We hot-footed it to Albuquerque the next morning and arrived at our friend's wonderful house where we took a much needed break from the road and got oriented a bit. Albuquerque, according to our friend, was just voted one of the cleanest cities in the country. The architecture is primarily adobe and it has a terrific cultural community in which our friends are quite involved. Two of our kids live in Albuquerque; our grown daughter is about to graduate from University of New Mexico.
So where, we asked our friends who read a LOT, is the best bookstore? They gave us a whole list of the town's bookstores, but recommended we make our first foray to The Book Stop on Nob Hill. We called the owner, Jerry Lane, and he kindly offered to take us to coffee and put up with my tape recorder. Jerry is so typical of the really good bookmen I have known! He has been in the business for almost thirty years and knows his way around the crazy book business. In those years, he has moved six times and is getting ready to move again, just down the street, for the seventh time. The building in which The Book Stop is housed is being renovated for yet another spa.
Jerry's store is like most of our stores; so many books, so little space! And his books are high quality from mid to lower price all the way up to some wonderfully scarce stuff with a nice collection on Western History (well, he is in Albuquerque, after all).
I asked Jerry how he got into the book business. He told us that the Albuquerque store was related to one of the same name in Tucson which was owned for twenty-five years by his partner, Lori Allen. She sold the Tucson Book Stop to her employees and retired to California. Jerry and Lori were friends in the 1970s and he never finished college or had a specific career goal in mind so he and Lori opened the Albuquerque Book Stop and pulled about 10,000 books out of the Tucson store to start up.
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Ellis Smith Prints unsigned. 20” by 16”.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: United typothetae of America presidents. Pictures of 37 UTA presidents 46th annual convention United typothetae of America Cincinnati 1932.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec signed Paper Impressionism Art Prints. MayMilton 9 1/2” by 13” Reine de Joie 9 1/2” by 13”.
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Aberle’ Ballet editions. 108th triumph, American season spring and summer 1944.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Puss ‘n Boots. 1994 Charles Perrult All four are signed by Andreas Deja
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Specimen book of type faces. Job composition department, Philadelphia gazette publishing company .
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: An exhibit of printed books, Bridwell library.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court By Mark Twain 1889.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 1963 Philadelphia Eagles official program.
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 8 - Esquire the magazine for men 1954.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: The American printer, July 1910.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Leaves of grass 1855 by Walt Whitman.
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare. The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
Sotheby’s: William Golding. Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll. Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
Sotheby’s: John Milton. Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD
