The Strand
Famed for “18 Miles of Books”
by Chris Brunson
There are bookstores and then there is legendary Strand Book Store in New York. For those designing a film or theatrical set on a tight schedule, this New York City store has experts, with a long tradition of sales and rentals to the entertainment industry. Yes, they guarantee a 24-hour turnaround on most orders, and will arrange car delivery to locations in New York City.
The company has put together libraries and collections for any subject, including art, biography, reference, law, music, theater, and classic literature for hundreds of clients, including the Plaza Hotel, Steven Spielberg, and Polo Ralph Lauren. The largest second-hand and rare bookseller in America, the Strand deals extensively in reviewer’s copies of newly published books. They receive thousands of reviewer’s copies each week, often as early as six weeks before publication. Stacks and shelves and glossy images are everywhere.
The Strand’s roots thread back to Hartford, Connecticut.
“My grandfather, Benjamin Bass, was brought up in Hartford,” said Nancy Bass, co-owner of the store with her father, Fred Bass. “He was originally from Lithuania and founded the store in 1927.” That Strand was on Fourth Avenue, New York’s famous Book Row of America.
The current location of this genuinely independent and family-owned business is at the corner of Broadway and Twelfth Street. Originally rented 4,000 square feet of the building, today, he owns the building with Strand taking up five of the 11 floors. The second store is on Fulton Street in New York City’s financial district. Today, the company has 210 full-time employees. Kiosks stand across from the Pierre Hotel at Central Park, Fifth Avenue and 60th to offer book browsing nearly year-round (they close in deep winter). “I pick people who are book lovers and that’s kind of fun,” she said. “These are people who love books.”
Nancy Bass, co-owner of The Strand,
with her father, Fred BassEmployees gets quizzed on literary- type knowledge before they are hired. Fred Bass may be away on a book buying trip, while Nancy handles the business. Books can be sold by the foot or as a customized library to clients’ specifications. Libraries can be compiled by look or by content, or by any set of guidelines a customer wants to furnish. Bass can perform as a personal shopper if clients visit the store, or work to specs provided by telephone.
“Since we sell books by the foot, they want 20 feet of leatherbound or art books, and I’ll narrow down their tastes. Some people need books for photo shoots, others are for store displays. Another project was a house apartment with 35 rooms. That was one of the best libraries ever.”
Calls range from movie producers to TV shows such as Law & Order (needed a law library, as a background); from Saturday Night Live or from the cable show, Oz. Corporate clients such as Morgan Stanley call for books for a front lobby. Clients include R. Ron Pearlman, Carl Icahn, the Hearsts. Bass has done libraries for sheiks with a home in Florida. (Leatherbound with gilding, by the way.)
Sweet Literate Swarms
Books draw authors like bees to honey. You never know who is standing next to you on any given visit.
“Salman Rushdie comes in, we’ve done a party for Ken Auletta, who writes for The New Yorker. We were one of only three places picked for a book signing for Christo and Jeanne-Claude for The Gates. Maurice Sendak is a big fan, so is Saul Bellow.”
You get the idea. But who’s looking around anyways when there are books and stacks and pictures up to the ceilings? Access to titles is possible from anywhere in the world, with a couple of keystrokes. (You do, however, miss the tactile joy of browsing in person.)
“Our Internet is now 22 percent of our business,” she says. Bass also tends to an ever-present “to do” list with projects that include getting a coffee bar in the store, and handling upgrades and construction to update the premises.
Speaking of change, there are some customers who hate the new air conditioning, the paint, the better lighting. But change is constant and that’s the way the Strand has adapted and succeeded.
“People say don’t change anything!” she laughed. “But we have to to make it comfortable, books are arranged and computerized as inventory. Ultimately, customers say that they are happier, but we’ve had resistance to any change. You know what? Some books are still going to end up on the floor.”
Rare and Marvelous
Visitors can find books for a buck, or even 48 cents in the bargain racks placed in front of the store. But take note, all books are discounted at prices that beat chain bookstores.
But treasure lies within.
Rare books are housed on the fourth floor. A recent acquisition is a Gone with the Wind first edition for $10,000. A second printing of Shakespeare’s works, second folio, a 1632 leatherbound copy, is the priciest at $125,000.
“My dad is why we survived, “said Bass. “One of his theories is that some of the Book Row men were cantankerous and independent and didn’t really want to give the knowledge to the next generation. My dad thought differently. He moved the store to 12th and Broadway, which everyone thought was a really dangerous move – but it turned out well. He’s a good businessman. Our store is so different, and that is one reason why we are succeeding. All of our books are discounted.”
Looking for Huckleberry Finn? First edition? Paperback or leatherbound? Rare or out of print? That’s one title.
“We also feature the largest rare book collection in New York City, containing first and signed editions of many modern books, a large assortment of hard-to-find art and photography books . . . People can shop online and if they see a book, we can hold it for them to pick up or ship it right to them,” said Bass, who admits, “we love books.”
Resource: See company Web site: www.strandbooks.com.
Book Look
Book Row: An Anecdotal and Pictorial History of the Antiquarian Book Trade by Roy Meador
He retired in December 2004, but estate buyer Marvin Mondlin has been with The Strand “forever.” And if you want to know about Book Row in New York as a cultural phenomenon, this is the book that has the front row seat of history.
Between 1890 and the 1960s, used and rare books had a home, a whole row in New York City along Fourth Avenue, between Union Square and Astor Place. The bookselling trade in the city is revealed in interviews Mondlin (estate buyer at The Strand) and book collector Meador. The pace is lively and the stories are fascinating. The Strand is a jewel that has survived because of a then-controversial move around the corner (to a higher rent). This is an insightful book about life within a business and about changes in the publishing industry.
Published by Carroll & Graf Publishers.
