I'll borrow, for this thread title, the title of one of Orwell's essays.

How was it for you, looking for books in bookstores when you were getting to know the genre?

I wrote a piece, which starts on page 9, here --

[efanzines.com]

-- about bookstore prowling in the 1970s. The dates when I bought the books were derived from books still readily at hand that had come from one of the two stores mentioned. But there were other stores too, and other finds at those two stores but with which I have parted company somehow or other and so don't record in the article.

It's pretty remarkable how, without Internet bookstores, one might be able to get hold of quite a few books one enjoyed at that time and might even find to be worth keeping permanently. But I don't know how representative my experience was. My hunch is that, despite having perhaps only a few dollars a month to spend on books, I was a lot better off than many people, even in larger cities.

Here's the Orwell essay, by the way -- it's a good read:

[www.orwellfoundation.com]

Thanks for sharing your piece. Loved reading it.
I have fond memories of The Fantasy Center, on the Holloway Road in London. (I'm from The Netherlands)
They had lots of old editions and I loved browsing through them. My first visit was in 1989 I think, last one 2006 (a year before they closed).
Buying on the internet has lost of advantages (I bought my copy of The Gods of Pegana somewhere in the Australian bush), but I miss the tactile element, the discoveries, and most of all the smell.

Yours,

Frank

Thanks, Frank! I wonder if lots of the people here at ED are younger than me, belonging to a generation that hasn't had the bookstore adventures that -- I suppose -- must have been relatively common prior to the Internet, prior to the closing of many independent bookstores, etc.

Bookstores for used books take up that niche.

For bookstores of that era, I enjoyed Leon's in San Luis Obispo, CA, Either/Or, Hermosa Beach, CA; The Hobbit, Santa Monica; and Mithras, La Jolla.

We moved to Portland, OR in 1987. There is Powell's. There were many independent used bookstores (Cameron's, Holland's, Wrigley Cross) for quite a while, but much fewer now, plus it is harder for me to get around and stand in bookstores, as formerly.

Good memories!

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Ah, Powell's in Portland. I must have started going there in the mid-1970s, but I don't suppose I've been in the store since the early 1980s.

There was also Garvin and Levin (specializing in sf & fantasy), The Old Oregon Bookstore, and one called something like The Green Dolphin. But Powell's outshone them all, of course -- at that time, so far as I recall, just on the basis of a huge and well-organized stock; I don't recall that Powell's was having community events yet.

Dale Nelson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ah, Powell's in Portland. I must have started
> going there in the mid-1970s, but I don't suppose
> I've been in the store since the early 1980s.
>
> There was also Garvin and Levin (specializing in
> sf & fantasy), The Old Oregon Bookstore,

YEP!

I was struggling to remember the name.

Holland's I'm not sure that's the right name. I *think* they were on the same N/S street as Jake's Famous Crawfish, just 1/2 block south, same side of the street.

Very small and dusty...

That's not actually very far from the Old Oregon.

> and one
> called something like The Green Dolphin.

Can you recall where they were?

> But
> Powell's outshone them all, of course -- at that
> time, so far as I recall, just on the basis of a
> huge and well-organized stock; I don't recall that
> Powell's was having community events yet.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawfish, I am trying to get that information from the Multnomah County library. They don't seem to have city directories for that period but do have old telephone books. In the meantime, I can say that all of the bookstores I mentioned were within walking distance of each other around 1979.



DN

Sawfish, I have some information from you from the 1980 Portland telephone directory, thanks to the good folks at the Multnomah County Library.

Powell's was at 1207 W. Burnside.

Green Dolphin Books was at 215 SW Ankeny.

Old Oregon Books was at 112 SW 2nd.

Garvin and Levin was at 2724 E. Burnside.

Those are the ones that I remember for used books. Looking Glass Books was a source for new books at 421 SW Taylor. I think all of those stores were within walking distance of each other downtown except maybe for Garvin and Levin.

Holland's, mentioned by you but not known to me, was at 3522 SE Hawthorne. Cameron's: 336 SW 3rd. Wrigley Cross doesn't seem to be listed.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 8 Feb 20 | 05:58PM by Dale Nelson.

Dale Nelson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sawfish, I have some information from you from the
> 1980 Portland telephone directory, thanks to the
> good folks at the Multnomah County Library.
>
> Powell's was at 1207 W. Burnside.
>
> Green Dolphin Books was at 215 SW Ankeny.
>
> Old Oregon Books was at 112 SW 2nd.
>
> Garvin and Levin was at 2724 E. Burnside.
>
> Those are the ones that I remember for used books.
> Looking Glass Books was a source for new books at
> 421 SW Taylor. I think all of those stores were
> within walking distance of each other downtown
> except maybe for Garvin and Levin.
>
> Holland's, mentioned by you but not known to me,
> was at 3522 SE Hawthorne. Cameron's: 336 SW 3rd.
> Wrigley Cross doesn't seem to be listed.

That was terrific, Dale! Thanks!

Those were *good* times!

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Got to thinking about Wrigley Cross...

It was always a very small operation, and it specialized in detective and horror.

They are still in operation online, and I'll post this in case it is of interest to any readers here.

[www.wrigleycrossbooks.com]

I can now remember that I discovered them next to the Baskin-Robbins in the Hollywood district, when I'd take my daughter for some ice cream, then we'd go over there for a short time. They had some old large format illustrated kids' books--but good stuff. Old illustrated Grimm, etc.

Builds character... ;^)

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Sawfish Wrote:

> Those were *good* times!


They were and they weren't, right? There were, it seems, at least in Portland and, I'm sure, other cities, more independent, hole-in-the-wall stores for used books 40 or 50 years ago. In my case, at least, there was always the expectation of finding something interesting at Powell's, etc.

On the other hand, for me, at least, those stores were mostly good for relatively low-hanging fruit, and at the time I was doing things like building a small collection of classic Russian literature and picking up some fairly standard titles in science fiction, etc. But many years later, Internet sources and even archive.org were good when there was a particular book, perhaps rare, that one wanted.

I haven't said anything about the inquiries-by-mail that one sometimes made. Did anyone here do business with outfits such as Blackwell of Oxford for British titles (in my case, like Gilchrist's Life of Blake)?

But I'm glad to have had the fun of bookstore browsing in those relatively exploratory days, and it's often a pleasure to learn that others had similar experiences.

I mentioned having visited Garvin & Levin Books in Portland, Oregon (once). I came away with a Grosset & Dunlap edition of Rider Haggard’s Ayesha: The Return of She for $1.50 or $2 (two prices are given) on 19 September 1977. There’s a sprawling inscription on the front endpaper in brown ink from a dip pen:


“I have been bothered & pestered and threatened until I gave this book to D. Quinn [or Quince] to save my head To you who dont know him, never refuse him anything that he may want. If you do you will never have a moments peace. From one who knows H. [or A.] Campbell”


I’ve learned a little about Charles Garvin from someone who knew him and mention it here with permission. Garvin’s relationships with friends tended to seem strong at first but not to turn out well, and that’s what happened with Garvin & Levin. Garvin moved to Ithaca, New York, in 1980. He ran a book business there. Garvin had a superlative reference collection for the field of fantasy fiction. He left Ithaca in 1991 and moved back to Portland. There, he operated a bookshop while being financially supported by his mother. He lived in late sister’s house. At some point his electricity was disconnected. Garvin stored his books in boxes at his house. It’s said that he lived pretty much on the streets. In 2005, he died at age 59. Garvin’s mother died soon after that, and Garvin’s books were taken over by the state and sold off for a pittance, set out for sale under the shelter of tents.