In which country does the world's largest book fair take place annually?

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the world's largest trade fair for books, based both on the number of publishing companies represented, and the number of visitors. It is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for international deals and trading.

The five-day annual event in mid-October is held at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The first three days are restricted exclusively to professional visitors; the general public attend the fair on the weekend.

The Frankfurter Buchmesse, or Frankfurt Book Fair, has a tradition spanning more than 500 years. Before the advent of printed books the general trade fair in Frankfurt was the place for selling handwritten books, as early as the 12th century.

Although no official founding date of the Frankfurt Book Fair is documented, it had definitely been established by 1462, the year that the printers Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer, who had taken over Gutenberg's printing operations after a legal dispute, moved their operations to Frankfurt.