The Tudor Hall facility, usually used for trade shows and exhibitions, will host the thirty-first Ottawa Antiquarian Book Fair on October 16th, 2011. The fair will be held in Ottawa, Ontario. The event took place for the first time in 1980, and it has been then recognized as one of the finest book fairs in the entire country.

The Ottawa Antiquarian Book Fair is Canada’s oldest book fair; Ottawa, located at about two hours away from Montreal and five hours from Toronto, has over 1,000,000 people in the greater Ottawa-Gatineau region.

The fair will display well over 40,000 items, dated from the 15th century, still in their original cover. In the 15th century books were printed with the printing press, a device that applied pressure to an inked surface to transfer the ink. After this process, the books were then bounded and the rigid leather cover was stitched to the spine. The books will be presented by 40 dealers from across Canada and the United States.

The event will feature rare, unusual, and collectible books on arts and architecture, early printed books, modern first editions, voyages, travel, and exploration. In addition there will also be books about science and medicine, illustrated children’s books, military history, historical, manuscripts, autographs, maps, atlases, and an overabundance of other literary ephemera, as well as fine decorative prints.

The Ottawa Antiquarian Book Fair is expected to attract more visitors than last year; among general public, the visitors will be represented by artists, collectors, scholars, decorators, cultural foundations, craftsmen, artisans, and promoters.