"That was the day that I really understood I could buy books and sell them for more money. That was the day I got hooked by books."Taylor Bowie has been selling books in Seattle for over 40 years. My first job in the book trade back in the early 1990's was working for Taylor at Bowie & Company. At the time I was working as a residential therapist at an in-patient facility for troubled kids and was beginning to show signs of social service burn. Taylor's friend happened to be the cook at this place and Taylor and I would...
From a Waste Space to a Bookshop: The Birth of the Happy Tales Bookshop
Welcome to Castle Arkdale the home of Happy Tales Bookshop in Wisconsin. Complete with moat, drawbridge and an armored Sir Kevin inside the front door.And from where hath such a fine castle of books originate from?A manure storage tank!Yep, Lenore Dickmann's husband "Lloyd, cleaned out a manure storage tank on their farm to make room for her expanding Happy Tales Bookshop.""Leonore Dickmann was surprised and delighted," when she saw her husband's handiwork which took took him 3 weeks to excavate, wax and polish it.Why the castle motif? Dickmann was researching a book on King Arthur when her husband came up...
Act 2: Kansas City Book Pyro Ignites Another Batch
Tom Wayne of Prospero's Books in Kansas City chose Labor Day weekend for the second installment of his 'I'm Going to Burn All the Books I Can't Sell' publicity gimmick.KCTV5 news in KC is giving it prime coverage, with the story and video being the website's most popular, and CNN has picked it up as a home page headline.The first burning back in May resulted in "thousands of e-mails and phone calls with suggestions what to do with the books. But few people offered to take them."With all of the public outcry, I thought more people would step up to...
Another Haven For Book Culture
I was quite pleased when I heard that Labyrinth Books, the bookstore serving Columbia University and its surrounding neighborhood, was changing its name to Book Culture.Regardless of the fact that it was motivated by a failed business relationship the point is they arrived at Book Culture.I asked Chris Doeblin, former co-owner of Labyrinth Books and now sole owner of Book Culture I few questions on how they got there and were they are going:Book Patrol: How did you get to the new name? Chris Doeblin: I wanted to choose a name that defined what we were trying to offer in...
George Gloss: A Bookseller to Remember
Picture this:It is 1969. The American Counterculture is peaking. Woodstock, Flower Power, and the Beats are upending the stale establishment. You're high as a kite walking around the streets of Boston and you see a covered wagon coming down the street. Horses, cowboys and the whole bit. From the covered wagon books are being thrown freely. On the side of the wagon it said: "Go West, Booklovers -- Go to 5 West Street -- Brattle Book Shop."Some people might not have recovered.This was the work of George Gloss, the owner of the Brattle Book Shop. A bookshop "As powerful a...