We highly recommend that you stay at the Oakland Marriott City Center. Every CODEX X event (Book Art Fair, Symposium, Gala Dinner, Cocktail Party) will take place at this hotel and convention center, making your stay at the Oakland Marriott very convenient. Rates for Exhibitors have been negotiated and locked in at a reasonable price and a block is being reserved. Reserve your room before they run out!

Superbowl LX is being held in the South Bay in Santa Clara, CA on Sunday, February 8, 2026. Rates for hotels in all surrounding Bay Area cities are going to be competitive and expensive.

Because all events will be in the same location this year we highly recommend staying at the Oakland Marriott City Center Hotel. We have negotiated a very competitive rate with them and there are restaurants and cafes close by, as well as in the hotel itself. If you would prefer to stay in another location, the Oakland Marriott is easy to get to by BART, bus, and Lyft/Uber.

Other Hotel Recommendations:

Please check back again shortly – we are checking local hotel prices for you!

Oakland Marriott City Center is centrally located in downtown Oakland with easy access to public transit and many restaurants, cafes, bookstores, and activities close by.

• Payment for your table is due at the time of registration.
• You can pay by credit card, PayPal, check, or direct wire transfer.
• If you are unable to pay in full at the time of registration, please email Dina Pollack for further assistance and instructions.

All Exhibitors are required to purchase and insure their own work and belongings. The CODEX Foundation does not assume any liability for work or personal belongings that are lost, stolen, or damaged either in transit/shipping to The CODEX Foundation headquarters, between CODEX and Oakland Marriott, or during the Book Art Fair and Symposium at the Oakland Marriott.

Please lay your work flat and cover your books at night using a (plastic) tablecloth. We can provide this for you if you do not have one.

All international visitors will receive official letters of invitation to facilitate getting through airport customs and immigration smoothly.

• We will be providing black tablecloths at each table. You are welcome to bring your own tablecloth if black does not suit you.
• Size of one full table is 2’6″ x 8′ (about 0.762m x 2.43m). The height of the table is 30″ (76.2 cm).
• Please also bring a plastic table cloth to place over your books at night. 
• Two chairs ONLY will be provided at each table. You are not permitted to have more than two chairs behind each whole table, even if you have a half table. Please do not take chairs from other areas or other tables.
• If you have reserved a HALF TABLE, only one person will be allowed behind your half at a time!
• Shelving and displays may be used only on your tabletop and may not be over 24” tall or wide. 
• Displays may not be placed on the ground around or in front of your table due to fire and safety codes. 
• Displays cannot infringe on surrounding tables or be in danger of falling or being knocked over.

• All Book Fair exhibitors will be given a CODEX Badge on a lanyard. 
• Please keep this Badge and wear in plain sight when attending the Symposium, Book Fair, cocktail party, Gala Dinner and ALL other CODEX events. 
• There will be TWO badges given per FULL table, ONE badge per HALF. If you have multiple/rotating workers on each day please email Dina Pollack for instructions on how additional badges must be assigned
  • (note: multiple (more than two) badges are ONLY for schools, institutions, and non-profit organizations which require rotating personnel).
• Exhibitors: Each table registration comes with one ticket to the two-day Symposium. Your badge will be marked for the Symposium. Additional tickets for colleagues/associates may be purchased when registering online.
• Please note: You will need your badge to attend the first night cocktail party.

The CODEX Book Art Fair & Symposium is a venue for exhibiting work, educating the public, forming connections for future art projects and exhibitions, facilitating research and scholarship, and promoting the work being done in the field of the handmade book.

Should any sales be made at the fair, any taxes due are the responsibility of each exhibitor. California law states that out of state vendors are required to obtain a temporary sales permit and collect sales tax on sales made at trade shows. The link below will take you to the information on how to register for the temporary permit and pay the tax. Exhibiting California residents are responsible for keeping track of taxes due per California law.

CA Temporary Seller’s Permit: https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/industry/temporary-sellers.htm

You may also find this link helpful: https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/formspubs/pub77/#notrequired

• A Book Fair Directory will list all exhibitors and cross reference them to a floor map.
• There will be advertising available in the directory. Contact Dina Pollack to place an ad.

You are welcome to ship your books to The CODEX Foundation prior to the Book Fair. Please mail them to:

The CODEX Foundation
1331 Seventh Street, Unit D
Berkeley, CA 94710

• Please ensure they will arrive NO LATER than January 22, 2026. 
• SEND EARLY! US customs may slow down or stop deliveries! Please include both your name and your press name on the outside of the box for easy identification. 
• You will be emailed your table numbers on or before December 20, 2025. If you are able, please put your table number on your packages in addition to your name(s) and press name(s). Please have this CLEARLY marked on the outside of your box(es).
• We will transport all pre-shipped boxes to the book fair on Saturday. We will do our best to have them on your assigned table before you arrive.
• We are using UPS to send your packages back to you. You MUST have a pre-printed/paid UPS shipping slip with bar-codes for each box. These are available online. Please handle this at home as we won’t be able to do this at the Fair. The Fair closes on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. UPS will pick up the boxes at 5:30 p.m.
• Conveniently, there is a UPS shipping office located directly outside and to the left of the front door of the Oakland Marriott.
• Please NOTIFY US how many boxes you have sent and we will let you know when they arrive.  
• CLICK HERE to make your pre-paid UPS labels.

We understand that cancellations are sometimes necessary and we do what we can to accommodate. Please email Dina Pollack if you need to cancel your registration or if you have any questions.

• Cancellations will incur a fee of $100.
• Your table numbers will be assigned on December 20, 2025.
• Cancellations after your table assignments have been sent out will incur a fee of $300.

• Tickets for guests can be pre-purchased and left at the ticket sales desk in the main entrance area.
• Please put your business card with the tickets and let your guests know to ask for tickets left under YOUR name.

• Please check back later for WiFi login information.

Parking in the entire Bay Area requires caution. DO NOT LEAVE ANY VALUABLES IN YOUR CAR, even if you think they are hidden in the trunk. Car break-ins across the entire Bay Area are extremely common. They’re not common if your car is *completely empty*. 

• Parking in the Convention Center parking lot will be available to all exhibitors for a daily fee of $25.
• If you are staying as a guest at the hotel, this will be available as an add-on when you check in for your stay.

• Food and beverages will be available for purchase in the Book Art Fair area. There will be a separate seating area for you to eat.
• NO FOOD OR BEVERAGE (except water) will be permitted on the Exhibition floor.
• You may eat or drink behind your own table discreetly at your own risk. Please do not visit other tables with food or coffee in your hands!
• There are many delicious restaurants and places to get food outside of the Convention Center in downtown Oakland.
• Be advised that if you bring in outside food, you may be stopped and asked to wrap up your food before you enter the Exhibition floor; again, you may eat or drink behind your own table at your own risk.

• There will be an area inside of the Exhibition space for you to eat meals and rest as well as meet with friends, clients, collaborators, and more.
• We ask that you eat here when possible in order to keep food out of the Book Art Fair.
• Please feel free to enjoy meetings here! We hope that it will be a quiet, calm area to have meaningful conversations. However, we ask that you please don’t hold club or large group meetings here so that everyone has a chance to enjoy the space.
• This space will be open to the public and just off to the side of the Exhibition floor. There will be no private meeting rooms provided.

• Public transit within the Bay Area is extensive and reliable.
• BART (subway) and AC Transit (bus) are the public transit systems used. We advise using an app like Citymapper to plan your trip so you have all available services at your disposal.
• Uber and Lyft are readily available within the Bay Area. Rides typically cost between $10-$30 depending on the distance and time of day.
• Please remember that traffic in the Bay Area can be bad, especially during peak rush hour times. If you need to get somewhere outside of Oakland, allow for 30 minutes minimum for travel.
• We always advise carpooling for saving costs.
• PLEASE BE ADVISED: there will be NO BUS this year for CODEX. Since all CODEX events are taking place at the Oakland Marriott City Center, there will be no bus chartered for travel between CODEX locations. We highly encourage you to stay at the Exhibition hotel, as it will make travel and all amenities very easy.

• There will be a table in the venue where you can put out any free brochures, pamphlets, etc. 

• The CODEX Foundation keeps an historic fair archive of exhibitors’ ephemera. This could be a business card, postcard, promotional material, etc. Or, if you have a piece of special ephemera, please bring it to add to our collection.
• If you have something for us, please bring your items to the CODEX Managers table and place them in The Ephemera box. The ephemera collection is tangible evidence that you were here! 
  

We would like to take a moment to comment on the current political environment. It is during these times that bringing people together around the arts, even in small ways, becomes a political act in itself. As an organization whose mission is to support the book arts community, we must persevere and continue to create venues and connections for those working in the field. We support those who decide not to come to the US during this time, but we are also here for those of you who decide to make the trip. We realize that The CODEX Foundation’s International Biennial Book Art Fair & Symposium serves a critical role in your artistic careers, businesses, and institutions, and we plan on continuing to serve our community and promote the art of the handmade book and those working in the field in meaningful ways.

For CODEX X, the entire event will be held at the Oakland Marriott City Center: the symposium, the fair, the cocktail party, the gala dinner, and our block of reserved rooms. We hope this will foster more intense discussions, connections, and an even tighter-knit book arts community. Although hosting this event has become significantly more expensive and particularly financially challenging in the current political environment, we are keeping the fees largely unchanged for 2026. We will also continue to offer our Emerging Artist Fellowships started in collaboration with Aaron Cohick and our Research Scholarship with CBAA. The CODEX Foundation has also recently agreed to match three individual grants to help new artists to participate from South America. There is still much planning to be done, but rest assured, we are already designing a wonderful experience for you.