I didn't go to the fair yesterday. One and a half days is enough for anyone. However, this extract from the nearly always reliable Publishers Lunch says it all better than I could.

So it turns out, all previous Reed studies notwithstanding, that people like spring, and it's a good time to come to London for business. The good weather and abundant blossoms of lilac and cherry and profusion of other colors and smells is just another bonus.

It turns out that people like having the book fair in the same basic part of central London, in the same type of space as Olympia, only larger and with more amenities (including everything from "salt beef carvery" and a Ben & Jerry's ice cream stand to short taxi cab lines manned by two guys in top hats and tails).

It turns out that beige decor and clearly-marked booths and aisles work nicely.

And so it turns out that London Book Fair organizers have recovered well from last year's disastrous relocation to Anaheim-upon-Thames's Excel and comfortably settled back into Earl's Court as if nothing ever went awry.

Of course it also turns out that such happy circumstances, excellent for transacting business, are less suited to snappy coverage. But that's ok. As turns out to be the case more often than not these days, the lack of a particular book or two masquerading as the "book of the fair" (in fact you were hard pressed to even find a few "medium" books this year) leaves a lot more oxgyen for the quieter, earnest and successful meeting and dealmaking that's been taking place all over for the past three days.

Other Turns

It turns out that the dollar is now officially worthless (reaching its lowest point against the pound in 15 years) and complicated conversion math is no longer necessary here since everything costs at least twice what it does in New York. Which also gives us a sense of how British and European conglomerates feel about the earnings of their American publishing subsidiaries.

It turns out that the location of our News Desk at the rear of the Rights Center was along one major pathway--which leads to the designated smoking room. It also turns out--as we knew already in our hearts--that people like cookies (smokers in particular) and you can never go wrong in having a steady supply available. (Though it also turns out that finding a proper cookie in London that it something other than a flavored buttered biscuit is quite a challenge.) But as for the two people who stole my nice metal Publishers Lunch lunchboxes from my stand....

For more in-depth reporting do go to day one and day two from the Bookseller -  and there is a day three but I couldn't make the link!

Here is the final picture from the great balloon escapade for the Macmillan English Dictionary launch and no prizes for identifying the location: