Firsts returns to the Saatchi Gallery from 20 to 23 May 2027, opening with an invitation-only preview on the Thursday evening, 17:00 to 21:00.
The Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea holds Firsts, the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association’s rare book fair, from Thursday 20 to Sunday 23 May 2027. An invitation-only preview opens it on the Thursday evening.
The association was founded in 1906 and is the oldest organisation of its kind anywhere. Its first president took office the following year.
Membership requires a proposer, a seconder and years of trading. It carries an obligation to describe a book accurately and to take it back if the description was wrong.
The association vets what appears on every stand, as it has for more than a century, and takes public responsibility for the description attached to each item. Dealers show manuscripts, first editions, maps and works on paper, from incunabula to modern firsts.
Every copy of a rare book has its own history of ownership, binding, repair and damage. Two apparently identical first editions can differ in price by a factor of ten on the strength of a bookplate or an uncut edge.
That is why what leaves a stand on the preview evening is not there the next morning.