Last week saw the return of the Melbourne Rare Book Fair after a two-year absence. It is a three-day event and usually includes a Melbourne Rare Book Week talk. This year it was a relief and joy to have the Fair go ahead, after the past few years.

I usually sketch at as many talks as possible, documenting the events, This year I was very happy to arrange to sketch at the event. It was lovely to see many familiar faces among the buyers and sellers. It felt like a return to some sort of normality.

I was there for two hours and completed the following sketches. There were stalls set up through Wilson Hall and you could walk up and down the corridors. I found a few places where I would sit on a chair or stand against a wall to observe people browsing, chatting, and looking through displays, and shelves.

All of the sketches were done on location, capturing the stances and people. I added lines for bookshelves and outlines of where some books were. I use a Lamy Safari Joy ink pen in a Moleskine 13cm x 19cm watercolour sketchbook. I added colour at home with my FaberCastell watercolour pencils.

I don’t think that I will add any more colour or detail, as I have added them all to Instagram (alissaduke1). I have shared them with the organisers. I had spoken to them before the event to let them know I was back (they know me) and I would be documenting their event. I will now move on to the next page in my sketchbook.

Next week I will write about the different decisions I can make on when and where to add colour to one of these pages.