I love to read, but more than that, I love to be surrounded by books. I don’t know why.

To me, there’s just something about them. Their bindings, their covers, the way they smell, even the varying shapes and sizes.

So, it’s no wonder I fell in love with Sonny Ideker’s booth, which allows you to forget that you’re standing in a big red barn and think for just a moment, that you’ve stepped back in time into an ancient library.

Shelves and shelves of volumes line the booth, and there’s even a big padded chair to sit in while you peruse items in the collection.

I haven’t had a chance to talk to Mr. Ideker, but I can tell he’s a man after my own heart. I wonder what his home looks like.

One of my favorite booths was bookseller Sonny Ideker's collection of antiquarian and rare leather and vellum bound books. Surrounded by all these books I felt temporarily removed from all the goings-on at Scott's.

We were up bright and early this morning and shopping our majolica hearts out at Houston Antiques Art + Design Show opening day. What we found was a beautiful collection of 66 antiques, art and vintage jewelry shops from around the country. Herewith, a few of our picks.

Sonny Ideker has been collecting books around the world for more than 30 years and offers exceptional examples of rare, antiquarian, leather and vellum bound books. Specializing in rare books from around the world, here is a peek at the rich collections he will offer at the show.

Sonny hails from Roswell, Georgia, and exhibits at over 30 book fairs a year — so if you go to antiquarian book fairs, look for Sonny.  He had an extensive array of fine books.  This was was one of his selections we liked…

Sonny Ideker and Steven Martin of Atlanta, Georgia, were first-time exhibitors in York and are antiquarian book dealers. In the forefront is an opened 1736 Martin Luther German Bible. It was $8000. 

Antiquarian bookseller Sonny Ideker of Roswell, Georgia, lined his shelves with heavyweight tomes in a pleasant browsing corner. Among them was a copy of a work by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, printed in 1540 by the Aldine Press in Venice, with its anchor and dolphin mark.