Book Browsing

House Of Our Own Books has been operating since 1971, on Spruce Street in West Philadelphia. It is one of the two best used bookstores in the city, and a top independent new book seller as well. It is owned by a couple who are my friends and who have been a part of the local radical scene all through the years.

I took about an hour to simply browse the stacks, and the place has gotten more organized lately, while still housing more books than it has room for. This capture shows the second floor where the used books are to be found. I was standing just forward of the stairway, in the fiction section. Notice that there is a stack of books on the newel post.

Just to the right of the white vertical door frame, in the floor, is a short rectangular board that blends in well with the long ones around it. That is where I repaired a loose & broken board (damaged by a troublesome pipe) about fifteen years ago, during the months when I repaired and painted most of the building, inside and out. That is just one among thousands of clear memories I have of the shop; memories that interweave with the subjects of the books as I browse.

This is a good place, a place of comfort for me.