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Books of Wonder opened on September 2, 1980, as a bookshop specializing in antique children’s books. Today, the shop stocks new titles as well as beloved classics and still has a large selection of old, rare, and collectible children's books. Many events have been held here over the years by prominent authors including Madeleine L’Engle and Eric Carle.
B&B Rare Books specializes in eighteenth to twentieth-century American, British, and French literature, modern first editions, poetry, mystery and detective fiction, children's literature, and signed and inscribed books. After graduating from college and moving to New York City, Joshua Mann and Sunday Steinkirchner opened B&B Rare Books inspired by their shared love for rare books and literature.
Argosy Book Store has been in business for eighty-nine years, making it New York City’s oldest independent book store. Now in its third generation of family ownership, Argosy has an extensive stock of antiquarian and out-of-print items. The store specializes in Americana, modern first editions, autographs, art, antique maps and prints, and the history of science and medicine.
Alabaster Bookshop is the last of the secondhand bookstores that once lined Fourth Avenue. Just around the corner from the Strand, this bookshop is much smaller and more affordable, with trade paperbacks sold at half the cover price and two dollar hardcovers on the rolling carts outside. The selection is eclectic, ranging from post modern literature to Twilight, and also features some rare photography books and first edition paperbacks.
In 1991, the Greenwich Village Historical Society cited Three Lives & Company for being “a pocket of civility.” The shop boasts a knowledgeable staff who aid in directing customers to literary books that they might otherwise overlook and placing special orders.
With the strong support of the Morningside Heights community and the faculty and administration of Columbia University, Book Culture is a true community bookstore. Founded in 1997, the store features new and classic fiction and nonfiction, cookbooks, mystery novels, graphic novels, home and craft books, and travel guides. They host numerous readings and literary events throughout the year. The bookstore has four locations, including two in Manhattan, one in Long Island City, and one in Pittsford, New York.
Bluestockings Cooperative is a worker-owned community space and bookstore in the Lower East Side of Manhattan guided by the principles of abolition feminism, solidarity, and transformative justice practices. The store carries over 6,000 titles of social justice-themed books on such topics as race, class, and the environment, in addition to fiction and poetry. Bluestockings also hosts readings, workshops, performances, discussions, and films almost every night of the week. The café offers organic, vegan, and fair trade menu items.
Printed Matter, Inc., a nonprofit organization located in Chelsea, is one of the world’s largest publicly available sources for artists’ books. The organization has an open submission process, inviting artists and independent publishers to submit their books for sale, and maintains a busy programming calendar featuring exhibitions of contemporary and historically significant artists’ books, talks, book launches, and more. They have an additional location in the East Village at 38 Saint Marks Place.
Photo by Megan Mack.
192 Books is a general interest bookstore in the Chelsea neighborhood featuring recent titles and past best-sellers, as well as selected rare and out-of-print books, on a variety of subjects, including literary fiction, art and photography, history and biography, natural history and science, works in translation, film, poetry, music, and current affairs. 192 Books hosts art exhibitions and an extensive series of readings by distinguished writers and artists, signings, group readings, discussions, and a weekly story hour for children at eleven each Wednesday.
Bauman Rare Books was first housed in the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, then moved to Madison Avenue between 54th and 55th Streets in 2008. The shop has a constantly changing display of over four thousand books and documents in a wide range of subject areas, some dating from the fifteenth century. Bauman Rare Books’ headquarters is located in Philadelphia, and their newest store has opened in Las Vegas.
