The biggest second-hand book fair in Europe is about to hit York. STEPHEN LEWIS reports.

IT IS an unremarkable little book with a dull cloth cover, but Janette Ray takes it from the shelf with loving care. It opens easily, to reveal pages printed on good quality paper - and a series of stunning hand-drawn designs for suburban gardens.

No decking or water features in The Villa Garden, however. It was printed in 1850, long before Ground Force was even a twinkle in a TV producer's eye - and it was aimed at the new suburban middle class.

"Not quite Alan Titchmarsh," says Janette, turning the pages carefully. "But basically the same idea. It was written for the new middle class in suburbia, and it shows how to design a garden and what to plant in it."

Janette, who runs Janette Ray Rare And Out of Print Books in Bootham, York, admits she has a fondness for old - often Victorian - gardening books.

She has one by the landscape gardener Joshua Major, a large, slim volume in a dark cover, its heavy pages a little mottled with age. Again, it is illustrated with beautiful landscape designs, on a larger scale this time: and as a frontispiece there's an ink sketch of the author, looking stern and Victorian seated in a hard-backed chair.

There is also a loose leaf of paper covered in flowing handwriting - a plant list that could be in the author's own writing, Janette says.

Joshua Major designed the first public parks in Britain, in the early 19th century. And this book is very scarce - and worth about £700.

Janette's shop is exactly what you would expect of an antiquarian book store - dark and a little musty, the walls lined floor-to-ceiling with books, and a winding staircase at the back leading to more books.

There's nothing musty or fusty about a passion for old, rare, or out-of-print books, Janette insists. There's a lure, once you're hooked, that keeps you coming back again and again.

There is a sense of history in holding a book that was old even before your grandfather was born - and a sense of community felt with those, probably now long dead, who turned these same pages before you. Or maybe it's just the intoxicating smell of leather bindings and quality paper.

"I get customers coming in here who marvel at the fact that you can pick up a book that is 200 or 300 years old," Janette says. "It's something about history, quality and mystery."

The great thing about second hand books, she insists, is that there really is something for everyone. Whether it's landscape design, local history, classic literature or football, once you start collecting you will find yourself drawn in deeper and deeper.

And it needn't cost the Earth. Pop into any second-hand bookshop and you'll find, nestling alongside the expensive first editions and 300-year-old leather-backed volumes worth hundreds of pounds, perfectly ordinary volumes costing a few pounds at most that could turn out to be little gems.

If so far your taste in books hasn't gone beyond David Beckham's autobiography or the latest Jackie Collins, this weekend could be the ideal chance to discover the thrill of the old.

The York National Book Fair, which will be taking over the ground floor of the Barbican Centre on Friday and Saturday, is the largest rare, antiquarian and out-of-print book fair in Europe.

Up to 200 dealers from all over the UK, and from overseas, will be descending on York with the pick of their collections.

Most will bring books that concentrate on a particular subject. So Francis Edwards from Hay On Wye will be displaying mainly travel books and literature; Ann Morgan-Hughes of Black Cat Books in Harleston, Norfolk will have a collection of domestic and cookery books (real Upstairs, Downstairs, Edwardian House sort of stuff, says Janette); and David Miles of The Canterbury Bookshop will be bringing beautifully-illustrated children's natural history books.

The fair will be a great place to browse, says Janette, who is one of the organisers - with everything from exotic bookmarks to prints, maps and, of course, books on display.

Entry is by ticket, £2 on the door.

"It's a very good place to come and look around and see what you might be interested in," Janette says. "It's a real experience, a hands-on experience. If you go to a museum, you cannot touch anything. But second hand books are not a second hand experience."

The 2003 York National Book Fair is open Friday 12 noon to 7pm and Saturday 10am to 5pm, at the Barbican Centre, York.

Updated: 12:26 Wednesday, September 17, 2003