A trip to the black market for books

It went like this. In the morning I looked in Discord and found a message from @qwerrie - he offered me to visit a festival called "Black Market", organized by Ad Marginem publishing house. I am always ready to support any movement (except hunger strike), so I immediately agreed to come to this festival to wander between the bookstalls - and at the same time to talk to interesting people.

But not all plans work out as we imagine. I read the message in the morning - but it was sent the night before, and @qwerrie didn't wait for my reply. He went for a country walk instead of attending the festival. I'm not a big fan of walking around fairs alone either - but I had no other important things planned, and the description of the festival looked very intriguing.

The festival was located in the courtyard of a printing house on Liteiny Prospekt. I knew that in this courtyard there is a unique sculpture - a monument to a lost book. A sad book sits on a bench and is melancholy. This monument would be beautiful on its own, without additional interpretations, but it also illustrates an incident that happened nearby in the 19th century. This incident is recounted on the wall. Besides this monument, I found another one - a monument to a bookbinding machine.

I walked along the shopping rows - besides books, there were art albums, vinyl records, tape recordings. The description of the upcoming event looked very attractive. In addition to the main action - the book trade - related activities such as tours, discussions, art screenings and tea parties were planned. In reality, the festival looked rather modest. It took place in a small patch of courtyard space. I deliberately went to the far corner of the yard to take an overview photo. At the same time I photographed the graffiti that adorned the walls of the courtyard. The faces and subjects are easily recognizable - they are portraits of writers and references to their works.

At the end of the day, I took a little more walk along the market stalls. I found some unusual stalls that I hadn't noticed at first - with rare teas, souvenirs, and even mushrooms that looked like exotic flowers.

This is my entry for the #marketfriday challenge by @dswigle.