NEWCOMER@CMU-CS-C (12/15/82)
From: Joseph M. Newcomer <NEWCOMER at CMU-CS-C> I hope this will all go to some consolidated list somewhere... A set that I go to: Bakka, in Toronto. I hope it is still there; some years ago they had a good used-book collection, and a lot of British/Canadian SF not available in the U.S. Mile-High Comics, two branches, one in Boulder, CO, one in Denver. Good used selection, good used magazine collections, the Boulder store has (or had, the last time I was there) an SF art gallery. I'm a bit annoyed with them, as they managed to reshelve a box of books I bought and had asked them to mail. I lost a lot of good books in that deal (some I'd been looking for for years. Sigh). The Other Change of Hobbit, Berkley, CA. Good used book collection, art work, plus a lot of the latest books. The Science Fiction Shop, in Greenwich Village, NYC. Not great, mostly new books, some used paperbacks, no used hardbacks, at least on my last trip a couple years ago. There is a really great shop in a shopping mall in the south of, or to the south of, San Diego. I found them in the Yellow Pages. Somewhere, I've got the card of the fellow who runs it. He's really into SF, I spent a couple pleasant afternoons there after a DECUS going thru an extensive used-book collection. Lots of new SF as well. I'll try to find the name, but if I don't, by all means try to get to it. Find it the same way I did...look in ye olde Yellow Pages. (The Yellow Pages technique is my standard method in an unfamiliar city... lots of SF bookstores list themselves as such). Moonstone BookCellars, Washington DC. No used books, lots of new books, about equally divided between SF an mystery. Owner is definitely into SF; I mostly go to chat with the people there. Haven't been there in a couple years. I also used the Yellow Pages hack in London; found a great bookshop way in the north of London (requires tube + bus) in a depressed-looking area, but lots of good used British SF hardbacks. Also, if in England try all the remainder-type bookstores, if you have time. I bought books worth about 100 pounds (list price) for about 15 pounds. If you are into really bizarre bookstores, there is (probably still is) a town full of bookstores in a little town called Hay-on-Wye in Wales. You end up taking a train from London to nearly the end of the line, then taking a bus to the end of /its/ line, and then walking about 1/2 mile. But a lot of SF detritus shows up in the bookstores there, including some galley proofs of SF books (with corrections marked by the author or proofreader). If you are into this sort of thing, it might be worth the trip, if you are in London and have a couple days to spare. We thought it was great fun, and spent two whole days poking in the "bookstores", which are more like warehouses of books. Sorted alphabetically by something. We did linear search, and found the oddest things next to each other, with no perceptible rhyme or reason. -------