“It was a small show, but the gate was good and there was some good buying,” John Bruno of Flamingo Promotions said after his one-day Granite State Antiquarian Book & Ephemera Fair. This event, which started life at the JFK Coliseum, moved to The Event Center at CR Sparks in Bedford and followed The Start of Manchester Antiques Show, running for one day only, Friday, August 11, from 1 to 8 pm.

“It takes about three years to build a good show,” John said, “and we expect many more dealers next year.” He also plans to open the show on Thursday and run it for two days in 2007. About 500 people came to the fair this year, “a good number as the people come knowing it is just books and ephemera,” he said. He noted that some people came thinking it was an antiques show, stayed, and seemed to enjoy themselves.

There was a showing of some early advertising, rack upon rack of books, and several tables covered with boxes of postcards, all in special envelopes and filed by interests, such as travel, colleges, fairs, buildings, rivers, etc. There was always someone looking over the postcards, flipping through them one by one.

Flamingo will conduct its next book and ephemera fair in Sturbridge, Mass., at the Host Hotel on September 8-9.