The Art of the Bookstore

by Gibbs M. Smith. Hardcover in dust jacket and slipcase. Brown boards with white lettering. Self-published by author, Layton, Utah, 2009. 152 pages.  The odd-numbered pages each display a painting of a bookstore, while the facing page gives a brief history and description of the establishment. More than fifty stores are displayed. A few, such as the Gotham Book Mart in New York, are now closed (and so noted by the author). Many are familiar to most of us: Sam Weller's in Salt Lake City, Powell's in Portland, The Strand in New York, The Tattered Cover in Denver. Others are perhaps less known: The Cottage in Glen Arbor, MI, Jay's in Pittsburgh, Prairie Lights in Iowa City, That Bookstore, in Blytheville, AR, etc.

Bibliophiles obviously love bookstores. If you're a bibliophile that travels, then trust me ... you'll love this book.