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#1
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All praise to R. Dunaway, Bookseller...
Yesterday was hot in St. Louis. Grand Blvd. was noisy and crowded.
I went into Mr. Dunaway's shop and browsed for an hour. It was cool, quiet and organized. I found two fairly-priced books (obscure and of interest, I imagine, only to me). I bought them and spent half the night reading one of them. The experience of taking refuge from the clutter of a city into the repose of a good bookshop, finding a good book that barely dents the wallet, and spending the next few hours captivated by the purchase, is one that our grandchildren will not enjoy. At least not in my home town of Milwaukee. It can now be said (with the closing of "Recycled Books" on Prospect Avenue) that the Eastside no longer has a used bookstore. Perhaps I should move my family to St. Louis. It seems to be more of a book town. Regards, Jonathan Brodie |
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#2
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All praise to R. Dunaway, Bookseller...
Jonathan wrote: Yesterday was hot in St. Louis. Grand Blvd. was noisy and crowded. I went into Mr. Dunaway's shop and browsed for an hour. It was cool, quiet and organized. I found two fairly-priced books (obscure and of interest, I imagine, only to me). I bought them and spent half the night reading one of them. The experience of taking refuge from the clutter of a city into the repose of a good bookshop, finding a good book that barely dents the wallet, and spending the next few hours captivated by the purchase, is one that our grandchildren will not enjoy. At least not in my home town of Milwaukee. It can now be said (with the closing of "Recycled Books" on Prospect Avenue) that the Eastside no longer has a used bookstore. Perhaps I should move my family to St. Louis. It seems to be more of a book town. Actually your complaint about Milwaukee is probably true in many larger cities all over the country. Partly it has to do with the internet, and partly with the difficulties of having an open shop, anywhere. Although I would not say that New York was a bad book town, now, I am old enough to remember 4th avenue at its heyday, and it was a much better book town then. In that immediate neighborhood, that I know of, Strand is the only one left. If I go back to the days of Biblo and Tannen there must have been ten or more street shops, as well as several very interesting shops higher up in the surrounding buildings. That is where Goldwater's shop[black, hispanic, left wing-but he himself collected incunabula] was after he left University Place. In midtown, we also had several used, rare and new art book shops. Weyhe was the best, but there were three more in midtown, Wittenborn and two others whose names I no longer recall. The only town I have spent time in, going from shop to shop, in the last ten years was Washington DC, and I was pleased by the number of shops. There is a little cluster in Georgetown which is quite nice. Best, Annibale Regards, Jonathan Brodie |
#3
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All praise to R. Dunaway, Bookseller...
Annibale wrote:
Jonathan wrote: Yesterday was hot in St. Louis. Grand Blvd. was noisy and crowded. I went into Mr. Dunaway's shop and browsed for an hour. It was cool, quiet and organized. I found two fairly-priced books (obscure and of interest, I imagine, only to me). I bought them and spent half the night reading one of them. The experience of taking refuge from the clutter of a city into the repose of a good bookshop, finding a good book that barely dents the wallet, and spending the next few hours captivated by the purchase, is one that our grandchildren will not enjoy. At least not in my home town of Milwaukee. It can now be said (with the closing of "Recycled Books" on Prospect Avenue) that the Eastside no longer has a used bookstore. Perhaps I should move my family to St. Louis. It seems to be more of a book town. Actually your complaint about Milwaukee is probably true in many larger cities all over the country. Partly it has to do with the internet, and partly with the difficulties of having an open shop, anywhere. Although I would not say that New York was a bad book town, now, I am old enough to remember 4th avenue at its heyday, and it was a much better book town then. In that immediate neighborhood, that I know of, Strand is the only one left. But new ones have opened--Alabaster and 12th Street Books come to mind. -- Evelyn C. Leeper In literature, as in love, we are astonished by what is chosen by others. --Andre Maurois |
#4
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All praise to R. Dunaway, Bookseller...
Evelyn C. Leeper wrote:
Annibale wrote: Jonathan wrote: . Although I would not say that New York was a bad book town, now, I am old enough to remember 4th avenue at its heyday, and it was a much better book town then. In that immediate neighborhood, that I know of, Strand is the only one left. But new ones have opened--Alabaster and 12th Street Books come to mind. I think I'm a bit too young to know about 4th Avenue at it's heyday, but in the Strand's nearly immediate neighborhood, I would also mention Skyline Books on West 18th St., Books of Wonder (a children's bookstore), also on West 18th St, The Salvation Army Thrift Store (definately a crapshoot) on 4th Ave on 10th Street, and Partner's and Crime Mystery Bookstore on Greenwich Ave off 6th Ave. I recently purchased Daniel Woodrell's first novel, Under the Bright Lights in F/F condition at a bargain price at Skyline Books. AL |
#5
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All praise to R. Dunaway, Bookseller...
Carney Wilde wrote:
Books of Wonder (a children's bookstore), also on West 18th St, Ah, Books Of Wonder. The only wonder is how they manage to sell any books with the exorbitant prices they charge! Old-timers may recall when they were over on the corner of 7th Ave & 18th in a smaller shop. Good for browsing but not for buying unless you absolutely, positively HAVE to have the book at that exact second! Sad to say but the used book store business is going the way of high-buttoned shoes and buggy whips, replaced by online sales and, most of all, eBay. One by one, they are dropping by the wayside and when the last one is gone, this country will be the poorer for it. |
#6
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All praise to R. Dunaway, Bookseller...
Here's another Book Store just closed.
Bob Streeter July 20, 2006 By Bruce Edwards, Rutland Herald Staff The outdoor book bins that were a visible calling card for the business at 28 South Main St. are now empty. So, too, is the large red building with its inventory of 40,000 books. A Rutland institution for 174 years, Tuttle Antiquarian Books closed its doors last month ? a victim of technology. "The reason for closing was the effects of the Internet," Jon Mayo said Wednesday while watching workers load books onto a truck bound for Maine. "We think that's what did us in." Mayo, 67, who purchased the business five years ago with Jennifer Shannon, said consumer buying and selling habits had changed to the point where Tuttle couldn't compete with eBay, Amazon and everyone else in between. "It's impossible to compete with someone who can sell their books from their living room," he said. Mayo also said it became increasingly difficult to buy quality books to replenish the company's stock of old books. He said most of his customers were tourists who dropped by and out-of-state book dealers. The store on South Main Street resembled more of a library than a traditional bookstore. There were shelves upon shelves of books on almost every conceivable subject ? 200 subject listings to be exact, according to Mayo. The Tuttle family has a rich publishing history going back to the 1800s when a Tuttle family member owned the Rutland Herald. In addition to Tuttle Publishing Co., there is Tuttle Law Print; both companies continue in business to this day, though ownership has changed over the years. Downtown, there is the recently renovated Tuttle building. The family had also owned Tuttle Stationery Co., which has since gone out of business. Charles Tuttle, who ran Tuttle Publishing for years, came back from serving in occupied Japan at the end of World War II. That experience resulted in Tuttle publishing myriad English language books on the Far East, especially Japanese history, culture and language. In 1979, Tuttle spun off the company's rare and old book business as Tuttle Antiquarian Books, expanding an existing secondhand bookstore in the basement of the publishing company's offices at 28 South Main St. Following Tuttle's death in 1993, his Japanese-born wife, Reiko, continued to run the book shop. In 2001, Reiko Tuttle sold the business to long-time employees Mayo and Shannon. Reiko Tuttle died earlier this year. A statue in the likeness of Charles Tuttle that sat on the front porch of the bookstore has been donated to the Tuttle Publishing Co. in the Airport Business Park, Mayo said. Mayo said he and Shannon sold the inventory of 40,000 books to another book seller, DeWolfe and Wood, in Alfred, Maine. The main building at 28 South Main and the adjacent building at 26 South Main, which was used as a warehouse, "are being been sold to a local person," said Mayo, who declined to identify the buyer. The city assessor's office listed the value of the properties at $200,000 and $167,100 respectively. The smaller Tuttle building at 26 South Main St. was built in 1795. The white federal-style building was the home of Mrs. Samuel Williams, whose husband was the first pastor of the Congregational Church, according to Jim Davidson of the Rutland Historical Society. The main 2-1/2 story building with the gambrel roof was built in 1900. Mayo, who began working for Charles Tuttle in 1957, said he has mixed feelings about closing a business with such a rich history. "There are a lot of emotions involved, some good, some bad,' he said. |
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