Firsts, London’s Rare Book Fair, which will take place from 18-21 May 2023 at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea. The fair will bring together over 120 exhibitors from around the world, who will pres- ent an outstanding and diverse selection of rare books, maps, manuscripts, letters and more.
This year’s fair will respond to the theme ‘Shakespeare: 400 Years of Influence’, celebrating 400 years since the publication of the First Folio and the many books that took influence from this pivotal publication: from the plot devices of Jane Austen to the poetry of Maya Angelou; from a mobile forest marching to war over the plains of Middle Earth to the tercentenary celebrations of Shakespeare’s life held across the Arab world in 1919. Many of these titles will be on view at this year’s edition of Firsts, as a physical representation of the Bard’s pervasive influence across the centuries.