The Tavistock Books booth with Vic Zoschak!
What words come to mind when you think of Pasadena? Is it “Roses”? Or how about “Jackie Robinson”? If you are a normal member of the human race, these words apply. If you are a bookseller, however, “Bustamante” should be the first word popping into your head. Bustamante Enterprises, Inc. puts on a fabulous Antiquarian Book, Print, Photo and Paper Fair at least once a year in Pasadena (if the ABAA fair is in the Bay area, they do the whole thing twice!). The motto on the bottom of the fair booklet says it all, “The Shows Worth Waiting For”. The Bustamante Pasadena Book Fair, held this past weekend at the Pasadena Convention Center, was definitely worth the wait and worth the trip. The administration was great, as always. Everything was set up to the specifications promised to the booksellers, help was readily accessible, coffee & pastries were easily available. The well-oiled machine of Bustamante Enterprises allows for a virtually pain-free load-in and move-out, the latter important, for booksellers want to able to get on their way quickly (whether it be to home or to a dinner with wine flowing).
Vic Zoschak of Tavistock Books with two up-n-comers in the trade, Laurelle Swan of Swan’s Fine Books and Dessa Kuritz of Churchill Book Collector!
Set-up and administration isn’t the whole story however, as the Pasadena Book, Print, Photo and Paper fair is held in a very nice venue, easily accessible and attended by a good mix of book collectors and institutional customers. The usual list of suspects was in attendance, Ken Sanders Rare Books, Lizzy Young Bookseller, Brad and Jen Johnson of The Book Shop, LLC, Greg Krisilas of Coconut Rose Books & Autographs, Zhenya Dzhavgova of ZH Books and Kim Herrick of The Book Lair were all among the guilty parties. Tavistock Books shared a booth with the lovely and calm Laurelle Swan of Swan’s Fine Books, a relatively new book store in Walnut Creek, CA. In all, it was a weekend of good fun and easy comaraderie, with a steady flow of customers (well, with the exception of Sunday afternoon…when all the book-lovers took off to go watch the Superbowl!) with stellar management & supervision!
On to the next! In case you haven’t heard, the Oakland ABAA Fair opens this Friday, February 6th and runs until Sunday the 8th. Come and see us at the Oakland Convention Center, Booth 100.
See you there!
