October 5, 2006 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Online Editor Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or ©2006 Chestnut Hill Local Winner of One |
Last of rare bookshops closes its doors
The smell of old books, their pages yellowed with age and covers cracked from the hands of many readers, greets the visitor who enters Gilmore’s Book Shop — or at least, what was Gilmore’s Book Shop. This unique, old-fashioned rare and used-book store on Chestnut Hill Avenue, just off Bethlehem Pike, closed it doors officially on Saturday, two weeks after owner Hugh Gilmore was informed that the adjacent business, Blum Chestnut Hill Antique, which leased him the space, was going to use the space for its expansion. The store, which had been open for 10 years, was the realized dream of Gilmore, whose usual upbeat enthusiasm for his books was a bit dampened last week. “This was the last of the old-time, weird and curious bookshops,” Gilmore said. Weird and old-time it was too. The bookshelf-lined walls were filled with all kinds of printed matter: risqué French novels, comic books, a Sears catalog from 1947, old Valentine cards, children’s books, a geology textbook from 1848 and a 1940 Germantown Friends School yearbook. Not to mention the leather-bound literature filling the shelves on the far wall and a small room of larger books that can’t be slipped into a jacket pocket and stolen, Gilmore said with a laugh. Included in that room are less rare, $1 used books, ranging from Nicholas Sparks’ popular romance “The Notebook” to Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” “This is the only place that had high and low [brow] — we have the messy and the sentimental and the rare and valuable,” Gilmore said, pointing from the piles of photos, catalogues and pamphlets to the hardback and leather-bound works of Walt Whitman, Thomas Hardy and Robert Frost. To attain his treasures, Gilmore advertised in local newspapers and had a listing in the Yellow Pages. Owners either brought books to him, or he would go to their homes. Sometimes he gets them for free, other times he buys. When he was meeting with the Local last Friday, a woman brought him four books. As he examined each one for value, the woman, Joyce Bishop of Flourtown, browsed. “Oh my gosh, that’s Elsie Densmore — my mother used to love those,” she said, pointing to a row of maroon-bound books on a top shelf. “I have never seen so many of them together.” Gilmore said he had even more of those books in the basement of his home, which he admitted was just as full as his bookshop. In addition to books, people bring him all kinds of things, including family photos that they can’t identify but don’t want to see thrown away. “All these old memories,” Gilmore said as he sifted through the yellowing sepia and black and white photos of the past. “We save these from the trash.” On the back of his toilet hangs a sign, “Reserved for Artistes.” The man who brought it in tucked in a book said he had found it on a seat reserved for an orchestra member on a cruise. On the Friday before the shop closed for good, an island of printer-paper boxes filled most of the shop’s floor. That’s nothing new though, said Gilmore, who usually piled his week’s worth of new arrivals in the middle of the floor. Since the shop was open on Fridays and Saturdays, many regular customers would come on Friday specifically to browse the new arrivals. Some would spend hours there. “People would complain if they came in here and it was neat,” Gilmore said. “They said they’d rather explore through piles of books.” During the interview, shop regular Tim Oliver walked in. Oliver is a leather-bound book collector with a hearty laugh and an English accent. “There’s not other place like this,” he said, unbidden. Gilmore has been renting the space at 43 E. Chestnut Hill Ave. for 10 years and said the shop had become “an expression of me,” but he does not plan to close his business with the loss of the shop. For now, he plans to conduct his business from his home office, which is already jumping with activity. About 60 percent the bookshop’s business comes from Internet sales that his wife oversees from their home only a few blocks away. Gilmore said the shop’s phone number is an extension of his home phone, so nothing changes except his office location. He said setting up another store in the future was not out of the question, but for now he needs some time. “Everyone keeps telling me to find another space, but it’s like offering a puppy to someone whose dog just died,” he said. “When I walked into this place 10 years ago, the light was coming in the windows and I just had to have it,” Gilmore said. “If that feeling comes back, then I’ll get another shop.” On Saturday, Gilmore’s sidewalk sale of $1 books was available as usual, as well as the pile of free books he offers, which included a John Grisham novel, “Angela’s Ashes” and a 3,100-page dictionary leaning against the doorway. “I always wished there was a shop like this nearby,” Gilmore said, “so I could go browsing too.” Unfortunately, not even Gilmore’s Book Shop will be around anymore, at least not in the storefront sense. To visit Gilmore’s Book Shop online, set your Web browser to . Contact staff writer Kristin Pazulski at 215-248-8819 or Kristin@chestnuthilllocal.com. |
