Melbourne Rare Book Week - For the Love of Books

But "thinking out of the box" didn't mean going far. Why not setting up a festival that celebrates all things print, publishing, the history and art of the book, would allow visitors to discover the treasures of local libraries and collections, organize a symposium with modern book designers, and so much more?

After 6 years, the festival has grown into a fixture of the Melbourne cultural calendar. The 2018 programme of events has just been published - and there are a number of unusual and most interesting events planned:

"The medieval art of dying" - A Library Expedition at the State Library Victoria (3 July)

"Sappho of Lesbos and representations of women’s sexuality in Special Collections" at the Monash University Library (3 July)

"Vampires and Victorian eroticism" by the Melbourne Library Service (3 July)

"Discover William Blake Artist, Poet, Visionary" Presented by National Gallery presented by American bookseller John Windle (3 July)

"Material as metaphor" A conversation between graphic designers (4 July)

"Curators’ tour of World of the Book" at the Victoria State Library exhibition viewing rare, beautiful and historically significant books, from Audubon’s Birds of America to 1950s pulp fiction and contemporary works of art and design. (7 July)

This is an event, anyone interested in art, books, literature or history in Australia should not miss.

The full programme can be downloaded here.

Book Week finishes with the opening of the 46th Melbourne Rare Book Fair.

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.