Actor, writer and rare book collector Stephen Fry reveals he will open ABA’s rare book fair Firsts

Stephen Fry (l) and Mark Rylance in Twelfth Night at Shakespeare’s Globe. Fry opens the next edition of Firsts: London’s Rare Book Fair (June 7-9), and Shakespeare’s Globe joins as charity partner. © Simon Annan

• Frances Allitt
  
• 11 Apr 2019

The event runs from June 7-9 hosting more than 150 exhibitors from 15 countries around the world.

Fry is also a collector of rare books and announced his involvement over Twitter saying: “Delighted to open @FirstsLondon rare book fair on the 7^th day of June at noon @batterseaevolution. Joyous revelling in books of all sorts & @The_Globe exhibition of Shakespeare folios. Help me to a candle and pen, ink & paper.”

Delighted
to open @FirstsLondon
rare book fair on the 7th day of June at noon @batterseaevolution. Joyous revelling in books of all sorts &@The_Globe exhibition of #Shakespeare folios. Help me to a candle and pen, ink & paper. @ABARareBooks @Biblio_comhttps://t.co/uBinAMn97l pic.twitter.com/vx4GbKAZEs

— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) April 10, 2019

His involvement is part of a lager theatrical theme for this staging of the fair, led by a new partnership with Shakespeare’s Globe.

John Wolfson, the Globe’s honorary curator of rare books, is curating an exhibition of 16 rare Shakespeare-related books from his collection and will give a talk accompanied by actors during the event. Among the books being featured are a first edition of Rima et prosa (1539) by Luigi da Porto, which includes the source for Romeo and Juliet, as well as a first edition of The Two Noble Kinsmen, which was not included in the First Folio of 1623.

Also featured at the fair this year are an LGBTQ+ tour, a talk by photographer Adriaan van Heerden and a Discovery Day, where visitors can have items appraised.