Legendary singer Patti Smith and her daughter Jesse Paris Smith performed a surprise, intimate performance on April 5 during the ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, which was celebrating its 65th edition.
Hailed as one of New York City’s cultural cornerstones, the book fair annually welcomes over 200 exhibitors from across the globe to present their literary treasures ranging from $50 collectibles to multimillion-dollar rare finds. Since the Smith family are avid readers and staunch supporters of the book fair, they decided to spotlight two of their favorite exhibitors during a mid-morning performance featuring poetry reading, a fantastic tale about a unique manuscript find, and a musical rendition.
“Since my mom and I are such admirers, we attend every year and do everything to spread the word about the fair and honor our fellow book friends. They asked if I wanted to be involved in some official capacity. So last year, we started the ambassador program,” Jesse Smith said.
Eight ambassadors, including Alexandre Assouline, Isabella Boylston, Meredith Graves, Levi Higgs, Connor Holloway, Sarah Hoover, Karah Preiss, and Emma Roberts, were inducted into the program. Smith hopes their efforts will shed more light on the importance of this cultural fair.
“We picked two booths that appear dear to use: Henry Wessels from James Cummins Bookseller, and we’re honoring Sanctuary Books,” Jesse Smith said. “We’re going to spotlight some things about each of their work, and also honor other friends in the antiquarian trade and writers, and just show how we’re all connected through the fair and through the antiquarian world and through books and the written word.”
Patti Smith kicked-off the event by reading from her close friend Allen Ginsberg’s poem “A Supermarket in California” since it was the anniversary of his passing on April 5, 1997. This reading was followed by an introduction to Henrey Wessells role in bringing a Charlotte Bronte manuscript into the hands of the world.
In 2021, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Wessells received a call from a private collector in London who wanted to preserve a book of rhymes written by Charlotte Brontë when she was only 13 years old in 1829. He learned that the book was listed and preserved in an envelope with a photograph from 1916.
“I took custody of it and brought it back up to New York, and it was on display in the New York book fair here in 2022 and Patti Smith and her daughter, Jesse, came, and they were, as everybody mesmerized by it,” Wessells said. The book has been properly preserved and copied so that readers around the world can enjoy Charlotte Brontë when it prints on April 21.
Patti Smith read a few of these poems during the event, culminating the morning with a song for her daughter entitled “Wing.”
Smith’s morning song ushered in an afternoon filled with eager attendees searching for new rare finds at the ABAA New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, which ran from April 3 to April 6.
