and now for something slightly different...

The San Francisco Antiquarian Book Fair

A week or so ago I dragged my book-loving aunt (it runs in the family) to the 42nd Antiquarian book fair in San Francisco. We had a great time browsing all the wares from book dealers around the world. Of course, there were the high-end, super-rare items (Dead Sea Scrolls, Newton's Principia), but there were also moderately-priced first editions of familiar stories. Especially familiar were works by Steinbeck, Hemingway, and Twain. We saw these authors everywhere…seemingly every third stall. It does make you wonder how rare these authors can be.
Despite the hard economic times there was a good-sized crowd and a fair number of collectors/dealers buying. Although we didn’t buy anything ourselves, we did have fun looking. My aunt saw several she remember from her childhood; I saw several I would buy if I had room for them. For the record, the highest price tag we found was on the three quarter-sized scraps of the Dead Sea scrolls which were priced at $275,000. There could have been more expensive items as there were a number of items with no price tag. We didn’t ask about any of these, since obviously its one of those “if you have to ask” deals. My favorite item is pictured down below—an edition of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, bound in asbestos.

Borderlands

Surprisingly it took me two and a half years to find a bookstore completely devoted to Science Fiction and Fantasy. Borderlands is located in the sunny mission smack dab in the middle of half a dozen other bookstores (more Mission bookstore reviews to come) and many dozen cafes, coffee shops and restaurants. An entire bookstore devoted to sci-fi…sounds like Eden, right? Except Eden is inhabited by two freaky cats. This aren’t normal cats (assuming they are indeed cats), they’re the hairless, “Sphinx” cats and they are as ugly as sin. Their faces are all shrunk up and wrinkly, their tails are exactly like rat tails. The first time I went in the store they both kept staring at me. The second time one of the cats followed me around meowing (apparently the other was at home, or out haunting the dreams of young children, and she was lonely). When I sat down with some of Ray Bradbury’s short stories, she climbed into my lab and clamored to be petted. Petting a hairless cat is a lot like stroking a bat. But she seemed to like it, she purred loudly for a while before settling in. Several people came by and did the “aaawwwwww….whatta cute kitty” routine. I refrained from asking them what they were smoking but it must have been strong.

Anyway, aside from the disconcerting cats, Borderlands is a great store. There is about a 60-40 distribution of new books to used, plus a smattering of rare editions. There is also plenty of space to sit and read, including a comfy couch.

Cody's, a requiem

Cody’s in San Francisco has actually been closed for a few years now, but I still remember the experience of walking in for the first time. The upstairs wasn’t terribly remarkable, about the size of your standard Starbucks, but then you took the escalator down. As you descended more and more bookstores came into view, until the full size of Cody’s hit you. The basement was comparable to two of Stacey’s floors. Like Stacy’s, they also had authors come to speak. It was there that I heard Lewis Black of the Daily Show speak. I was really excited about getting a picture will him, stood in line for a long while. Just as I got up to him, and a third person was just about to take the picture….the battery died. It was there that I began a love/hate relationship with my camera and its power-sucking properties.
But I'm rambling. There is still a Cody's in Berkeley, but it doesn't have the atmosphere of the old Cody's.

And if there is a lesson here, its to not name your bookstore with a single, apostrophized name. Watch out Kepler's!

Stacey's

Unfortunately, I have to start off with two bookstores that have been left behind.

Stacey’s is the quintessential bookstore for professionals, and located in the heart of financial district. Originally specializing in tech books more than 75 years ago, now they have every new book you could imagine. It’s the place you went when you wanted to learn, if you want to pick up the book you heard about on npr, or if you just want to play hooky for a while. They usually have several author readings every week over the lunchtime hour, and also co-sponsor notable speakers with the Commonwealth club. With three floors of books, I absolutely had trouble not finding something to buy. Visiting lately, however, is rather depressing. Rows of empty bookshelves line the bottom of most of the bookcases. Two more months to visit this San Francisco landmark.

Welcome!

If one blog is good, two is better—right? A long time ago my mom suggested I start writing reviews of bookstores in San Francisco. Mostly I’ve been pushing it off under the guise of being busy; however, as I’m borderline employed at the moment that excuse is fading. Plus this gives me justification to visit more bookstores, despite my overloaded bookcase at home (I really need more bookshelves).