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All praise to R. Dunaway, Bookseller...
Dear Annibale et al,
Here's a link to Goldwater discussing the NYC bookshops of the thirties and forties. It's from Ralph Dumain's Autododact Project, and is on my Moi Recommends list. I grew up in New Yorker myself, but didn't start collecting books until I was stationed in England in the late 80s. Reading anecdotes from booksellers and book collectors down through the ages is still one of my favorite pastimes: http://www.autodidactproject.org/other/goldwat1.html Best, Jerry Morris Annibale wrote and I snipped: Dear AL: Actually nearly all of the shops on 4th avenue and nearby were generalists' shops except for Goldwater. His wife, who was a cook book specialist also had several shelves filled with books outside of her field where I often found bargains. Several of the shops you mentioned are specialist's stores and only people interested in that specialty would find things there. Dunaway's is a general shop like the better shops on 4th avenue were. Actually one of the worst shops on 4th avenue was the greatest for sleepers. It was next door to Biblo and Tannen. The current owners were descendants of whoever stocked the shop. They never bought a book. But if you climbed up to the top of the stacks, and/or looked at the books behind books you could find wonders and all priced maybe 20 years ago. I mined that art book section in the nineteen 50s and early 60s. That sort of shop has a limited run and it has long been gone. The other thing 4th avenue had going for it was that the shops were right next to each other, cheek by jowl. They weren't near by. You could walk from one shop to another barely touching the pavement outside. I don't go to New York street shops that often because what I am looking for now wouldn't be there. So I will grant that I have to be a bit out of touch. I remember looking into some shops East of 4th avenue on 8th and possibly 9th streets but they did not have my kind of stock. **They do exist, though. But the shops in Georgetown were all honest to goodness used, op and rare generalists stores, and those are the ones which make any book district start hopping. **I have done some shopping in Kanda [in Tokyo] and in the shops in front of the main gate of Tokyo University[daigaku]. I think there is nothing in the Western world which even approaches the marvels of Kanda, that is if you want Japanese books. But there are several shops which specialize in Western language books, and taken as a group may actually have as many good books for sale in English as any single American town. I doubt whether there are any bargains, but I can remember when my wife had searched all over the world for The best Malay English dictionary [published in London and OP for some 30 years] with no success. In Tokyo, on our way to Malaysia, [in 1975] we walked into a dictionary shop and they had a copy. Considering all things, it was a great bargain, and she has used it ever since. Best, Annibale Moi's Books About Books: http://www.tinyurl.com/hib7 Moi's LIbrary http://www.moislibrary.com My Sentimental Library http://www.picturetrail.com/mylibrary Florida Bibliophile Society http://www.floridabibliophilesociety.org |
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