Book Row : An Anecdotal and Pictorial History of the Antiquarian Book Trade

Rating:
Summary: A definitive and enthusiastically recommended history
Review: In the last couple of decades of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century, New York City was home to a series of legendary booksellers who did business on and around Fourth Street south of Fourteenth Street. It came to be called "Book Row" by dedicated bibliophiles and had its own very distinctive culture, aromas, and for the true book lover, an excitement that could not be duplicated in the same quantity, quality, or diversity in any other American city of the time. In Book Row: An Anecdotal And Pictorial History Of The Antiquarian Book Trade, authors Marvin Mondlin and Roy Meador have collaborated to provide a definitive and enthusiastically recommended history of the times and personalities that made Book Row the Mecca for book collectors in search of antiquarian treasures, as well as budget bookaholics looking for something interesting to read.

Rating:
Summary: Bibliophiles
Review: It is refreshing to read books written by bibliophiles who express a true appreciation for fine books. They are true literary aesthetes. I've never known scholars or even poets to express such a love of books. Reading "Book Row" has inspired me to acquire more of the classics in fine editions. I think the authors were a little too dismissive of the Internet which has been a tremendous help to me in finding rare books. I no longer have to settle for what I find on the shelves in bookstores with bad taste in books. I can always find exactly what I want to read. The Internet is the greatest bookman there ever was!

Rating:
Summary: A loving chronicle of a more literate era
Review: Reading Mondlin and Meador's descriptions of the long-gone used-book emporia that once graced Fourth Avenue in New York City both depressed and exhilarated me. Depressed, because I'll never have a chance to browse their musty aisles crowded with books. Exhilarated, because this volume successfully captures the thrill of browsing that I've experienced at the Strand bookstore (the sole Book Row survivor) and a few other stores. It's too bad the mindset of our culture has shifted to one in which an intelligent pleasure like browsing for good, cheap used books--in person, in a physical store--has been marginalized. Yes, Web bookbuying has its advantages, but still...I feel something precious has been lost.