A History of the American Bookstore 

By Evan Friss

Favorite quotes: (So many!) “When customers (of Three Lives & Company Bookshop, NY) send Christmas cards, postcards, letters, and snacks, they address them not to a person. They are for the shop. Calling them “customers” doesn’t even sound right—probably because many of them, some of whom come nearly every day, hardly ever buy anything.

Instead, they stop by to linger, to talk books, and to talk about more than books. Three Lives isn’t just another retail outlet. The quintessential “shop around the corner” … has charm, personality, and soul.”

“Morley urged readers "To be a little more of an explorer... The most important books are shy”

“Whether in mysteries or memoirs, travelogues or true-crime tales, romances or rom-coms, horror or history, bookstores can be more than just passive backdrops. Bookstores can be actors. Bookstores, even the little ones, can shape the world around them. They already have.”

“The right book put in the right hands at the right time could change the course of a life or many lives.”

From the publisher: An affectionate and engaging history of the American bookstore and its central place in American cultural life, from department stores to indies, from highbrow dealers trading in first editions to sidewalk vendors, and from chains to special-interest community destinations.

Hardcover

6.25 x 9.25 | 403 pages