The UK’s biggest international rare book fair, Firsts London, is returning to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea from 15 to 18 May 2025. This exciting annual event which is always a pleasure to visit takes place just before the world-famous Chelsea Flower Show and will bring together over 100 rare book dealers from around the world under one roof. They’ll be exhibiting a wide range of antiquarian and modern books, manuscripts, maps, and prints. It’s a brilliant opportunity to view, browse and buy books and works on paper from medieval manuscripts to modern first editions, and a great place to meet and chat with knowledgeable booksellers in person.
This year’s theme is ‘Books in Bloom’ and many dealers will highlight works that focus on flowers, plants, and gardens, from early herbals illustrated with woodcuts to contemporary art books. To celebrate this theme the bookfair has partnered with Chelsea Physic Garden who will have a presence throughout Firsts London, and visitors will be able to talk to members of their knowledgeable team about the Garden’s horticultural, educational, and research activities, as well as their collection of books of manuscripts.
A well-known supporter of Firsts London is gardener, author and bibliophile Alan Titchmarsh who, quoting Cicero, said ‘If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need’. Titchmarsh has been collecting gardening books for over 50 years and says the fair brings together some of his favourites. For him, the mix of beautiful bindings, fine printing, and plant knowledge makes these books irresistible.
The connection between plants and books goes back centuries. Early plant illustrations were used mainly as sources for medical use, but over time, they also became appreciated for their artistic beauty. As trade and exploration expanded from the 1400s, people discovered new plants from across the globe. This sparked a growing interest in botany, especially from the 1600s onwards and into the Victorian era, when fine hand-coloured natural history books were being made for both a scientific audience and sought after by bibliophiles for the beauty of their illustrations.
Books about gardens and plants have also shaped literature. From Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to children’s classics like Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, novels, plays and poems have celebrated the symbolism and beauty of plants and flowers. Books of pressed flowers and hand-made seaweed albums show how much people have loved preserving nature in books. With its mix of rare books, stunning art, and botanical treasures, Firsts London 2025 promises to be a unique and delightful experience for book lovers and plant enthusiasts alike. If botanical books are not your bag, fear not, there will be books on every subject under the sun on show, from travel and exploration, to Private Press books, poetry, literature, classical texts, fine bindings, history, children’s books, photographs, science fiction, fantasy and horror.
Alongside the fair there is an extensive Events programme aimed at new collectors and book lovers of all ages. The talks include ‘Provenance and Book Collecting’ with David Pearson, a leading expert on the history of books; ‘The Book Collector’ in conversation with three prominent young book dealers Tom Lintern-Mole, Jess Starr and Tom Ayling; ‘Gnome Kings, Fairy Folk, and Little Elephants: an evening of storytelling’ with Charles van Sandwyk; a hands-on calligraphy session with Toby Pennington; and ‘Old Books, New Knowledge: Three hundred years of the Chelsea Physic Garden Library’; for these and all other events, see the Firsts London website and book early to avoid disappointment. I hope to see you there!
Richard Fattorini has over 25 years of professional experience in valuing and selling rare books and manuscripts, historical photographs and maps. A graduate of the University of Oxford, Richard worked at Sotheby’s for 24 years where he became a senior director, senior specialist and auctioneer in the department of Books and Manuscripts.