You might remember that back in January, I attempted a visit to Argosy (Old and Rare Books, Prints and Maps) in New York, only to find that it was unexpectedly closed for most of the month. Two weeks ago, Kakaner and I finally made it there together, this time in some borderline torturous heat and humidity. It proved to be possibly the handsomest bookstore I’ve ever visited:

Everything immaculately labeled and presented, and gorgeously lit. (You can also see the store’s namesake dangling from the ceiling in the above photo – I neglected to take a better photo of it, but it was a marvelous model.) Very rich, very Old World.

The first floor is all old and rare books, plus a fascinating selection of old maps, prints, sheet music, and so on, in a wide range of qualities and prices. I was tempted to pick up some botanical prints, which I always have a weakness for, but couldn’t really justify the acquisition (sigh). It all also made me wish I were any good at collages.

The above photo is from a glass case full of luxuriously rebound rare copies of classics. We checked out such interesting specimens as an edition of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Kakaner’s a Verne addict) with hand-colored illustrations, an original Edmund-Dulac-illustrated edition of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, and some sort of small-press artist edition of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, massive and slipcovered and filled with fold-out photographic illustrations. As you can imagine, these were all well over $1000.

Downstairs was the non-rare books section. I didn’t take a picture, but the contrast to the jewel-case of a first floor was stark and hilarious: the basement was the picture of pretty much every other crammed, fusty-smelling, poorly lit, and generally slightly manky used bookstore you’ve been in, although still better organized than the average. Also, they seem to take only hardcovers, which also puts them one step up from the average.

In our usual fashion, we went on a hunt for the sci-fi section, and after a somewhat confusing search located less than half a bookcase, mostly of Anne McCaffrey, at the back of one aisle. So, not much to really get excited about there.

I was kind of amused that sexuality and gender went under “Curiosa.”

Gorgeously battered leather bindings, $10. A little reminder that basement presentation aside, it is one classy bookstore.

- E

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Roosterguarded
Bookstores of New York: Skyline Books
Bookstores of New York: Books of Wonder

Approaching the target (green banner spotted ahead):

And it is…

…CLOSED WHYYYYY. On top of having beautifully lit and presented displays out for me to stare at longingly through the bars, they even had a “New Year’s Sale!” prominently advertised. Well I can’t abuse my savings account on behalf of your sale if you’re CLOSED, can I?

So my visit to Argosy had to be put off to another time, but I did get to see some fun bookish things when my brother and I ducked into the New York Public Library to poke around.

The original inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Woods, currently housed in the children’s section:

How cute is Piglet? I should have taken a picture from behind to show Eeyore’s tacked-on tail, too.

I remember reading an article about A. A. Milne and the real Christopher Robin, in which it was mentioned that of the original toys, Roo had been forgotten and lost at some point in an orchard. I found this information rather traumatic.

About ten minutes to closing time, we also managed to stumble into a special exhibit celebrating the 250th anniversary of Voltaire’s Candide. I like Rousseau more than Voltaire, but I’m still fangirl enough to have ooh’d and ahh’d over a briefcase that belonged to the latter:

“Portefeuille de Monsieur de Voltaire”!

(Of course it would be a totally pimped out briefcase. In his defense, it was a gift to him from someone else.)

- E

Just across the street from Books of Wonder is Skyline Books. We ducked in because a. it was raining and b. it was just across the street from Books of Wonder (duh).

It proved to be kind of dingy and smelled strongly of cat pee (the offending cat was later found under one of the bookshelves), but had some interesting stock and many knick-knacks. Kakaner and I both walked out with purchases.

30% store-wide sale while we were there.

Some old humor and pulp magazines, feat. “THE CRIME OF FU KEE WONG” and “FUN FROM FRANCE.”

The New American Caravan endures some kind of viselike arrangement.

I forget what Kakaner got, but just as I was about to leave the store I spotted a row of beautiful old editions of Lafcadio Hearn’s books and picked out A Japanese Miscellany, which I featured in this post.

- E

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Bookstores of New York: Books of Wonder
New books for August

This past summer, Kakaner and I, plus another friend, went on a mini-tour of several independent bookstores in New York City. Chief among our destinations was Books of Wonder, which specializes in children’s and fantasy books, both new and collectible. I’d first seen some of their items at the New York Antiquities Book Fair in the spring, which is a subject for another entry, but I’d been enchanted even then by their gorgeous editions and collection of original cover art. Their actual location proved to be just as much fun.

My house will probably look like this one day.

The actual façade wasn’t much to look at, minus their charming logo (seen on the blue banner), which features Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Scarecrow, and a dragon all reading books. squee.

Inside, the ambiance isn’t all that fantastic either (exposed ceilings, greyish walls and carpet) – except, of course for the contents. Above is a shot of some of their new titles.

And here’s the Giant Wall of Framed Original Art. (Links lead to fullsize versions of each photo for your optical indulgence.)

Michael Hague, Paul O. Zelinsky (Rapunzel), Troy Howell (Redwall 10th anniversary art)…!

Close-up of the beautiful Zelinsky piece (”Your singing was so beautiful” – only $35,000, of course), plus David Wiesner’s cover art for Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising. I honestly hate his cover art, which was for the paperback boxed set edition, but it was still damn cool to see it in real life.

Emily Arnold McCully’s Mirette on the High Wire! Sigh, my childhood.

And then there are the ranks of rare and collectible editions, behind glass and under lock and key. The employee in charge of them at the time of our visit didn’t seem to know anything about the books, and largely stared at us in mild bewilderment while we proceeded to enthuse (to put it lightly) over nearly every book on the shelves.  This was was a bit disappointing, since I love being able to chat with knowledgeable and similarly excited dealers, but in any case… I neglected to take a picture of all the shelves, but here were a few of our most-ogled selections.

Beagle’s A Fine and Private Place! John Bellairs! The Indian in the Cupboard!

Sharon Creech, Susan Cooper… cue swooning. I’ve really been craving original hardcovers of the Dark is Rising series, too. (Stemming, in fact, from my dissatisfaction with the previously mentioned eyesore of a boxed set edition.)

Anybody have a spare $16,500 for this signed special edition of The Lord of the Rings? No? Me neither. More sighing.

And finally, the book that Kakaner walked out of the store with, and which should not be a surprise to anyone who knows anything about our reading history…

First edition (though not first printing), signed. Cool.

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Books of Wonder

Our first stop was the Cambridge Salvation Army bookstore, where, if I recall correctly, Kakaner bought one paperback – but for the life of me I can’t recall what. The books were musty and disorganized, but the prices are incredible.

We also stopped for brunch (veggie omelette + potatoes) at the Miracle of Science Bar & Grill. Great ambiance, a bit pricy.

Second stop, Rodney’s Bookstore. The extent of the store was incredible – numerous floors and and apparently endless side rooms, and the books were well-organized, although still time-consuming to navigate, by virtue of sheer volume. Pricing moderate to middling-high, for a used bookstore (e.g. not too much off of list price for good-quality hardcovers and trades). If I recall correctly, their uppermost floor was all new books.

They had an entire side room of science fiction and fantasy selections, but quality pickings were pretty slim – mostly mass market paperbacks of obscure, epic series with lurid covers.

Crystal Bookstore! This was the most colorful (literally) and fun of the lot. It reeks of incense and is stuffed with healing crystals and kitchsy Eastern decor. I really enjoyed their eccentric book selections. Prices were a little high for the quality of the books (most of which are moderately worn, rather than good or like new), in my opinion. Kakaner bought an H. P. Lovecraft collection and I bought The Penguin Book of Classic Vampire Stories. I have this problem with vampire short story collections. It’s embarrassing.

Excuse me, but this wouldn’t happen to be a New Age bookstore, would it?

A selection of titles. Brilliant stuff; I felt very much in the milieu of the original Weird fiction writers.

That’s all the photo documentation I have, but some of the other bookstores that we hit up were The Million Year Picnic comic store (small store space limits selection, but they have a great collection of original monthly issues) and the Harvard Bookstore (one of my favorite used bookstores, ANYWHERE – though unfortunately I didn’t find anything nearing the pile of books that I came out with the first time that I visited). In Boston, we also stumbled upon a sidewalk sale of books, where, to my great glee, I found a hardcover omnibus edition of Tanith Lee’s The Secret Books of Paradys, III & IV – nothing like finding an obscure edition of an obscure book to make your day. It reeked of cigarette smoke, but has since been rehabilitated.

All told, I think we visited about six or seven bookstores; due to time constraints, we had to skip two bookstores along the way – intriguingly, they appeared to be Communist bookstores, but given the low probability of finding relevant reading material there, we decided to give them a miss. Maybe another time.