Unbelievably terrific sources for books, new and used

But the Lodo store has limited hours now.

Your thought about McMurtry's place makes me wonder, again, about the size of the "underground" of people who are real booklovers -- from people who just love to read and own books to avid collectors. But it also has to do with finding things in odd places.

The day I was in Archer City, it was late in the afternoon and I had to -- had to -- get home that night (five/six hours south of there, on a narrow road) after a long trip. It happened that maybe a couple of hours north of Archer City, I'd also stopped at a shirt store in Apache, OK, not exactly a throbbing metropolis. This was another kind of "hidden treasure," a guy with a shirt store on the main street of a small town, but What Shirts! He supplies specific country singers and, when I was in there, a family gospel singing group. Awful shirts? No, WONDERFUL shirts that just a few people, here and there, seem to know about.

What is it about places like this, whether they sell books or shirts or odd hardware or whatever -- they're irresistible!!

It is hard to find the truly unique, I think, Tartarin, so when we do come across it, we want to savor it. The trouble is, anybody in business is hoping to do so well that they can start another store... or two... or ten. Then they're no longer one of a kind and we can gripe at them. Starbuck's started out with one coffee shop in Seattle.

Glad you mentioned Powell's, Piffka. It's a bookstore I can get lost in. And I plan to do so over T'giving when I go down to Portland! Only my brother and nephew, my hosts, tend to keep me one a short leash when we're together...

Tartarin wrote:

What is it about places like this, whether they sell books or shirts or odd hardware or whatever -- they're irresistible!!

Oh yes!! They become like dear members of the family. We love to share them with friends, but, at the same time, dread when the time comes that they are 'discovered.'

Unbelievably terrific
I use Amazon, and occasionally Half.com. Another good source is Alibris.com.

Locally I go to a weird place called The New England Mobile Book Store in Newton, MA. If it ever was mobile in any way, it certainly isn't now. It's housed in the most rickety fire-trap looking building I ever saw, and even though I've been there often and often, there are still nooks/corners/crannies/niches that I haven't yet visited - probably some I don't even know about in the first place. And oh, boy, is the staff ever au courant about the stock!

It has everything, all shelved by publisher (which can get pretty confusing, since publishers are constantly merging and renaming themselves), but fortunately they put updated location lists at the end of every row of shelves. It is, however, definitely possible to get totally lost there. I always feel I should take my lunch, or a ball of thread a la Ariadne and Theseus, just in case.

BTW, New England Mobile isn't a secondhand/rare/OP place. For those things I go to Amazon, Half.com, Alibris, or locally, The Brattle Book Shop in downtown Boston (www.brattlebooksshop.com).

I was brought up in Manhattan and one of our regular - like weekly - treats was to go the a nearby place, the Lenox Hill Book Shop (long gone, snff snff). We also had a chain called Womrath's, and of course the real Brentano's - not that thin chain that calls itself Brentano's today.

Finally, there were all the secondhand bookstores down on Fourth Avenue, and also on 59th St. Lenox Hill was for weekdays, but Fourth Avenue, and the stores on 59th St were special, for Saturday afternoons when my father didn't have to work.

Alibris.com has great prices and out-of-print books. I think they may also have some bootleg merchandise, but no one's ever caught them out, so it's all good.

Twice Sold Tales used to be a bigger operation, it had stores in Capitol Hill (Still there,and still the best! (D'art, say hello to Jeannie for me the next time you are in!)), Downtown on 1st Ave (Gone in 1996), the U District (Gone, I think), and Wallingford (Gone in 1998 or so).
There was also a set of three used bookstores in Bawl'mer (hon!) called Book Rendezvous. Unfortunately, dispute amongst the owners led to the store in Fell's Point closing in 2000, so only a small store downtown and the really big one in Federal Hill remain.
Normal's in the JHU area is cool, as is Mystery Loves Co. in Fells Point (and featured in a recent Laura Lippmann Mystery!).

Another thread I'd like to start (if I could think of a short enough title) would be about those books which we haven't read in a long time (but have read more than once) which (if our houses were hit by book burglars some dark night) we'd really miss.

I mean REALLY miss -- like, how could you do that to me, foul felon?!

Having another copy isn't the same as have That Edition of That Book.

That would be a great thread, Tartarin!

Or even books we had as children, no longer have, but can still see, "read." Ah yes, "Teenie And The Tall Man..." Did it really exist?

I will do that, hobitbob (is that the sobriquet she would know you by?) the next I'm there. Did you ever go to Horizon Books on 15th E? It's in an old house, paperbacks everywhere. A friend had a shop on the same street, Chameleon Books, but he retired on his vast financial holdings (i.e., he came into an inheritance).

Unbelievably terrific
Tartarin - How about just "The Irreplaceables"?

You could amplify that pleasingly mysterious title in the text. . .

Excellent, TomK!

By the way, I was brought up on Beatrix Potter ("...the cabbage bed came Mr. McGregor with his hoe...")... but for the first time, zeroing on your avatar, I'm worried about not the tale, but the tail of Tom Kitten contained in those tight pants!

Joe Nation sent me here...

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Thanks, Joe. I spent a little time digging around there but only came up with one book...

This one

That's along the lines of what I'm looking for, but the price is a bit too much. I collect old medical books and most of mine are from the early 1800's. I'd like to expand my collection to include the earlier centuries, thus the query. I'll keep looking. I have found some bargains on e-bay and in some second-hand book stores, but they're few and far between.

Again, thanks, Joe. And thanks to the rest of you who offered suggestions. I am still following up on a few of them.

Unbelievably
Yes, well, the fit is a bit snug. . .

Here in H-Town, my favorite is Bookstop, in the converted Alabama theatre on Sheperd. It's next to the best music store in the city, Cactus Records, and had as its neighbor the Whole Earth Foods until they moved down the street to a bigger location.

It's now part of the B&N megacorporation (but that's not all bad)...

What an interesting collection... we had an old medical book, I think it was post-Civil War, in our last book sale and the sister of one of the local doctors snapped it up. She offered us $50, which we gladly accepted.

Do you recall the book subject? General medicine?

I'm sorry, Gustav, I can't remember for sure, but I think it was either general medicine or surgery. I have a faint memory of her showing me an illustration of how to sew up an amputated leg and there was discussion about how there'd been a lot of those from the Civil War.

If I see another book that seems similar, I'll save it for you if I can.