14 August - Thursday

Come and join us on the Meadows (near Melville Drive, Tollcross end) as we dress up, juggle and show off some of our favourite antiquarian books. If you thought old books were dull, think again. Never before have so many adventure stories owed so little to truth and so much to a misguided belief in the resilience of the human spirit.

We’ll also be running a library for the duration of the fair, including comics, children’s books and swift page-turners. Read, relax and enjoy the show. This event will be impeded by foul weather.

Ronan Sheehan’s work is a remarkable fusion of political, historical and cultural exploration. He is the Dublin-based author of Tennis Players, Foley’s Asia and a volume of short stories, Boy with an Injured Eye. Ronan will be reading a specially selected short story, before bantering with Armchair Books’ very own Valliard about life, literature and Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Librarian by training, poet by vocation, Professor Dunn’s many achievements in poetry include the Somerset Maugham Award-winning Terry Street, Love or Nothing and the acclaimed Elegies. Get your beautiful Scottish poetry fix from our favourite curmudgeon here.

Multi-talented literary historian Owen Dudley Edwards is an expert on the quintessential rationalist Sherlock Holmes, fellow Irish wit Oscar Wilde and the inimitable PG Wodehouse. His many works also include a book and play on the West Port’s very own Burke and Hare. Owen has promised a dramatic recitation of a Sherlock Holmes story, complete, we hope, with the correct sartorial attire.

Professional bookbinder and co-founder of the Owl & Lion Gallery, Isabelle Ting, will be teaching a lucky few to make their own beautiful book using a Japanese binding technique. Please bring interesting papers or fabric to use as book covers.

Orlene McIlfatrick from Edinburgh Books invites you to round up your ancient, bruised and battered books to be patched-up with tender loving care and slightly more practical materials. Leather books with loose boards and torn spines are particularly welcome.

Psychic grandmothers, tentacled physicians and lethal rock’n’roll. A deep fill sandwich of startling stories and powerful poetry in a tasty sampler from Edinburgh’s own Writers’ Bloc. Featuring Andrew C Ferguson, Jane McKie and Gavin Inglis.