Posted: July 31, 2021
Book Row
Review
If the term "second hand bookstore" makes you feel good all over than you will love "Book Row". There was a time when in New York an entire street was booklovers heaven - this is the time capsule for that time.
This book is about bibliophiles and written for bibliophiles. If you love books and you understand the particular magic of books you will like Book Row and I heartily recommend that you read it.
Reading this book feels like going into a book shop and browsing, just a happy, happy, feeling.
The writing flows smoothly as it takes us through the subject matter. And what a subject! I learned about catalogs and antiquarian books and buying private libraries and book auctions, a whole load of things about books and I could not get enough. Happily, the authors could not shut up about it too.
A very minor niggle I have is that the very last chapter seemed superfluous. It was like talking to someone and he's said everything but he just won't shut up so you have to gently pat him on the shoulder, hand him his coat, and close the door on him with a thank you. And that's just what I want to say to Marvin Mondlin and Roy Meador: thank you for preserving a bygone time for those of us who - by reason of age or distance - have had no chance to experience it.
Synopsis
This book is about the second hand book shops that flourished in or near Fourth Street in New York from the 1890s until the start of the twentieth century. The heyday for these shops were from the 30s to the 60s. After that, high rental rates and the absence of new book shop proprietors slowly closed down Book Row. Not totally though, the legendary Strand bookstore alone survives of those Book Row shops, plus there two new shops on Fourth Street as of the writing of this book (2004) - Alabaster Books and The Gallagher.
The book goes into detail about the shops, the proprietors, and some of the customers. It effectively recreates the different eras of Book Row and even provides pictures of the shops and proprietors.