Unseen Book Market in the Nederlands Fotomuseum 

The Unseen Book Market is one of the most beloved parts of Unseen and this year it moves to a new home. Running alongside Unseen Photo Fair as part of Art Rotterdam (27-29 March in Rotterdam Ahoy), the Book Market takes place at the Nederlands Fotomuseum, which recently reopened in Pakhuis Santos, a national monument in the Katendrecht neighbourhood. 

In the museum's entrance hall, around 35 publishers and specialist booksellers will present their latest and finest photography publications, among them Fw:Books, Kehrer Verlag and Hannibal Books, as well as academic institutions including the Willem de Kooning Academy and the Royal Academy of Art The Hague (KABK). This year the Unseen Book Market has a particularly international character, with participants from China, Switzerland, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Ukraine, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Poland. 

New releases are expected from photographers including Ruth van Beek, Robin de Puy, Anton Corbijn and Stephan Vanfleteren. Several participants will host signing sessions, offering you the chance to take home a truly special edition. Further details will follow. Admission to the Unseen Book Market is free. 

What makes the Unseen Book Market so beloved is the direct encounter with the book as object. Photography books offer a relatively accessible way to collect photography: a book is often the first and most approachable entry point into an artist's practice, and many function as collectibles in their own right. First editions, and signed copies in particular, can increase considerably in value. More importantly, you are supporting photographers and independent publishers in a direct way. And in a single room, you gain a remarkably broad view of international developments, expanding both your knowledge and your frame of reference. 

The Nederlands Fotomuseum is simultaneously presenting three exhibitions, each offering its own perspective on what photography can be. The 'Gallery of Honour of Dutch Photography' illuminates the breadth of the national photographic heritage. 'Awakening in Blue' is an ode to the cyanotype, one of the oldest photographic techniques in the world, in which iron salts and UV light produce prints in a deep Prussian blue. And 'Rotterdam in Focus' brings together 180 years of urban photography in more than three hundred images, from an early photograph taken in 1843 to contemporary drone panoramas. Admission to these exhibitions is not included in a visit to the Unseen Book Market. 

Written by Flor Linckens