvihill’s description of what’s going on there, book-wise, makes me want to visit sometime post-pandemic. The city and its environs have long been deeply touched by bibliophily. Such figures come to mind as: George Booth (newspaper publisher, follower of William Morris, founder of the Cranbrook Press and Cranbrook Academy); also Charles L. Feinberg (Walt Whitman enthusiast, whose 25,000-item collection he donated to the Library of Congress); and certainly Donald & Mary Hyde (collectors of Johnson and Boswell, and of Wilde; he, president of the Grolier Club; she, the foremost woman collector of our time). And let’s not forget impressive holdings in the Detroit Public Library, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and elsewhere, many little-known beyond the city. Hats off (and I am a hat-wearer) to the Book Club of Detroit for being one of the principal organizers of the book festival! My local group—the Delaware Bibliophiles—might follow their lead.

- Mark Samuels Lasner
Senior Research Fellow, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press
marksl@udel.edu
____

Posted On: 2021-07-03 15:00
User Name: carlnudi

Carl Mario Nudi, former Letterpress Printer, Detroit Free Press / Florida Bibliophile Society.
.

What a wonderful event this is for old Detroit! As a former resident of the Detroit area (1966-1981) and longtime book collector, I can see that this event on July 18th is going to be a joyful day for Detroit bibliophiles.
Dr. Maureen Mulvihill's description of the Motor City rings true: she knows the city well, and I lived through much of that history. Detroit, like Chicago and New York City, has always had its ups and downs, but it never lost its soul, its urban grit & city pride. And Maureen was right-on when she ended her article with a captioned image of the glorious, monumental Spirit of Detroit sculpture. (A thrilling touch there, Mulvihill.)

The Detroit Festival of Books at Eastern Market is another example of how Detroit provides life and variety, securing its status as the durable keystone of the greater Metro Area. Successful new start-ups, such as Signal Return near Eastern Market, attest to that command position. I've visited Signal Return several times, a special place for me, having worked at the Detroit Free Press as a letterpress printer for 14 years. Now living in Florida, I make an annual pilgrimage to Detroit to visit family, and am always impressed with how the city continues to move forward, becomes more cosmopolitan and attractive to visitors and young entrepreneurs. As a former officer of the Florida Bibliophile Society and participant in the annual Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in St. Petersburg, I surely know how much work goes into organizing a big book event, and I heartily congratulate the Book Club of Detroit and Ryan Place for smart planning, deep commitment, & initiative. I look forward to attending the Detroit Festival of Books in the near future. (No party like a Detroit party!). Carl Mario Nudi.

Posted On: 2021-07-05 17:39
User Name: cmbrown

Thanks, Maureen, for posting. Exciting to think that in-person events are resuming! In some ways, COVID opened new ways of communicating, viewing, and collecting -- but nothing beats a live book fair: meeting the vendors, seeing the books. I won't be in Detroit, but I look forward to the return of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair next year!
.
Charles M. Brown, President, Florida Bibliophile Society.

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