The first Yugoslav Book Fair was held in 1956 at the Zagreb Fair, under the patronage of the President of Yugoslavia Josip Broz Tito. It was attended by the most prominent Yugoslav writers, including Ivo Andrić and Miroslav Krleža. This first Fair included about 12,000 books of all Yugoslav publishers of the time, also featuring publishers from Austria, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, UK, France, Italy, China, Hungary, East and West Germany, Poland, Romania, USA, Soviet Union, and Switzerland.

The following year (1957), the Fair was relocated to Belgrade, following completed construction of a modern fair complex. This book exhibit included books of some 60 local and 36 international publishers from 16 countries in Europe, America, and Asia. It was agreed that the International Book Fair issues an official catalogue and that it lasts for six days. The Fair was held in late October at Hall 3 of the Belgrade Fair. To celebrate this occasion, a new magazine (The Book and the World) was launched. The first Belgrade Book Fair was opened by the Vice President of the Federal Executive Council at the time, Mr. Rodoljub Čolaković.

Each year the International Belgrade Book Fair attracted an increasing number of publishers from former Yugoslavia and the world, soon transforming into the largest meeting point of publishers from Europe, America, Asia, and Africa, second only to the Frankfurt and Warsaw Book Fairs. Belgrade became the place where Eastern and Western cultures meet.

Naredne, 1957. godine, Sajam je preseljen u Beograd, u kojem je završena izgradnja modernog sajmišta. Knjige je izložilo oko 60 domaćih i 36 stranih izdavača, iz 16 država Evrope, Amerike i Azije. Dogovoreno je da Međunarodni sajam knjiga prati katalog i da traje šest dana. Sajam je održan krajem oktobra u Hali III Beogradskog sajma, a povodom sajamske svečanosti pokrenuta je i revija “Knjiga i svet”. Prvi Beogradski sajam knjiga otvorio je Rodoljub Čolaković, tadašnji potpredsednik SIV-a.

Međunarodni sajam knjiga u Beogradu iz godine u godinu okupljao je sve veći broj izdavača iz bivše Jugoslavije i celog sveta, tako da je posle sajmova u Frankfurtu i Varšavi, postao najveće stecište izdavačkih poslenika iz Evrope, Amerike, Azije i Afrike. U Beogradu su se susretale, i još uvek se susreću, kulture Istoka i Zapada.