Since 1977, in collaboration with the Madrid Association of Secondhand Booksellers, it has been bringing rare copies, first editions, incunabula (dating from the early days of printing), and original manuscripts to book lovers, collectors, and the curious, and this year will be no exception: the Madrid Antique and Secondhand Book Fair has already set dates to return to Paseo de Recoletos in 2026.
This year’s fair, its 48th edition, will take place from April 30 to May 17 along the section of Pase , stretching from Cibeles to the intersection with Calle Almirante. Thirty-seven specialized bookstores from across the country will participate: Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Pamplona, Granada, Salamanca, Zaragoza, Huesca, and Valencia.
The variety and quality of the books available at the stalls are among the fair’s main attractions and selling points, which have made it—in the words of the association’s president, María José Blas Ruiz—“the most important fair in Spain in this field.”
Its catalog, in fact, features thousands of items: from budget editions for just €1 to secondhand and out-of-print volumes, signed first editions, incunabula, original manuscripts, engravings, maps, rare editions, newspapers and magazines, comics, paper collectibles, and used and clearance books.
The illustration for this edition of the Madrid Antiquarian and Secondhand Book Fair
The person commissioned to illustrate this year’s poster is Juan Berrio from Valladolid—whom , by the way, we interviewed a few years ago on the occasion of his book *Cuaderno de frases encontradas*—. As a new feature this year, he has drawn two versions of the poster: one featuring a grandmother and a grandfather looking through a book published by Editorial Calleja, alongside their grandson and granddaughter respectively, as a nod and tribute to the publisher’s 150-year history.
“What better way to project books and reading into the future, without forgetting the tradition from which we come, than to draw a child discovering the world of stories,” explains Berrio. His inspiration for the design’s color palette, the artist adds, is a balance between a 1950s-style poster aesthetic and a cheerful tone that evokes the season in which this spring edition of the fair is held.