Rare Books Edinburgh

posterfinalRare Books Edinburgh is a new festival taking place from 20th to 30th March 2017, which brings together ten different institutions and organisations to celebrate book culture, collecting, and the history of the book.

The programme includes talks, workshops, and exhibitions, and incorporates the Edinburgh Book Fair, jointly run by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association and the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association. The Edinburgh Book Fair is the largest antiquarian and collectable book fair in Scotland, this year featuring over forty specialist booksellers from around the UK. They will be offering for sale rare and collectable books and printed material of all kinds and ages, at price points from several pounds to several thousand pounds. The fair will be opened by bestselling author and ‘king of tartan noir’ Ian Rankin OBE, creator of Inspector Rebus.

Also contributing to the festival programme are the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh University Library, the Centre for the History of the Book, the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Central Library, Blackwell’s Bookshop, and auction house Lyon & Turnbull.

Please visit the Rare Books Edinburgh website for more information, a full programme, and instructions for how to book spaces in any event that requires registration.

The book fair is free to enter and open to all, and McNaughtan’s Bookshop will be exhibiting there, at Stand 28 in the Dunedin Suite (upstairs room). We look forward to seeing you there, and at other events in the Rare Books Edinburgh schedule.

Location & Opening Times

3a & 4a Haddington Place, Edinburgh, EH7 4AE


Opening Hours

Open seven days a week, 11am - 5pm

On Thursdays late night opening until 8pm


Upcoming Shop Closures

Easter 2024

We will be closed from Friday 29th March to Monday 1st April inclusive.