Walking Tour Of New Yorks Antiquarian Book Sellers-Part One: Midtown Manhattan

A few notes: although we at ÆM usually have Americana as our central focus, for the purposes of this article we have chosen to broaden our horizons and have created a list of book dealers and firms who specialize in many areas including but also other than Americana, ranging from interior design and gardening to science, medicine, economics, Judaica, artists books, autographs, and many other fields or genres. Whenever possible, we have included additional details about the firms in question. Another editorial note: we have created this list by dedicatedly pruning through many guides and directories and by following leads passed on by others in the book world. If you are a used, rare, or antiquarian book dealer and find that your firm is not listed here, please tell us by writing a Letter to the Editor and including details about your firm and other contact information. Our list of Manhattan book dealers is an ongoing project and we would be more than happy to add your firm to our compilation. Finally, please consult the accompanying area map in order to locate the approximate location of any firm on our list. Happy book hunting to all of you this lazy summer.

Dealer Address & Contact Info.	Dealer Specialties and Additional Details
Argosy Book Store, Inc. 116 East 59th Street New York, NY 10022 Summer Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10-6 Telephone: (212) 753-4455 Fax: (212) 593-4784 Email: argosy@argosybooks.com Website:argosybooks.com Name of proprietor(s): Judith Lowry (Adina Cohen, Naomi Hample)	Out-of Print, Americana, Rare, Medical, Autographs, First Editions, Map & Prints, Modern First Editions. Additional Details: Argosy Book Store, Inc. is a huge, 6-story structure and a wonderful place for any bibliophile to start his or her Midtown Manhattan journey. As readers will see from the specialties listed above, Argosy carries stock in a broad variety of areas, but their Americana selection is particularly choice. According to Peter Jaffe, Director of their American Department (you’ll find him on the 5th Floor), “We have approximately 30,00 books in the American Department – about 20,000 on traditional Americana subjects and others on non-traditional areas. About 15,000 books in our American Department are on subjects like the states of the union, presidents, politics, modern black studies, all the major American wars, and Colonial America. We also carry books on the discovery, early explorers to the New World, the West Indies, and South America. Many of our American Department books are in the $15 to $60 range, though in our rare section prices can go up to about $5,000 for a book. In general, our American Department has a diverse subject base and small prices.”

Dealer Address & Contact Info.

Dealer Specialties and Additional Details

Argosy Book Store, Inc.
116 East 59th Street
New York, NY 10022
Summer Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10-6
Telephone: (212) 753-4455
Fax: (212) 593-4784
Email: argosy@argosybooks.com
Website:argosybooks.com
Name of proprietor(s): Judith Lowry (Adina Cohen, Naomi Hample)

Out-of Print, Americana, Rare, Medical, Autographs, First Editions, Map & Prints, Modern First Editions.

Additional Details: Argosy Book Store, Inc. is a huge, 6-story structure and a wonderful place for any bibliophile to start his or her Midtown Manhattan journey.

As readers will see from the specialties listed above, Argosy carries stock in a broad variety of areas, but their Americana selection is particularly choice. According to Peter Jaffe, Director of their American Department (you’ll find him on the 5th Floor), “We have approximately 30,00 books in the American Department – about 20,000 on traditional Americana subjects and others on non-traditional areas. About 15,000 books in our American Department are on subjects like the states of the union, presidents, politics, modern black studies, all the major American wars, and Colonial America. We also carry books on the discovery, early explorers to the New World, the West Indies, and South America. Many of our American Department books are in the $15 to $60 range, though in our rare section prices can go up to about $5,000 for a book. In general, our American Department has a diverse subject base and small prices.”