45th Michigan Antiquarian Book & Paper Show

It’s time again for people to gather together in downtown Lansing at the Michigan Antiquarian Book and Paper Show to search through vintage books, postcards, magazines, posters, sports programs, ephemera and more.

On Sunday, April 1 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., beginning collectors and seasoned book or paper enthusiasts will join at the Lansing Center to search for their personal treasures. The hope of finding the last book to complete their Nancy Drew collection or a long lost cookbook draws people from across the Midwest.

The show also has many regular attendees, some traveling hundreds of miles. Comments from show attendees include, “Love coming to this show!” and “It’s a biannual religious pilgrimage.” When asked, “Would you come back?”, a first time attendee replied, “Absolutely!”

With almost 90 dealers from as far away as Tennessee and California participating in the show, collectors will have a unique opportunity to buy. Serious collectors are likely to discover items they thought unavailable or didn’t know existed.

This massive hunt for hidden treasure can be a mind-boggling experience, with items ranging in price from 50 cents to $5,000. The search is a remarkable event that often brings back many fond memories of items or pleasures almost forgotten.

Walking through the rows of tables is like "walking through the Library of Congress," Lansing resident Bill Triola said. There is an incredible variety of material, from old photographs, sheet music, travel guides and railroad timetables, to first editions, signed items and numerous children’s books.

Additional features of the Book and Paper Show include plenty of seating, concessions provided by the Lansing Center, and acoustic musical entertainment performed by Bob McCloy.

Admission to this wonderful one-day event on Sunday, April 1, is $4.50 for adults and free for children 13 and younger.

By Bill Castanier

The vast majority of book collectors have one thing in common. They learned to read from a couple of zany, carefree kids by the name of Dick and Jane.

Dr. Francine P. Fisher (the Country Tutor School Books, Booth #78) specializes in K-12 school books and is an avid collector of instructional books and ephemera.

Fisher said everyone who reads has been exposed to this kind of material ranging from “Dick and Jane,” to the Lincoln and the McGuffey readers.

“I remember that when I was a kid,” is a common refrain for visitors to her booth at the Michigan Antiquarian Book & Paper Show, she said.

“Collectors often are looking for something personal. They may have been read to by a family member or they are looking for the first book they remember reading.”

Fisher recalls one patron who broke down in tears after finding a book she had been looking for more than 20 years. “It brought back memories of her grandfather,” she said.

The Kimball, Mich. book dealer said she still uses the “look and say” books of Dick and Jane in her private tutoring business.

“I use a lot of the same materials I did when I was teaching even though they may go in and out of favor.”

In addition to the commonly known McGuffy readers, Lincoln readers and the Dick and Jane series, Fisher sells teacher workbooks and learning tools that were used in the classroom. One of the most sought items is the oversized, “Dick and Jane Big Book.”

Other items that are highly regarded collectibles are the Dick and Jane books that first used multi-racial characters.

Fisher collects and sells math books, history books, Latin books, teacher’s private attendance and grade books.

She also has a teacher diary in her collection and material relating to teacher duties and responsibilities.

She said early reading books almost always contained a moral lesson to be taught. “Today, when you ask a student ‘what lesson did you learn?’ it is not as clear.”

She is fascinated by early math books with thought problems that may include bales of hay and other agrarian references.

Fisher said typical school books range in price from $10-30 while a “Dick and Jane Big Book” may sell for $80-120 depending on condition.

The former reading teacher said another attraction for collectors is the quality of the books. “They were beautifully printed and the illustrations were glorious and rich,” she said.