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Excerpt from "Warmly Inscribed"
Bartleby's was one large room with a golden narrow-planked wooden floor, white walls, and track lighting spotlightling the books. At one end were gothic floor-to-ceiling windows that let in light from the street. The walls were lined with shelves and there were three freestanding bookshelves, including a glass-fronted one, placed diagonally toward the front. The back of the shop, where there were more rows of bookshelves, was separated from the front by a long counter. Under the counter were glass display cases. You can't always judge by interior design, of course, but this kind of tastefulness usually means that the books are going to be good. Expensive maybe, but good.
We started with the bookshelves along the front wall. There were solid, used books, not particularly expensive and certainly a superior selection - Elizabeth Bowen, John Cheever, Theodore Dreiser, essays on John Dryden, E.M. Forster. Whoever had organized the shelves had done it with an eye toward the whole literary experience - each author's section contained biographical information, criticism, and letters along with the fiction.
But it was the freestanding glass-fronted bookcases in the front that contained the real gems. these were indeed more expensive but by no means overpriced. there were all sorts of neat titles.......
Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone
Warmly Inscribed
St. Martin's Press, New York, 2001
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