![]() While there is a large selection of books, Lacey says it is a “very careful selection, very selective”. ![]() Lacey is very proud of his literature and local history selection of books, as well as art books. You know when you’ve stumbled upon Dauphine Street Books due to their iconic sign and the box of books on sale that sits on the stairs outside. When I walked into the bookstore, Lacey was listening to UNO’s radio station (the classical stream). The owner of Dauphine Street Books is Steven Lacey, who has owned the property and bookstore for 21 years. The duo also owns Librairie Books on 823 Chartres St.ĭauphine Street Books 410 Dauphine St. He said, “People all over the world are familiar with Faulkner and The Confederacy of Dunces, so people come into town and they want to read it in English.” Cook told me, “People say, ‘Look, a real bookstore’ And we realize that they don’t have one where they are from.” When talking about their New Orleans and Louisiana history books collection, Beckham told me that “locally, a lot of value is placed on the collection of knowledge on the city For out-of-towners, Beckham told me a lot of them come for the classics, for writers like William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams. They carry all kinds of books from history and fiction, to manuals on automotives and mechanics. Beckham and Alton Cook are the two owners of the space.īeckham’s is larger than the other bookstores in the French Quarter. The business has been residing in the French Quarter since 1967 and has been in its current location since 1979. Beckham’s is the oldest active bookstore in the French Quarter. ![]() “Exposure to books produces a certain enlargement of mind,” Carey Beckham told me during our conversation at Beckham’s Bookshop. Crescent City Books is moving to the CBD this year.īeckham’s Bookshop 228 Decatur St. This includes Zell’s newest book, Run Baby Run. Zell says Crescent City Books offers people “the joy of physically browsing a bookstore”.Ĭrescent City Books has a great collection of local fiction and history books as well. Their collection of books includes out of print books and second hand books not commonly found in Louisiana since there is a sister store in Boston, MA. Zell also offers to rewrap books with dust jackets of Mylar as a service. Their large selection of maps and prints are all original and something they have that is extremely unique. The store, which opened in 1992, is a general used books store. Crescent City Books is also the only in-state member of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America. Zell, who has been a bookseller since the ‘90s, is also an author. Michael Allen Zell is the operating manager of Crescent City Books. As Arcadian Books’ proprietor Russell Desmond would later tell me, “New Orleans is one of the few places where you do have a variety of shops in a small area.”Ĭrescent City Books 124 Baronne Street (504) 524-4997 Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Even the locations, so close, yet next to different areas in the French Quarter, attract different clientele. With different books and different specialties, they all have distinct personalities as well. But most of these bookstores have been residing in the French Quarter for many years and one can expect bookstores to still be present in the French Quarter.Įach bookstore carries a different vibe and life. As Carey Beckham of Beckham’s Bookstore told me, “We could not possibly be here if we did not ” Rising rents make it very difficult to stay afloat in an enterprise that probably fits more as a labor of love than a ludicrous profit machine. ![]() With the moving of The Kitchen Witch, some wondered if these bookstores would shortly become a thing of the past. One of my favorite things to do in the French Quarter is to check out all the independent bookstores.
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