Book fair

A book fair is a wholesale market for books, originally part of the general trade fairs that have existed since the 15th century. Today a book fair is an independent trade fair for the book trade. The first book fair that was important for the international trade in mainly Latin printed works was the book fair in Frankfurt am Main. Mass catalogs were published regularly from 1564, initially printed in Augsburg but then published in Frankfurt by the city council in 1750. Not only booksellers and publishers were among the visitors of such a fair, but also numerous scholars who used such events as mouthpieces.
Towards the end of the 17th century, the book fair in Leipzig became more and more important as a national book trade and publishing center and thus also as the seat of well-funded publishers. Barter trade prevailed at these fairs until around 1760, but this was then gradually replaced by condition trading, in which cash settlements were then made.

From 1945, Frankfurt once again blossomed into the most important trade fair location for the international book trade. With annually changing country focuses, it is now the world`s most important book fair and is organized by the trade fair and exhibition company of the German Book Trade Association.
The Leipzig Book Fair, which is also very popular alongside the Frankfurt Fair, has offered a diverse reading program every year since 1970, which appeals to a wide range of readers.
Mainz has also held the . every two years since 1970 Mini Press Fair , which focuses on artistic writing.
Parallel to the fair in Frankfurt, alternative small publishers held the so-called Counter Book Fair .

Nowadays, in addition to the print media, the area of ??electronic media has also become an important part of the Book Fair.
There are other internationally important book fairs in Paris, Bologna (Children`s Book Fair), Algiers, Buenos Aires, Jerusalem, Calcutta, London, Beijing, São Paulo, Moscow and New Delhi.