Melbourne Rare Book Week announces its 2025 program featuring 43 free events celebrating rare and collectible books.
Melbourne Rare Book Week returns this year with an extraordinary lineup of events, exhibitions and lectures celebrating the world of rare and collectible books. The beloved annual event has grown significantly since its establishment in 2012 as the world’s first rare book week, now attracting bibliophiles and collectors from around the globe.
The 2025 Melbourne Rare Book Week program features 43 free events delivered across Melbourne in collaboration with Victoria’s leading cultural institutions. Talks and lectures will cover diverse topics including significant women in the natural sciences, the English Civil War and history of free speech, balladeers singing the news in premodern times, the evolution of medicine from witchcraft to science, and Australia’s first woman crime writer.
The 2025 Melbourne Rare Book Week
- When: 24 July – 2 August 2025
- Where: Various venues across Melbourne
- Cost: Free events
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As part of Melbourne Rare Book Week, the city will host the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers Symposium, bringing together the world’s leading rare book specialists. The symposium will feature free talks covering issues in the rare book world, from ethical book repair to fraud risks facing collecting institutions and booksellers.
The event program includes several major highlights across different categories:
Lectures and talks:
- The Past is Never the Past: Mysteries with History featuring Carmel Shute, Lucy Sussex and A.M. Stuart
- Down the Rabbit Hole: Exploring Alice in Wonderland with Dr Anna Welch
- Woman in Natural History with Rebecca Carland, Mali Moir and Hayley Webster
- John Willis in Conversation with the Australian Queer Archives
- What Does Democracy Feel Like? with Dr Ruby Lowe
Unique exhibitions:
- The Grand Tour at the University of Melbourne
- World of the Book at State Library Victoria
- Jacques Labillardiѐre’s Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen at Ballarat Library
Interactive events:
- Behind-the-scenes tour of State Library Victoria’s Conservation Laboratory
- National Gallery of Victoria’s exploration of conceptual art and the artist’s book
- Guided viewing of historic natural history books at Melbourne Museum
The Melbourne Rare Book Fair will serve as a major drawcard, representing the largest rare book fair in the Southern Hemisphere and Australasia. Visitors will have the opportunity to view and acquire rare and collectible books, maps, photographs and manuscripts from around the world. The fair takes place at Wilson Hall, University of Melbourne, from 31 July to 2 August.
Melbourne Rare Book Week is organised by Rare Books Melbourne in partnership with numerous Victorian cultural institutions including the Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers, State Library Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Museums Victoria, University of Melbourne, Monash University, RMIT University and many others.
President of Rare Books Melbourne Mike O’Brien emphasises that the event showcases Melbourne’s extraordinary literary heritage as a UNESCO City of Literature, offering a feast of lectures, talks, events and exhibitions that celebrate the rich collections and expertise available in the city.
For more information, head here.
