Fairs & Events

The first in the new series of seminars organised jointly by the Institute of English Studies (London University) and the ABA Educational Trust will be given by Rick Gekoski, distinguished equally as a writer, broadcaster and one of the most outstanding rare book dealers of our time.

Rick is regularly heard on radio as a guest commentator on topics relating to rare books and the book trade - and has written and produced three series of Rare Books, Rare People for BBC Radio 4 – “one of the gems of Radio 4” in the view of at least one critic.  He also writes a regular blog for The Guardian - Finger on the Page - on books and the business of book-buying.  You can read a sample post on by clicking on Rare Book Catalogues.

His published work includes Joseph Conrad : The Moral World of the Novelist 1978; William Golding: A Bibliography (with P. A. Grogan) 1994; Tolkien’s Gown and Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books 2004, and Outside of a Dog : A Bibliomemoir 2009.

Widely known as a compelling and highly articulate speaker, brimming with anecdote and reminiscence, Rick will reflect on the major patterns of book collecting over his thirty years in the rare book trade, the notion of value in these matters, and many another thing.

His own website can be found here at www.gekoski.co.uk.