Gotham Book Mart
One hundred years ago today … New Yorkers who fancied themselves literary could seek out used books at the Gotham Book Mart, 128 West 45th Street, or sell their own collections there. The store had a volume about Oscar Wilde by Stuart Mason on advertisement among the “Book Exchange” listings of the Times.
New York Times, 5 September 1920, p. 38. Chronicling America.
According to Rebecca Rigo Barry, the Gotham Book Mart, at "first specializing in art and theater books,” had opened at the start of the year 1920, fulfilling a longtime dream of owner Frances Steloff.
The original Gotham Book Mart sign. Gotham Book Mart records, 1723-2006 (bulk: 1967-2006), Ms. Coll. 1025, Box 14, Folder 28. University of Pennsylvania, Gotham Book Mart Collection.
The original sign over the shop, above, featured the tag, “Wise men fish here,” and three wire miniatures of people fishing. The sign would be adapted and modified as the store moved locations twice throughout its 88-year existence.
Eventually, according to archivist David McKnight:
The Book Mart became a social center for the New York literati and a focal point for literary modernism in the United States. The Gotham Book Mart served as a meeting point for the James Joyce Society and the Finnegan's [sic] Wake Society. Steloff also published books by well-known Modernists who came to her shop, including Andre Gide and Wallace Stevens.
The advertisement above is a typical example of what a 1920 New Yorker might find in the various newspaper pages devoted to trading/ trading in used books. The first print appearance of the Gotham Book Mart appears on May 30, 1920, among listings for out-of-print books, and materials/volumes relating to medicine, chemicals, Ireland, Tennessee, cartoons, and more.
New York Tribune, 30 May, 1920, p. 68. Newspapers.com.
The page also includes a listing for another legendary bookstore “The Sign of the Sparrow” at 42 Lexington Avenue.
References/Further reading:
McKnight, David. WISE MEN FISHED HERE: A CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION IN HONOR OF THE GOTHAM BOOK MART, 1920-2020. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 2019.
WRITTEN BY JONATHAN GOLDMAN, SEPTEMBER 5, 2020.
TAGS: bookstore, books, modernism, intellectual/ literary culture, midtown