Looking for knowledge

Here you go, silver . . .

 

Awww! Thanks, Messi.

Totally different flavor from the British, but charming. Haven't heard one of those silky smooth tenors in a million years.

 

Oops. I always do this. Stevenson's fellow is "Leerie." My once-upon-a-time, absolutely favorite bookshop was Leary's in Philadelphia. One could get great bargains there by standing in the rain out on the cobblestones, trying to keep under the inadequate awnings. The inside of the store smelled heavenly to me, and they had serial books there, hardbound, for about 35 cents. Tom Swift, Grace Harlow, Marjorie Dean, the Horatio Alger books, etc.

One of my favorite purchases there was Christopher Moreley's, Tje Haunted Bookshop. It had a red leatherette cover, and was just the right size to hold in one's hand. oddly, the author was a Philadelphian, but his book takes place in Brooklyn, NY.

 

My mother had an uncle who was the town lamplighter. She said on cold days he'd bring a bottle with him. By the time he'd finished his rounds, he was sagging in the saddle, but his old horse knew the way home. Sounds like a fantasy, but my mother's stories were always verifiable so I'm pretty sure this is accurate.

 

Hi Silver,
The best book store was the Strand in NY. I spent days in those aisles. My favorite purchase there was a copy of "Through the Looking Glass" a 1903 copy with all uncut pages for 3 bucks. The best was an invitation to the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge slipped into one of the pages. The book has been lost to the ages but the invitation is framed and hangs by my front door.
greg

 

Greg -- Ain't serendipity great! What a find!

Another bookstore of note is not far from you -- The Book Barn in West Chester, PA. It opened in 1958, and has grown exponentially from being the bottom of a barn to a rabbit warren of rooms devoted to specific genres. One can find almost anything (and they carry prints & maps as well) but the management is rather self-conscious about the charm of the place and one pays for the privilege of shopping there via the cost of the books. However, it is gorgeous countryside, near the Wyeth gallery and Longwood Gardens.

 

We have Parnassus in Barnstable in an antique house on Route 6A. There's a carport-type roof over a wall of outside shelves that you can find browsers at all year long. The inside is a warren of shelves packed with every type of book imaginable. The parents who started it passed away, and the daughter is running it, now. Sounds like the Book Barn

 

Over here, I am often in Hay on Wye, billed as the world's secondhand bookshop capital, in reality certainly Britain's.
There are a couple of dozen bookshops or more in a town the size of a pinhead.

Also home of the Hay Festival where I once made a point of ignoring Bill Clinton.

In fairness, he ignored me first.

 

Bev - will be going to Parnassus soon! You do know that it is named for another of Christopher Morley"s books, Parnassus on Wheels?