The 46th ANZAAB Australian Antiquarian Book Fair
Friday 6 July to Sunday 8 July 2018 is presented by the Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers (ANZAAB) as part of Melbourne Rare Book Week

Admission to Melbourne Rare Book Fair is free

My sketches from the Fair. All sketched on location with Lamy Safari Joy ink pen and watercolour pencils in a Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook. 

to see all of my sketches from the week visit my flickr album

It will culminate is Rare Book Fair on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Thirty-two Australian and international antiquarian booksellers will offer a rich and diverse array of items catering for all who genuinely love print on paper and who share a passion for books. Millions of dollars worth of rare and collectible books, maps, photographs and manuscript material will be on offer at this major event in the Australian antiquarian book calendar, at prices to suit all levels of collecting.

talks

Criminals, coppers, and columnists: The craft of collecting crime
State Library Victoria
Daniel Wee

From the seedy back alleys of early 20th century Melbourne to the unforgiving landscape of the high country, discover the gritty and sordid underbelly of crime through the State Library’s rich and surprising collections. From heart-wrenching letters to intriguing scrapbooks, Daniel Wee will tell the tale of some of Victoria’s most violent crimes.

Ghastly Gothic reads for kids 
Melbourne Library Service
Jeanette Becklar

Can you remember the first scary story you ever heard?The dark, dangerous, mysterious and spooky have always held a fascination for young readers.Come and listen to some favourite ghastly stories and be inspired to create your own Gothic masterpiece. You will discover the compulsory elements to write or illustrate a Gothic story. Suitable for 10 years and over

My drawing for the posters for this event.

The Gothic novel : A Grand Tour through lurid worlds
Melbourne Library Service
Chris Browne

2018 is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein and is also the 200th anniversary of birth of Emily Bronte, author of Wuthering Heights. To mark these occasions, we are presenting a brief history of the Gothic novel, highlighting important elements and influences of the Gothic tradition. Readings will be given from key books, and brief clips from influential films will be shown. Chris’s personal choice of collectible editions of Gothic novels will also be presented.

They are in watercolour pencil and Lamy Safari Joy ink pen in 13 x 19 cm Moleskin watercolour sketchbook. You can follow Melbourne Rare Book week on instagram and facebook @rarebookweek. You can follow me on instagram @alissaduke1 or facebook Alissa Duke Art 

I’ve added the information from the program below the sketches .

The medieval art of dying at State Library Victoria presented by Dr Anna Welch.

Medieval Christians were acutely aware of death, and spent much of their lives preparing for it. Through illuminated manuscripts and early printed works from the State Library collection,

Codex Sancti Paschalis , Franciscan missal from 1290. There was a small group of people for this talk and viewed some amazing rare books They were passed around the table on a display pillow.

We stood up around the table as the importance of these incredibly historic texts were explained to us. 

And for something completely different ..

Vampires and Victorian eroticism 

presented by Melbourne Library Service by Chris Browne

I began with The MV Anderson Chess collection at State Library of Victoria. I knew that there was an impressive chess book collection and wanted to know the story behind it, I also saw the possibility of drawing something to do with chess and a black and white theme, There is a large chess set outside the State Library of Victoria, so I drew a few pieces before going inside.

Then onto the iconic Melbourne Cricket Club at the MCG for a presentation and book launch on “Oppy” the life of Sir Hubert Opperman, whose epic feats captivated the cycling world. 

Finally to Dark Tales: gothic traditions in children’s books & fairy tales. This is part of the Gothic series presented by Melbourne Library Service. Below is my drawing for the poster for this event. I am thinking of selling this as a print…

The room was full at the beautiful Old Treasury Building to listen as Dianne Reilly spoke of his life and great talent depicting the daily life of diggers in search of gold in the goldfields.  

I was trying to make the drawing different by adding colour to the richness of the grand furniture. 

Melbourne Rare Book Week Day 2. There were five amazing talks on today

I was able to attend three today. The day started with free Rare Book Appraisals by three experts. People brought along their books and prints to be appraised, find out about them and get a value.

There were already a few people gathered when I arrived and a steady stream of people came in during the time I was there. I overheard some interested snippets of conversation!

A quick tram ride across town to Armadale Cellars to hear Michael Hince talk on wine publishing in Australia, An entertaining talk, in the cellars surrounded  by wine, What else could I sketch!

In the evening Susannah Fullerton and Chris Browne presented on the literary greats who visited Australia what they observed.  thoughts of Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson were some of the readings given. 

What a day !

The first presentation was about the rare books survey at Museums Victoria Library. An appreciative audience asked lots of questions . There were a few librarians in the audience. 

and in the evening historian Shane Carmody spoke of the cultural legacy of Bishop Goold, the first Catholic Bishop of Melbourne. An audience of about 80 enjoyed his interesting and entertaining talk. 

Of course, I knew that I would sketch there. It is ‘given time’ as I knew how long the washing and then the drying was going to take. 

These are the first weeks’ sketches. I also had lunch there. 

Above is my most recent  visit . I wish the I had taken photos along the way . You will have to use your imagination as I describe the step by step process of creation of this page. 

First I sketched the washing machines and dryers with my Lamy Safari ink pen in my Moleskine 19×13 cm watercolour journal. I am generally never unhappy with a page of sketches. However, at this stage the page just didn’t feel right , so I added the black watercolour pencil and it softened the page. 

I knew that I had lots of time left so I started drawing the laundry basket in Payne’s Grey watercolour pencil and then added more colour and then the used the waterbrush to pull the colour across the page . I then drew over some of the finer, harder lines of the basket edge and pattern of holes. 

I still had dryer time , so drew one of the tokens in Cool Grey IV watercolour pencil. 

Once at home I wrote my notes on the page.

Then instagrammed – and received a lovely reply from the Laundromat .

and then decided to write this post. I hope that it explains my thought process.

If this was in another country and I was on holidays It would be travel sketching,  and this is the sort of page I would sketch when travelling, as it is all part of the journey.  Join me in travel sketching classes in Melbourne. For more details:  https://www.trybooking.com/eventlist/travelsketching