Melbourne Rare Book Week (MRBW) will return from 24 July – 2 August with a program of events, exhibitions and lectures that celebrate the world of rare and collectible books.
Established in 2012 as the world’s first rare book week, MRBW has become an annual festival. The 2025 program features 43 free events, delivered across Melbourne in collaboration with Victoria’s leading cultural institutions. Talks and lectures cover a diverse range of 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.
President of Rare Books Melbourne, Mike O’Brien says, “Melbourne Rare Book Week showcases the extraordinary literary heritage in our city. We are proud to offer a feast of lectures, talks, events and exhibitions, which celebrate and explore the rich collections and amazing expertise that Melbourne, a UNESCO City of Literature, has to offer.”
As part of MRBW, Melbourne will host the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers Symposium, a gathering of the world’s leading rare book specialists with free talks spanning issues in the rare book world, from ethical book repair to fraud risks facing collecting institutions and booksellers alike.
Highlights of Melbourne Rare Book Week 2025:
- Lectures and talks: The Past is Never the Past: Mysteries with History with 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 with John Willis, What Does Democracy Feel Like? with Dr Ruby Lowe.
- Exhibitions: Including The Grand Tour at the University of Melbourne, the World of the Book at State Library Victoria, Jacques Labillardiѐre’s Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen at Ballarat Library, all showcasing rare manuscripts, first editions, art and historical artefacts.
- Interactive events: A behind-the-scenes tour of State Library Victoria’s Conservation Laboratory, the National Gallery of Victoria’s exploration of conceptual art and the artist’s book, a guided viewing of beautiful and historic natural history books at Melbourne Museum. Most MRBW events incorporate collection viewings.
- Melbourne Rare Book Fair: The largest rare book fair in the Southern Hemisphere and Australasia offers a chance to view and acquire rare and collectible books, maps, photographs and manuscripts from around the world. Wilson Hall, University of Melbourne, from 31 July – 2 August.
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Melbourne Rare Book Week will take place from 24 July – 2 August 2025.
