In praise of good bookstores

216 Pages·2022·1.118 MB·English

by  Jeff Deutsch

In Praise of Good Bookstores

From a devoted reader and lifelong bookseller,
an eloquent and charming reflection on the
singular importance of bookstores
Do we need bookstores in the twenty-first century?
If so, what makes a good one? In this beautifully
written book, Jeff Deutsch—the director of Chicago’s
Seminary Co-op Bookstores, one of the finest book-
stores in the world—pays loving tribute to one of our
most important and endangered civic institutions.
He considers how qualities like space, time, abun-
dance, and community find expression in a good
bookstore. Along the way, he also predicts—perhaps
audaciously—a future in which the bookstore not
only endures, but realizes its highest aspirations.
In exploring why good bookstores matter, Deutsch
draws on his lifelong experience as a bookseller,
but also his upbringing as an Orthodox Jew. This
spiritual and cultural heritage instilled in him a
reverence for reading, not as a means to a living, but
as an essential part of a meaningful life. Central
among Deutsch’s arguments for the necessity of
bookstores is the incalculable value of browsing—
since, when we are deep in the act of looking at the
shelves, we move through space as though we are
inside the mind itself, immersed in self-reflection.
In the age of one-click shopping, this is no ordi-
nary defense of bookstores, but rather an urgent ac-
count of why they are essential places of discovery,
refuge, and fulfillment that enrich the communities
that are lucky enough to have them.

“In this charming work, a revered bookseller
puts into words the strong but often inarticulate
feeling that many booklovers have about the
importance of bookstores. Deutsch makes an
eloquent case for the way bookstores educate
readers as no classroom or library can. His wide-
ranging reflections teach us to value the bookstore
as a site not of goods but of experiences.”
—Leah Price, author of What We Talk about
When We Talk about Books
“A compendium of delights for the thoughtful reader.
Deutsch, a gifted writer and riveting storyteller,
has written a concisely elegant topography of
the good bookstore that also illuminates the
seemingly opaque craft of bookselling. This book
is bound to be the fulcrum of discussions—among
readers, booksellers, editors, and publishers—
about the meaning and role of bookstores.”
—Paul Yamazaki, City Lights Bookstore
“A promiscuously erudite love letter to bookstores,
books, readers, writers, and the unique community
that they constitute, Deutsch’s hypnotic book
is generously laced with memorable and often
hilarious quotations, and offers the exquisite
pleasures of browsing through the book-lined mind
of an omnivorously literate reader and bookseller.”
—Wendy Doniger, author of The Hindus
“Maintaining an open society requires educated
citizens, book culture, and bookstores, one of the
few truly democratic institutions, open to all.
Infused with a deep love of his profession,
bookselling, Jeff Deutsch’s reflection on reading,
learning, and well-run bookstores is breathtaking.
Read and share this compelling and engaging book.”
—Haki R. Madhubuti, founder of
Third World Press and author of Taught by Women:
Poems as Resistance Language
In Praise
of Good
Bookstores
Jeff Deutsch
Prince ton University Press
Prince ton & Oxford
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Deutsch, Jeff, [Date]– author.
Title: In praise of good bookstores / Jeff Deutsch. Description: Princeton :
Princeton University Press, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021040299 (print) | LCCN 2021040300 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780691207766 (hardback) | ISBN 9780691229669 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Booksellers and bookselling—United States—History—
20th century. | Booksellers and bookselling—United States—History—
21st century. | Bookstores—Social aspects. | Books and reading—Social
aspects. | Seminary Co-op Bookstores, Inc. | Deutsch, Jeff, [Date]– |
LCGFT: Essays.
Classification: LCC Z473 .D48 2022 (print) | LCC Z473 (ebook) |
DDC 341/.4500209730904—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021040299
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021040300
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
Editorial: Rob Tempio and Matt Rohal
Production Editorial: Sara Lerner
Text and Cover Design: Chris Ferrante
Production: Erin Suydam
Publicity: Maria Whelan and Kate Farquhar- Thomson
Copyeditor: Cynthia Buck
Cover and endpaper illustrations by Aimee David
This book has been composed in Bookman Old Style and Job Clarendon
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To the booksellers past, pre sent, and future who
humbly and quietly distinguish this profession
To Linda, Haskell, and Erica, whose bookishness
and love provided the model
To May, that brilliant bookseller, whose love is the
greatest gift I ever received from bookselling
And similarly we all have ready to our access in
the bookshop, one of the greatest instruments of
civilization; and yet none of us— neither publishers,
booksellers, nor customers— have yet learned more
than an inkling of what that place can accomplish.
—c hristopher morley
No man, therefore, can serve both
books and Mammon.
— richard de bury
You already belong to your time.
—l ydia davis