The Recoletos Pass will once again host the Madrid Antique and Second-hand Book Fair, which now has 46 editions and which in this case will be held from May 2 to 19 with 37 specialized bookstores from different parts of the city. Spanish geography.
Organized since 1977 by the Lance Booksellers Association of Madrid, the Fair will make thousands of copies available to the public with prices ranging from one to thousands of euros, since the different booths will combine from very economical editions to first editions, incunabula, original manuscripts or "rare copies", according to the organization on its website.
The majority of the bookstores participating in this fair (23) are from Madrid, while five come from Barcelona, one from Seville, one from Pamplona, one from Granada, one from Salamanca, two from Segovia, one from Zaragoza, one from Huesca and another from Valencia.
In addition to second-hand and out-of-print volumes, the public visiting the fair will have the opportunity to acquire an important selection of old volumes, signed first editions, incunabula, original manuscripts, engravings, maps, rare editions, newspapers and magazines, comics, collectibles paper, secondhand books, etc. There is also room for edition remains, popularly known as 'balance books'.
The 46th Madrid Antique and Second-hand Book Fair will open on Friday, May 3 at 1:00 p.m. with the reading of the proclamation, which will be given by the professor of Spanish Language at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and a member of the the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) Pedro Álvarez de Miranda.
Philologist, expert in historical lexicography and history of the Spanish language, Álvarez de Miranda directed the 23rd edition of the Diccionario de la lengua española de la RAE published in
His main books are 'Words and ideas: the lexicon of the early Enlightenment in Spain (1680-1760)' (1992), 'The dictionaries of modern Spanish' (2011), 'More than words' (2016), 'The genre and the language' (2018) and 'Measure the words' (2024). He has published two hundred research papers and regularly collaborates in the press with linguistic popularization articles.
For his part, the comic strip artist, illustrator and caricaturist from Madrid Raúl Fernández Calleja has once again designed the commemorative poster for this edition that nods to the figure of Valle-Inclán on the centenary of the definitive version of 'Luces de Bohemia' .
He has collaborated daily in the press for more than 30 years and has also worked in the field of cartoon drawing, graphic design, editorial illustration, and sculpture, simultaneously creating abundant graphic work.
Furthermore, he is one of the illustrators who since its inception, more than 25 years ago, has participated in the 'Books on the Street' campaign, whose purpose is to promote reading on public transport in the Community of Madrid.
As usual, the Lance Booksellers Association publishes a facsimile book related to Madrid, which will be available at the information booth. The title chosen is precisely 'Luces de Bohemia', a play and one of the most important by Valle-Inclán, which would inaugurate a new theatrical genre, the grotesque.
This is a facsimile edition from 1924, the first definitive edition of the work to be published that commemorates a century, an edition of which 700 numbered copies have been printed.
"The significant volume of copies sold, the attractiveness of the Paseo de Recoletos, and the visits of important writers, bibliophiles, researchers, and other fans and curious people, make us an unbeatable opportunity to enjoy and delight for 18 days of the best and largest bookstore in the heart of Madrid," says the president of the Association, María José Blas Ruiz.
