Yarragon Annual Book Fair 2026

My wife and I missed last year's book fair in Yarragon as we were about to travel overseas.  This year, along with her parents, we travelled the 230km round trip to Yarragon in Gippsland to hunt for books.

I'm always optimistic of finding some great condition vintage James Bond paperbacks at this event.  Every year there's always new stock which has been donated by the local community for the benefit of their local fire brigade.

As always the hall was full of people, many of whom had also travelled the Princes Highway from Melbourne to be there.

Unlike previous years this was the only Bond related book I encountered, a copy of Jeffery Deaver's novel "Edge" which featured a small circle on the cover promoting his forthcoming (at the time) Bond novel "Carte Blanche".  As I already have this book in my collection I left it for another possible Bond collector to discover.

No Bond novels for me this year.  But that's just part of the book hunt.  My wife and her Dad were more fortunate with both of them managing to find some new reading material.

A wander through the local shops and art gallery, the carrot cake from the Yarragon Bakery and a delicious lunch at the town pub rounded off an enjoyable day out before our drive home.

Annual Yarragon Book Fair 2024

The annual book fair in Yarragon was held last weekend.  My wife and I made our yearly journey to the small Gippsland town for the event which is organised to raise money for the local fire brigade.

The weather on Saturday was great for the one hour 40 minute drive.

Upon arrival we made our way to the town hall where the book fair is held.  

As usual there were lots of books along with heaps of other visitors.  In the main part of the building were the fiction books separated by size (trade versus standard), hardbacks, science fiction and romance.  The other three rooms contained kids books, travel, non-fiction, autobiographies, vintage as well as several other categories.

My wife and I both scoured the boxes of books for James Bond titles and found several recent continuation novels as shown below.  I purchased the pictured trade edition of Sebastian Faulk's "Devil May Care" despite already having several copies of the same edition.  A copy in such great condition for just $2 could not be passed by, especially as it has no indication of having been previously read.

Only one book for me today however my wife purchased several books for herself.  What amazes me is what great condition all of the books are for sale.

Here's a couple more photos from the day:

The old steam train on display between the town and the main highway

A photo taken by my wife of the sun setting from our car while driving home

And for dessert that night I enjoyed a slice of carrot cake purchased from the Yarragon Bakery for the bargain price of just $12.  A yearly ritual purchase for me, and as usual it was delicious.

Annual Yarragon Book Fair 2023

Yesterday we visited Yarragon again for the annual book fair.  As usual my wife and her parents were on board, but sadly, and for the first time, my wife's sister was absent.

Being a wet day we avoided the occasional idiot on the road to safely reach the Gippsland town in just over two hours.

The place was packed with people who had also made the same trek.

Once we reached the town hall we paid the gold coin entry fee and splt up to start our own book hunts.  My wife and her parents are avid readers, while I was searching for additions to my James Bond collection and PizGloria.com.  Small paperbacks were $1 each while trade size paperbacks and all hardbacks were $2.

Unusually this was the only Bond novel we found in the entire book fair, a copy of the continuation novel "Devil May Care" by Sebastian Faulks.  I didn't need to purchase it though as I already have several copies with the same cover.

My wife on the other hand purchased ten books for $11 while my parents-in-laws another 10 for around $10.  For a short time I felt disappointment until I visited the local bakery which bakes the best carrot cake on the planet.  I know it's a big call but I've tried many carrot cakes from around the world and none come close to their recipe.

We also had a delicious lunch at the local pub like usual.  I had a great pizza (no photo necessary) however here's a photo of my wife's lamb roast.  She said it tasted fantastic.

Another year, another Yarragon book fair.  Plenty of books purchased although no luck for me.  We will definitely return next year.

Yarragon Annual Book Fair 2022

After two years absence (due to the global pandemic) the annual Yarragon Annual Book Fair returned this weekend.  My wife and I, along with my parents-in-law and sister-in-law travelled to the small Gippsland town to browse the second-hand books being sold to raise money for the local fire brigade.

On entry to the hall we were all amazed by the number of people who had also made the same journey.

My wife and I perused the many boxes of books and found the following Bond novels...

As I'm a little OCD I decided to group all the small Bond novels together in case another Bond collector decided to visit the book fair.  I only noticed the accidental position of "Never Say Never" above them when I was taking the photo.

No new Bond novels to add to my collection today however I purchased the following three unread paperbacks that were a bargain at just $1 each to add to my doubles box.

The book fair continues tomorrow, and in one years time I will return as optimistic as ever.