08 Oct 2010 03:18:10
Here, visitors leaf reverently through treasures such as a first edition of Charles Darwin's "Origin of Species", a beautifully illustrated 13th century bible or original equations scribbled by Albert Einstein.
For the first time, the "antiquariat", as it is known, has its own separate home at the Frankfurt Book Fair, a world away from the hubbub of the main show, with its high-tech displays, snazzy presentations and frantic deal-making.
The pace here is a little slower. "I even sold a book yesterday," beams Marc Daniel Kretzer, 30, from the Antiquariat Kretzer, which sells ancient theological texts.
"It is an early Catholic text dating from 1768," he said, carefully thumbing through dense Latin text in an exquisitely bound volume.
Slices of history like this, however, do not come cheap. Kretzer's volume sold for 480 euros (670 dollars). The asking price for a first edition of an early illustrated Spanish map of Europe dating from 1588 is 85,000 euros.
Despite the price, Kretzer says he can't complain about business. "Most of our customers are pastors, teachers, libraries and these are all publicly funded, so the recession doesn't really affect our business," he told AFP.
But even in the musty sanctuary of the antique book tent, there is no escape from the subject of digitalisation and ebooks that has so dominated the 62nd edition of the fair.
"Like everyone else in the industry, we don't really know how digital will affect us. If all the books which have ever been printed get digitalised, then it could have an impact," said Kretzer.
Dan Burnstone, from ProQuest, is trying to do exactly that. His company has launched a project that aims to get all early European books printed between 1475 and 1700 online.
"We don't know how many books we are ultimately dealing with, but we think it's something like one million," said Burnstone during a high-tech presentation in the main fair halls.
"Our plan is to digitalise the holdings of several European libraries over several years."
The project requires the laborious and time-consuming scanning of valuable and ancient books from libraries across the continent.
In November, some 4,000 books from before 1600 housed at Florence library in Italy will be published online, including some central texts of the Renaissance and books owned by the astronomer Galileo Galilei.
Moritz Backhaus, 30, from the Antiquariat im Hufelandhaus book firm, was sanguine about the impact of the digital revolution on his business.
For the first time, the "antiquariat", as it is known, has its own separate home at the Frankfurt Book Fair, a world away from the hubbub of the main show, with its high-tech displays, snazzy presentations and frantic deal-making.
The pace here is a little slower. "I even sold a book yesterday," beams Marc Daniel Kretzer, 30, from the Antiquariat Kretzer, which sells ancient theological texts.
"It is an early Catholic text dating from 1768," he said, carefully thumbing through dense Latin text in an exquisitely bound volume.
Slices of history like this, however, do not come cheap. Kretzer's volume sold for 480 euros (670 dollars). The asking price for a first edition of an early illustrated Spanish map of Europe dating from 1588 is 85,000 euros.
Despite the price, Kretzer says he can't complain about business. "Most of our customers are pastors, teachers, libraries and these are all publicly funded, so the recession doesn't really affect our business," he told AFP.
But even in the musty sanctuary of the antique book tent, there is no escape from the subject of digitalisation and ebooks that has so dominated the 62nd edition of the fair.
"Like everyone else in the industry, we don't really know how digital will affect us. If all the books which have ever been printed get digitalised, then it could have an impact," said Kretzer.
Dan Burnstone, from ProQuest, is trying to do exactly that. His company has launched a project that aims to get all early European books printed between 1475 and 1700 online.
"We don't know how many books we are ultimately dealing with, but we think it's something like one million," said Burnstone during a high-tech presentation in the main fair halls.
"Our plan is to digitalise the holdings of several European libraries over several years."
The project requires the laborious and time-consuming scanning of valuable and ancient books from libraries across the continent.
In November, some 4,000 books from before 1600 housed at Florence library in Italy will be published online, including some central texts of the Renaissance and books owned by the astronomer Galileo Galilei.
Moritz Backhaus, 30, from the Antiquariat im Hufelandhaus book firm, was sanguine about the impact of the digital revolution on his business.
