In this bookshop guide, Scott Benowitz takes us on a tour of some of his favourite independent, specialist and rare book stores in New York City, USA. If you have bookshops you’d like to recommend in a particular city, further information about contributing follows this article.
Since the 19th century, New York City has been the home of numerous industries, from textiles to petrochemicals. Among these is publishing, an industry that has lasted in the city to the present day and continues to thrive. The metro area is home to many authors, mainstream publishing companies like Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, independent and specialised presses, journals and magazines. Every city which is home to such vibrant literary creativity will naturally have quite a few people who enjoy reading, collecting, restoring and selling books, and New York City is no exception. Out of a wealth of bookstores around the city, here are some of my favourites.
First, I’d like to recommend Book Club Bar, located at 197 East 3rd Street between Avenue A and Avenue B in lower Manhattan. This area of New York City known as Alphabet City was, from the 1970s to the early 2000s, a run-down area, with more abandoned buildings and daily street crime than any other neighbourhood in the city. In the past 20 years, architects and urban designers have done an impressive job revitalising the area and redeveloping its buildings. The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (located on Avenue C between East 9th Street and East 10th Street) is a vibrant testament to the history of the area, including squatting and the process of changing use of space and the development of community gardens.
A visit to the museum is nicely paired with a browse in Book Club Bar, which opened in the autumn of 2019. Aside from selling the current bestsellers and popular fiction, it stocks a varied selection of fiction and nonfiction by both more and less well-known authors, big publishing houses and independent presses. Book Club Bar is a haven for those interested in discovering books on obscure topics that you’re not always likely to find available in mainstream bookstores. They also have a great programme of events, from author signings to book clubs, and a café where one can read over a coffee, beer or glass of wine and meet fellow bibliophiles.

Approximately one mile north in the area of Manhattan now frequently referred to as “NoMad,” or “North of Madison Square Park” is another gem worth visiting: the Rizzoli Bookstore. After opening in 1964, this bookstore has changed locations a few times and is currently located on Broadway at East 26th Street. Rizzoli is also a publishing company, though its offerings stretch far beyond its own output. It has an extensive collection of fiction and non-fiction, ideal if you’re looking for books about a specific topic or if you’re just keen to browse. Rizzoli in some of its previous locations appears in the films Manhattan (1979), Falling in Love (1984) and True Story (2015), cementing it as one of the city’s iconic literary haunts.
As well as general interest bookshops, New York is home to some excellent specialist stores. For those interested in photography, The International Center of Photography is located in the Lower East Side on Essex Street between Delancey Street and Broome Street. Its bookshop sells an impressive selection of photography books, including volumes about the history of photography and photographic techniques. Visitors will first have to tour the museum in order to enter into the shop, but this is well worth it for photography enthusiasts. If you don’t have time to tour the museum, or if you’re not currently in New York City, you always have the option to e-shop from the museum’s website.

I would also recommend the Morgan Library and Museum’s shop. Hosting the private collection of the financier J.P. Morgan (1837- 1913), this space has been a research library and museum open to the public since 1942. It’s located on Madison Avenue between East 36th and East 37th Street in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan. For anyone interested in art history, the shop sells books which relate to various past art exhibits displayed at the library. You can also find books about the history of the library, New York City and a selection of children’s books.

Anyone intrigued by the history of subways and trains and ideas about future technologies for public transit systems will enjoy touring the New York Transit Museum. The museum’s shop offers a comprehensive selection of books about the history of subways and trains from the 19th century through to the present, plus a large selection of children’s books. The museum is found at 99 Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn, and has two satellite branches of its shop located in Grand Central Station as well as at 2 Broadway; the latter is directly across the street from the Bowling Green subway station (the #4 and the #5 trains).

Lastly, for bibliophiles who enjoy collecting first and limited editions, out-of-print books, antique and vintage books and signed copies, I highly recommend perusing Bauman Rare Books which is filled with collectable gems and curiosities. The store is located in midtown Manhattan, on Madison Avenue at East 52nd Street. In addition to their store in New York City, Bauman Rare Books also has stores in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Note: This bookshop guide gives the views of the author, and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, or of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Main Image credit: The interior of the Morgan Library and Museum, New York © marcobrivio.gallery on Shutterstock.
First image credit: The exterior of Book Club Bar, New York © Book Club Bar on Instagram.
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Do you know a place with great bookshops? If there’s a city or town with bookshops that you think other students and academics should visit, then this is your chance to tell us all about it.
As part of a regular feature on LSE Review of Books, we’re asking academics and students to recommend their favourite three or four bookshops in a particular city, with the aim of building an exciting online series for our book-loving community of readers the world over.
Bookshops could be academic, alternative, multilingual, hobby-based, secret or underground institutions, second-hand outlets or connected to a university. We’d like to cover all world regions too and are particularly keen to feature cities outside of Europe and North America.
If something comes to mind, we’re looking for a brief introduction about the city and around 150 words per bookshop, detailing why each one is a must-see. Our editorial team can then find suitable photos and links to accompany the piece, though you’re welcome to supply these too. We only ask that you focus on just one city or region, and three or four bookshops within it.
Email us if you’d like to contribute: lsereviewofbooks@lse.ac.uk