We were up in the Catskills again this weekend visiting my family. If it isn’t already apparent, we go out there every chance we get – it’s so beautiful and peaceful… and full of bookstores…
Luckily for me, both my father and step-mother are fellow bibliophiles, so it’s common practice for us all to go book hunting when we get together. On Saturday, we decided to take a visit to the Bibliobarn in South Kortright, NY for the first time. Unbeknown to us, we (happily) stumbled into a goldmine of book buying.
The first piece of good news: the Bibliobarn is a fantastically amazing bookstore. It’s located in a renovated carriage barn, and not only do they have terrific stock, but their shop is wonderfully laid out. Upstairs, they have a small reading area set aside with comfy window seats – perfect for our small son to sit and read with his grandparents. The Bibliobarn folks left no space unoccupied by books: even in the bathroom are shelves for books that seem perfectly at home there – ‘bathroom reading’, ‘sundry catastrophes’, ‘large print books’, and ‘books that defy category’, were just a few of the selections found on the shelves.
The second piece of good news: the Bibliobarn was having a huge sale, and it’s a semiannual event (each Memorial Day and Thanksgiving Day weekend). Every single book was on sale for either 30 or 50% off.
The third (and most interesting) piece of good news for us: just up the road from South Kortright is a town called Hobart, and it’s dubbed “The Book Village of the Catskills” for good reason: no less than five bookstores reside in Hobart, all on the main street through town. Best of all – they were all participating in the same sale as the Bibliobarn. Each shop had its own specialty and unique feel, and by the time we had finished with our buying and perusing, most of the day was gone. If you go, there’s a nice little deli in town (right across from Adams’ Antiquarian Book Shop) for a lunch/coffee break. Trust us, you’ll need it.
Of course I took several boxes (well, alright, just two) worth of books away with me. Below is a preview of a few highlights (all are very good or better first edition hardcover unless noted):
The White Plague – Frank Herbert
Dangerous Visions – Harlan Ellison, Ed. (trade pb)
Again, Dangerous Visions – Harlan Ellison, Ed. (book club hc)
The Magic Labyrinth – Philip Jose Farmer
The Literary Legacy of C.S. Lewis – Chad Walsh
Radical Utopias – Suzy McKee Charnas, Joanna Russ & Samuel R. Delany
WonderWorks – Michael Whelan (slipcased)
The Return of the Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part 1 – J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
If you’re interested in any of these titles before they’re listed on the sites (or want to find out what else is lurking in those boxes), email me and I’ll give you a 10% pre-listing discount on any of the new titles (just note in your email where you found this posting).
Happy reading!! – Cynthia
