Rare Book Monthly

Articles - April - 2006 Issue

Bookstores in Costa Rica

Book carved above door; tiles depicting scenes from Don Quixote.

Book carved above door; tiles depicting scenes from Don Quixote.


By Karen Wright

Hola! When we decided to go to Costa Rica, I told Mike Stillman, and he was enthused about an article on Costa Rican booksellers; "And pictures, too," said Mike!

We left Reno and arrived in L.A. about 8:30 PM. We had to hurry up and wait for another three hours in L.A., a portion of which was taken up by a chaotic double shuttle tour from one terminal to another. Let me just say that riding in a shuttle across lanes of bus traffic while humongous airplanes use the same routes as our little tiny bus, is a rather unsettling experience in the dark. LAX is bigger than the town in which we live. Of course, I had to scope out the latest pocket books in the over-priced gift shops in the airport. I had three unread paperback novels in my luggage, and later I was glad I had brought them, because, to tell the truth, there really aren't many bookstores in Costa Rica.

We finally boarded the AA flight about midnight, oh yay! We felt like sardines in a can, but, oh well, we were on the road again and giddy. Not so giddy, after seven hours in the stuffy sardine, but we were treated to coffee and a beautiful sunrise over the Cordillera Mountains that are the backbone of Costa Rica. The country is actually quite small by our western standards; you can see both coasts and several volcanoes from the plane on a clear day. It is slightly smaller than West Virginia, but has some incredible mountains, many of which we explored over the month we were there.

We caught a taxi, gave him directions to our hotel, and we were off! Hang onto your hat! I've been chauffeured by some wild-eyed maniacs in my life, taking cabs in Boston, New York, London, D.C., Toronto, Hawaii, and Charlotte Amalia, but this guy put them to shame. He hurtled us with white knuckle speed down the congested highway from the airport in jig time, screeching around an incredible array of tiny, one-lane streets ubiquitous with pedestrians, dogs, taxis, and buses. He courteously, but quickly, dumped us at the door of our hotel, then screeched off again to terrorize some other poor, unsuspecting tourists. We were so exhausted we went straight to our charming little inn and slept for three hours. We made a decision right then and there to take public buses so that we could actually see how the Ticos live and work (and save lots of bucks, and perhaps our very lives.)

One of the nicest things about Costa Rica was the little hotels, guest houses, inns, and cabinas where we stayed. The most expensive splurges were a couple of hotels in San Jose where the rooms were $40 a night; the least expensive were on the beach in Tamarindo and Manzanillo for $17-$20 a night. There wasn't a huge difference in quality, all were clean and comfortable. Most of them were painted bright colors, had interesting local artwork on the walls (not Holiday Inn "artist" sale stuff), and the people who ran them were friendly, helpful, and very hands-on when you needed to get laundry done, find a place to eat, find a bus stop, or plan any sort of outing to anywhere in the country.

Rare Book Monthly

  • ABAA Spring VBF
    May 1-3
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA Spring VBF
    May 1-3
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA Spring VBF
    May 1-3
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA Spring VBF
    May 1-3
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA Spring VBF
    May 1-3
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA Spring VBF
    May 1-3
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA Spring VBF
    May 1-3
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA Spring VBF
    May 1-3
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA Spring VBF
    May 1-3
    abaa.org/vbf
    ABAA Spring VBF
    May 1-3
    abaa.org/vbf
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Fonsie Mealy’s
    Rare Books & Collectors’ Sale
    April 30th & May 1st
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Taylor (Geo.) & Skinner (A.) Maps of the Roads of Ireland, Surveyed 1777. Lond. & Dublin 1778. €500 to €750.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Messingham (Thos.) Florilegium Insulae Sanctorum seu Vitae et Acta Sanctorum Hibernia, Paris 1624. €350 to €500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus). The Haw Lantern, L. (Faber & Faber) 1987, First Edn., Signed and dated. €225 to €350.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Valencey (Lt. Col. Chas.) Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, Vols. I-IV, 4 vols. Dublin 1786. €400 to €600.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Powerscourt (Viscount). A Description and History of Powerscourt, Lond. 1903. €350 to €500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Moryson (Fynes). An Itinerary ... Containing His Ten Yeeres Travel Through the Twelve Dominions of Germany, Bohermerland, Sweitzerland…, Lond. (John Beale) 1617. €700 to €1,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: After Buffon, Birds of Europe, c. 1820. Approx. 120 fine hd. cold. plts., mor. backed boards. €125 to €250.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Dunlevy (Andrew). An Teagasg Criosduidhe De Reir Ceasda agus Freagartha... The Catechism or Christian Doctrine by Way of Question and Answer, Paris (James Guerin) 1742. €400 to €700.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: The Georgian Society Records of Eighteen-Century Domestic Architecture in Dublin, 5 vols. Complete, Dublin 1909-1913. €500 to €750.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Scale (Bernard). An Hibernian Atlas or General Description of the Kingdom of Ireland, L. (Robert Sayer & John Bennet) 1776. €625 to €850.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: [Johnson (Rev. Samuel)]. Julian the Apostate Being a Short Account of his Life, together with a Comparison of Popery and Paganism,L. (Langley Curtis) 1682. €300 to €400.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Nichlson (Wm.) Illustrator. An Almanac of Twelve Sports, Lond. 1898. €300 to €400.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus) trans. The Light of the Leaves, 2 vols., Mexico (Imprenta de los Tropicos/Bunholt) 1999. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Fleming (Ian). Moonraker, L. (Jonathan Cape) 1955. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus) & Egan (Felim) artist. Squarings, Twelve Poems, D. (Hieroglyph Editions Ltd.) 1991. €1,750 to €2,250.

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions