In November, following the annual tradition, Drukwerk in de Marge society is organizing a book fair dedicated to letterpress printers, printmakers, bookbinders and all sorts of creative folks. Housed in the beautiful Sint Pieterskerk in the picturesque city of Leiden, it gathers the printmaking enthusiasts from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, UK etc.

The fair is always taking place in the weekend, and as I had nothing to do on Saturday, I decided to take a train from Gent and arrived in Leiden within 3 hours. After having tasty lunch in cozy Bistro Noroc I followed the people queuing up in front of the church to enter the book fair.

Each year a special limited edition print is produced which is then given to each visitor of the book fair. This year it was a work by Dutch illustrator Max Kisman - an erotic alphabet and erratic dictionary - #Geni #Tales #XXX. It was quite fun as you could choose various covers for the book and follow a short bookbinding workshop on the spot to finish it off. Or you could print a beer coaster.

Upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to meet many familiar faces, visiting the fair from Italy, France and even Finland, whom I've known from the Letterpress Workers in Milan.

I spent hours walking around, chatting and checking out the wonderful books and posters illustrated with beautiful black and white woodcuts created by John Spencer (UK). Saw the Novo Typo and Arabic wood type 'Kanat', designed by Lara Captan (Beirut, 1984) & cut by Rutger Pats.

The book fair is a great opportunity not only to see and buy the various printmaking related tools and books, discover various developments in contemporary printmaking, but also to network and catch up with old and new faces and genuinely enjoy the atmosphere. See you next year!

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