A paradise for authors and literature lovers

It was clear from the very start that a spacious area would be planned as a reading and literature area for IBRA 2023. The IBRA team made an area available for this purpose in the front entrance to the IBRA hall, just in front of the stairway to the restaurant and the entrance from Hall 7. After all, 150 square metres!

The Philatelic Library Hamburg as well as the philatelic libraries in Wuppertal and Frankfurt will be represented on site with their own stand in this area. The organiser expects 100-200 literature exhibits to be displayed on more than 15 shelves. 18 seats at tables will provide ample opportunity to view the available competition literature.

In addition, there will be a special showcase for literature, where selected exhibits from the book series "Chronik der Deutschen Philatelie" (Chronicle of German Philately) and the Edition d'Or/Edition Speciale series will be displayed and others will be available for viewing on shelves.

There will also be the opportunity to purchase titles from these book series in the literature/reading area.

You can also download the plan to the Literature Area here: .jpg .pdf

Starting from these basic data, Claudia Maassen drew up a first draught of the stand plan, in which all aspects are taken into account. To increase the value of this special area, it will even be carpeted, because visitors should feel comfortable and spend some time here, have conversations and refresh old relationships as well as make new contacts. The literature area is managed and supervised by the AIJP and its General Secretary Rainer von Scharpen and his wife Wiltrud. This team has already done a great job at LONDON 2015 + 2022 as well as Stockholmia 2019. In the plan, the “supervisor” table can be found on the right, and next to it a laptop will eventually be available to view the digital literature. Once again, Claudia Maassen, incidentally also a member of the AIJP, will be in charge of designing the shelves as well as the tables and display cases.

Anyone who knows anything about the trade fair landscape knows that such a large area with several booth set-ups and the equipment described above costs money. And not just a little. The author presented the IBRA team with a precise cost calculation for the project and also succeeded in finding a sponsor whose generous support made this enterprise possible in the first place: the Heinrich Köhler company in Wiesbaden and the Global Philatelic Network. These two companies not only make a good name for themselves as auction houses, but also as publishers with numerous releases every year. One cannot thank them enough for promoting philatelic literature!