Oh a real, proper, second-hand bookshop. Feels like home just to walk in. The front window had already told us there was a wide and deep collection ... the owner greeted us warmly as we came in, and gave us the keys to the city - or, at least, showed us the filing system.
The Teen immediately vanished into the back reaches, while Simon and I browsed the local and mining books first. (I'm still looking out for those books on Pioche history!) I found Michael Moore's Medicinal Plants of the Desert and Canyon West, which had been on my list for a while. Score!
The moment you walk in, it's clear that Alcoholics Anonymous is important in this particular space, and the owner's story of personal service in bringing AA meetings to Tonopah is inspiring. No less so, his humble and matter-of-fact telling of it. He did his research and literally moved to the town that he thought needed it most. Lucky, lucky Tonopah to have a guy like this!
It was a pleasure to chat with him for a while. He used to live not far from where we are now. When Simon asked about the online side of the business, this gentlemanly proprietor actually invited us back into the private mirrorworld wonderland of the online section. I didn't take pics as this is also his home. So you need to imagine thousands of books shelved spine-in (the vestigial librarian in me shivered a little) with stock number post-its sticking out, in a warren of floor to ceiling shelves - even shelves overhead in places. It's not dark, though, because the white and ivory pages throw the light back softly. A cozy nest of a bedroom with a huge granny-square crochet blanket, and hundreds of fat vintage leather-bound volumes - his 'to-read' shelves! The gently dusty aroma of ten thousand books ...
We were extremely restrained, holding it down to just one book each and a total of about forty minutes - but as we left, we promised ourselves a return visit that would be less pressed for time. Thank you for having us, Mr Whitney.
(Browse Whitney's Bookshelf at Abe)
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