THE MONKEY’S PAW An Oddly Modern Antiquarian Bookshop @ NYTimes (via mr. simpson)

I love that this bookshop is getting some MAJOR love from the NYTimes. Owner Stephen says in the article : “If a book exudes an aura of tragic nostalgia or irretrievable loss, I consider it macabre. I remember an Avon products catalog from the 1940s. It was printed in fading pastel colors, and still had the scent of powdery old-lady perfume. The book’s presence was just eerie — it conjured up a long-dead Avon lady in the doorway.”

I bought that very catalog from him… and it’s scent still lingers ever so slightly.

A tiny shop in Toronto, specializing in the arcane and the absurd, may just be publishing’s great new hope.

“This isn’t the store where you’ll find the book you were looking for,” Fowler says. “It’s the store where you’ll find the book you didn’t know you were looking for.” You may find something else surprising at the Monkey’s Paw, too: a glimpse of the future, a way forward for the old-fashioned bookstore in the age of the iPhone and the e-book.

“The experience of Web browsing makes it possible for a shop like this to exist,” Fowler says. “The randomness of the book displays, they’re like the Web — masses of unrelated information popping up next to each other, their context pretty much wiped out. Basically, the Monkey’s Paw is a celebration of old print culture, presented in way that resonates with digital-age people.”

READ THE FULL STORY HERE!

March 7, 2013 | Categories: A CHAIR IS NOT A HOUSE, canadian buttertarts, clever ART, COOL shit, for reals, I Heart..., LOVES, reading rainbow | Leave A Comment »