2026 Rare Book Week Program

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Book Fair

Display

Exhibition

In Conversation

Panel Discussion

Reading

Talk

Tour

Exhibition

World of the Book Exhibition

July 4, 2026

10:00am

-6:00pm

State Library Victoria

Fully Booked

Talk

Earth, Insect, Beast (Session 1)

July 23, 2026

11:00am

-12:00pm

National Gallery of Victoria

Fully Booked

Talk

William Strutt’s Victoria the Golden

July 23, 2026

12:30pm

-2:30pm

Parliament of Victoria

Fully Booked

Talk

Earth, Insect, Beast (Session 2)

July 23, 2026

2:00pm

-3:00pm

National Gallery of Victoria

Fully Booked

Talk

Suppression of Australian Literature in the Nineteenth Century

July 23, 2026

6:00pm

-8:00pm

Tonic House

Fully Booked

Talk

Wenceslas Hollar Old St Paul's Cathedral with spire

Rare 17th Century Books

July 24, 2026

10:00am

-11:30am

Mannix Library

Talk

Arresting the Ephemeral

July 24, 2026

11:00am

-12:30pm

Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute

Fully Booked

Display
Talk

Books That Defined Language

July 24, 2026

11:00am

-12:00pm

Supreme Court Library

Fully Booked

Talk

When Wrong Becomes Right in the English Language

July 24, 2026

2:00pm

-3:30pm

The Johnston Collection

Fully Booked

Talk

The Poet Who Never Was and (Perhaps) Always Will Be: Ern Malley

July 24, 2026

6:30pm

-7:30pm

Tonic House

Panel Discussion

Order Out of Chaos

July 24, 2026

6:30pm

-8:00pm

PMI Victorian History Library

Fully Booked

Talk

A Room of One’s Own

July 25, 2026

11:00am

-12:00pm

State Library Victoria

Fully Booked

Panel Discussion

The Paper Argonaut

July 25, 2026

1:00pm

-2:00pm

Melbourne Museum

Display

Treasures from the Sea

July 25, 2026

2:30pm

-4:00pm

Melbourne Museum

Panel Discussion

National Book Collecting Prize Archives Fine Books

The National Book Collecting Prize for Young Australian Collectors

July 26, 2026

3:00pm

-5:00pm

East Melbourne Library

Fully Booked

Talk

From a Townsville Pub to Sydney’s Wentworth Hotel

July 26, 2026

6:00pm

-7:30pm

Books for Cooks

Exhibition

A Further Glimpse into the Colishaw Collection

A Further Glimpse into the Cowlishaw Collection

July 27, 2026

10:30am

-3:30pm

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

Fully Booked

Talk

Artists’ Books

July 27, 2026

11:00am

-12:00pm

Kathleen Syme Library and Community Centre

Fully Booked

Talk

Adventures through the Medical Pickwick RACS

Adventures through The Medical Pickwick 1917 – 1920

July 27, 2026

11:00am

-12:00pm

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

Fully Booked

Talk

Anatomy of a Book

July 27, 2026

4:00pm

-5:00pm

State Library Victoria

Fully Booked

Talk

Curiouser and Curiouser

July 27, 2026

6:00pm

-7:30pm

East Melbourne Library

Fully Booked

Talk

Cartes de Visite, Cabinet Cards and Albums

July 28, 2026

11:00am

-12:00pm

Royal Historical Society of Victoria

Fully Booked

Talk

How the Past Informs the Present

July 28, 2026

11:00am

-12:00pm

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

Fully Booked

Tour

Curators’ Tour of Rebel Heart

July 28, 2026

12:00pm

-1:00pm

State Library Victoria

Fully Booked

Talk

Book arts from the medieval to contemporary SLV

Book Arts from the Medieval to the Contemporary

July 28, 2026

4:00pm

-5:00pm

State Library Victoria

Fully Booked

Reading

Somewhere a bear…

July 28, 2026

6:00pm

-7:30pm

East Melbourne Library

Fully Booked

In Conversation

Digging for Dirt

July 28, 2026

6:00pm

-7:00pm

PMI Victorian History Library

Fully Booked

Talk

Lloyd’s Register

July 28, 2026

6:30pm

-7:30pm

Melbourne Athenaeum Library

Talk

Hidden Gems

July 29, 2026

11:00am

-12:00pm

Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG)

Waiting List

Panel Discussion

Into the Archives

July 29, 2026

11:00am

-12:00pm

RMIT Design Archives

Fully Booked

Panel Discussion

Rare Sports Books and Ephemera

July 29, 2026

1:00pm

-2:30pm

Melbourne Cricket Club Library

Fully Booked

Panel Discussion

Why It Matters

July 29, 2026

3:00pm

-5:00pm

Kelvin Club

Fully Booked

Talk

Irish Texts in State Library Victoria’s Rare Books Collection

July 29, 2026

4:00pm

-5:00pm

State Library Victoria

In Conversation

Storytime

July 29, 2026

6:00pm

-7:30pm

East Melbourne Library

Talk

Of Madness and Miracles

July 29, 2026

6:00pm

-7:00pm

Melbourne Law School - University of Melbourne

Talk

Noble Fragments

July 29, 2026

6:00pm

-8:00pm

Baillieu Library - University of Melbourne

Fully Booked

Talk

Big Show Offs

July 29, 2026

7:00pm

-8:00pm

Melbourne Athenaeum Library

Book Fair

Melbourne Rare Book Fair 2026

July 30, 2026

12:00am

-12:00am

Wilson Hall - University of Melbourne

Fully Booked

Talk

The Queen of Crime: All About Agatha

July 30, 2026

4:00pm

-5:00pm

State Library Victoria

Fully Booked

Reading

Winnie-the-Pooh Turns 100!

July 30, 2026

4:00pm

-5:30pm

narrm ngarrgu library

Panel Discussion

Making Public Histories

July 30, 2026

5:00pm

-6:30pm

Zoom (online only)

Panel Discussion

Graphic Novels and the Real World

July 30, 2026

6:00pm

-7:00pm

Melbourne Athenaeum Library

Panel Discussion

Beyond the Book

July 30, 2026

6:30pm

-7:30pm

PMI Victorian History Library

Fully Booked

Talk

How to Ban a Book

July 30, 2026

7:00pm

-8:30pm

The Wild Geese

Fully Booked

Tour

Curators’ Tour of World of the Book

July 31, 2026

12:00pm

-1:00pm

State Library Victoria

Fully Booked

Panel Discussion

Astounding Worlds

July 31, 2026

1:00pm

-2:30pm

Footscray Mechanics' Institute

Talk

Revolutionary Books of the Algerian Independence Struggle

July 31, 2026

1:00pm

-2:00pm

Baillieu Library - University of Melbourne

Talk

Oh Brother

July 31, 2026

4:00pm

-5:00pm

City Library

Fully Booked

Tour

Meet Me at the Book Fair

August 1, 2026

11:00am

-12:00pm

Wilson Hall - University of Melbourne