Holiday Bookstore Report
New York’s independent booksellers offer shelter from the storm of holiday shopping and plenty of eye candy in the form of photo books, illustrated books, prints and objects. DART’s list of NYC’s best follows, in geographic order [south to north, then east], with a few new entries this year, including two distinctly photo-centric spots.
Downtown
Tenement Museum Shop, 97 Orchard Street, NY, NY. Well chosen array of books about New York and New York-themed gifts.
Bluestockings Bookstore, 172 Allen Street, NY, NY. Politics, feminism, gender-bending titles, café, and events.
The Drawing Center Bookstore, 35 Wooster Street, NY, NY. Small, highly eclectic.
Taschen Books, 107 Greene Street, NY, NY. Coffee table art, design, fashion, celebrity, and sex.
Clic Bookstore & Gallery, 255 Centre Street, NY, NY. Photography, art, fashion, and celebrities; author events.
Spaces Corners at ICP Museum, 250 Bowery, NY, NY Photography, photography, and more lens-based art. Frequent book launch events.
Bookbook, on Bleecker Street
New Museum, 235 Bowery, opposite Prince Street, NY, NY. Books, objects, gift items.
Dashwood Books, 33 Bond Street, between Bowery and Lafayette, NY, NY (below). Photography, including rare editions; author events, Dashwood Books imprint. (below)
Housing Works Bookstore Café, 126 Crosby Street, NY, NY. Used books, movies, music, special events.
Mercer Street Books & Records, 206 Mercer Street, NY, NY. Out-of-print art books and vinyl LPs.
East Village Books and Records, 99 St. Marks Place, NY, NY. Used books & CDs, oddities.
Mast Books, 66 Avenue A, NY, NY. Bright and clean neighborhood bookstore, with affordable used paperbacks along with high-priced out-of-print art books.
Whitney Museum Bookstore, 99 Gansevoort Street, NY, NY. Modern and contemporary American art, gifts.
Printed Matter, Inc., 231 Eleventh Avenue, NY, NY. Artist books, prints, and limited editions.
192 Books, 192 10th Avenue at 21st Street, NY, NY. Serious reading, art and photography, author events.
Bookbook, 266 Bleecker Street, NY, NY. Small and personal, formerly Biography, down the street.
Bookmarc, 400 Bleecker Street, at 11th Street, NY, NY. Coffeetable fashion, art, photography; author events.
St. Marks Comics, 11 St. Marks Place, NY, NY. Flagship for current and vintage comics and toys. Locations downtown and in Brooklyn.
Three Lives
& Co, on Bleecker Street
Three Lives & Co., 154 West 10th Street,
NY, NY. “A haven for people who read,” and a “neighborhood touchstone.”
Alabaster Bookshop, 122 4th Avenue, NY, NY. Used and rare, well-chosen art, antiques, and photography.
Closed: St. Mark's Bookshop, 136 East Third Street, NY, NY. Neighborhood bastion for literary and political journals, literature, art, design, and photography.
New: Bookdummypress pop-up shop, 34 Cooper Square, rare and self-published photobooks. Check website for hours and info
McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince Street, between Lafayette and Mulberry Streets, NY, NY. Literary bookstore, great magazine rack, café and Expresso Book Machine for print on demand titles; author events. Also Picture Room, 236 Mulberry Street; prints, limited editions.
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street, NY, NY Mainstream and rarities; homemade baked goods; events.
Carmine Street Comics, 34 Carmine Street, NY, NY. Superheroes, manga, open mic, artist-in-residence, events.
The Strand Book Store, 828 Broadway and 12th Streets, NY, NY. “Eighteen miles of books” – all kinds, new, used, graphic novels, art, design, architecture, celebrities, and 1 buck items on the street; author events.
Forbidden Planet, 832 Broadway, NY, NY. Cult sci-fi, comics, collectibles.
Idlewild Books, 12 West 19th Street, NY, NY. Specializing in travel guides, world literature, foreign language books, and language courses. Also in Williamsburg.
Books of Wonder, 18 West 18th Street, NY, NY. Beginning readers through YA; events
Forbidden Planet, 832 Broadway, at 13th Street, NY, NY. One stop shopping for avatars and comics freaks.
Posman Books at Chelsea Market, 75 9th Avenue, NY, NY. Newest of 3 locations, with special children’s section, gifts. Also at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
Rizzoli Bookstore, on Broadway
Rizzoli Bookstore, 1133 Broadway, NY, NY
Aperture Book Store and Gallery, 547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor, NY, NY. Photography.
The Old Print Shop, 150 Lexington Avenue, between 28-29th Streets, NY, NY. An art gallery and bookstore specializing in American graphic arts, antiquarian maps, atlases, and contemporary and modern artist books.
JHU Comic Books, 32 East 32nd Street, NY, NY.
Midtown Comics Grand Central, 459 Lexington, 2nd floor, NY, nY.
Uptown
Kinokuniya New York, 1073 Sixth Avenue, NY, NY. Japanese and American huge selection, all categories; superb stationery, craft, school supplies.
MoMA Store, 11 West 53rd Street, NY, NY. Art, design, photography, furnishing, gifts.
The New York Public Library Shop, Fifth Avenue between 40-42nd Streets. "Penguin orange" kiosks featuring deluxe paperback literature with fantastic cover art. Located adjacent to the Library Shop.
The Store at Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, NY, NY. Art, design, jewelry, furnishing, and books on these subjects.
Dashwood Books, on Bond Street
Argosy Book Store, 116 East 59th Street, NY, NY. Rare and used books, prints, maps, and autographs.
Shakespeare & Co. Booksellers, 939 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY. Literary bookstore, newly renovated UES location has Expresso self-publishing service, book club and scheduled events. Textbook buy-and-sell.
Ursus Books & Prints, 699 Madison Avenue, 3rd Floor, NY, NY. Art books, rare items, prints.
New Harper/s Books/Harper/s Apartment, 51 East 74th Street, NY, NY Check website for hours and info
Assouline Book Store, 25 East 77th Street, NY, NY. Also as branded corner at Sotheby’s, 1334 York Avenue, NY, NY
Gagosian Shop, 976 Madison Avenue has re-opened. Limited editions, multiples, contemporary artists books, printed matter, objects, gifts.
Archivia Books, 993 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY. Architecture, art, design, decorative arts, gardens, interiors.
Crawford Doyle Booksellers, 1082 Madison Avenue, NY, NY. Biography, classics, history, literary fiction.
Westsider Rare & Used Books, 2246 Broadway, near 80th Street, NY, NY. Used, rare, and contemporary fiction, crime, pulp fiction, vinyl
LPs, toys, novelties.
The Albertine, at the
French Embassy
Albertine Books, 972 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY. Books in French and English, within the French Embassy; events.
The Corner Bookstore, 131 Madison Avenue, NY, NY. Neighborhood mainstay; readings; children program
Logos Bookstore, 1575 York Ave, New York, NY
Museum of the City of New York Store, Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, NY, NY. “All things New York City.” Books, photographic prints, gifts.
Book Culture, 53 West 112th Street; 2915 Broadway at 114th Street; 450 Columbus Avenue, NY, NY. Old school and forward-looking, catering to the academic community and everyone in the neighborhood.
Word Up Community Bookshop, 2113 Amsterdam Avenue, NY, NY. A multi-language general-interest neighborhood bookshop and art space in Washington Heights; literary readings, music concerts, film screenings workshops etc. for kids and adults.
Brooklyn & Queens
Astoria Bookshop, 31-29 31st Street, Queens, NY.
Artbook@ MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City, NY. Bleeding edge.
Closing December 31: Book Court, 163 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY. General bookstore, new releases, reading group and events.
New Location: powerHouse Arena, 28 Adams Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY. Regular book launch events.
Spoonbill & Sugartown, 218 Bedford Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY.
Word, 126 Franklin Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY. Books, gifts, stationery, kids’ stuff, events.
New: Archestratus, 160 Huron Street, Greenpoing, Brooklyn, NY. Foodies' paradise, classes, tastings, bookclubs and more on the Fact and Fiction of Food.
Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton Street (at S. Portland), Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY.
Desert Island, 540 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY. Books, graphic novels, comics, prints, novelties.
Idlewild Books, 249 Warren Street, Brooklyn, NY. Specializing in travel guides, world literature, foreign language books, and language courses. Also in Manhattan.
Book Thug Nation, 100 N 3rd Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Used literary fiction, film, philosophy, graphic novels and more, and events.
Topos Bookstore Cafe, in Ridgewood
New: Topos Bookstore Cafe, 788 Woodward Avenue, Ridgewood, NY. Used books in many languages.
Unnameable Books, 600 Vanderbilt Avenue between Dean & St. Mark's, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, NY. New, used, events.
Astoria Bookshop, 31-29 31st Street, Queens, NY.
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