Gowrie's Denis Power and his mother, Marie, are two of the estimated 12,000 people who helped Lifeline raise well over $400,000 at its three-day Autumn book fair.
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The event, at EPIC, attracts book dealers, collectors and casual readers from across southern Australia with a massive and eclectic offering of literature and ephemera.
Mr Power, 57, paid $23 on Sunday for a 150-year-old Bible, a guide to American motor vehicles and selected National Geographic magazines from the 1920s.
''I love them [the Geographics] because of the ads,'' he said. ''The car advertisements are great.''
His Bible, a massive family version that weighed almost two kilograms and would have been the ultimate ''coffee table'' book of its day, is a real find.
Covered in handsome, hand-tooled leather, it is lavishly decorated with beautiful engravings depicting scenes from the scriptures and pictures of the Holy Land.
A real stand-out is a full-page rendition of The Lord's Prayer in Gothic lettering and illuminated in best 12th-century style. The only clue to the Bible's history is the name ''Katherine Symonds'' on the inside back cover. It was somewhat the worse for wear but still largely intact.
''This would be a restorer's dream,'' Mr Power said. ''I found it in the 'books for binders' section in the collectables area.''
Marie Power, who is 88, was nowhere to be seen among the antiques and collectables. Her tastes are much more contemporary.
''Mum? She comes with me every year,'' Mr Power said. ''You'll find her down in the main hall. She is after contemporary fiction.''
The two Powers, along with Denis's brother, recently received gold awards from the ACT First Minister for 50 years in Canberra. ''We all moved up together from Melbourne in 1960,'' Mr Power said. ''When mum received her award my brother and I thought 'hey, we've been here 50 years, too.''
The book fair manager, Jack MacGuire, said Canberrans such as the Powers who supported the Lifeline events were all remarkable. ''Canberra people are amazing. They say the book is dead; I just can't see it,'' he said.
The feedback from participants had been fantastic. ''We had one book dealer from Sydney who said it was the best organised book fair in the country,'' Mr MacGuire said.
