Chicago 4: Visitations

I hope it turns out to be nice today in Chicago for book shopping.  Goodness gracious, what additional books will you be looking for?

- Excerpted from an e-mail from Laurie Smith

I realize that for most people, a trip to a foreign city doesn't necessarily involve visiting the local book stores. However, I view it as an opportunity to get a bit off the beaten track left by other tourists, see a part of the area I might not otherwise see, and perhaps make some judicious purchases for my collection.

Now, as per Laurie's e-mail, people are often surprised that I still feel the need to buy books - I've got thousands of the damn things, isn't that enough?  And there's a certain element of truth to that. I've certainly reduced my book buying in the last few years, but I still like to keep my eye open for interesting additions to my little library.

A little research on the Internet aimed me at Bucket O'Blood in Chicago - sadly, The Stars Our Destination, another local science fiction specialty store, is no longer open. In addition, another conference attendee recommended a bookstore called Myopic as being a good spot for used books.

Myopic is certainly a classic old-school used bookstore - in fact, as you can see from this photo of the science fiction and fantasy section in their basement, if it was any more old school it would probably be unsafe to visit. Regardless, they have a large and varied selection, and I walked away with some interesting finds, including the three volumes of the Neustrian Cycle, by Leslie Barringer: Gerfalcon, Joris of the Rock, and Shy Leopardess - 1976 reprints of books which were originally published in 1927, and exactly the sort of thing that I hope to find in these little book shopping trips.

(The funny thing is that I couldn't remember how I'd heard about this trilogy.  I knew that I'd read about it being a classic read somewhere - but where?  As it turns out, I stumbled across the answer purely by accident while shelving books - it was Andre Norton, who recommends Barrington in her excellent 1971 essay On Writing Fantasy, wherein she discusses the influences and sources for her work.)

I was surprised by how small Bucket O'Blood was compared to most of the bookstores I've visited, especially since half of the store is dedicated to vinyl. (Never before in my life have I been in the same room with so many hipsters.)  However, it's obvious that their relatively small selection of second-hand genre literature has been carefully selected - and, to be honest, there is a lot of chaff in most used bookstores, it was actually a bit of a pleasure not to have to wade through shelf after shelf of bad Conan the Barbarian rip-offs in search of something worthwhile.

Most noteworthy of the five books that I purchased there were the 1955 printing of Star Guard, by Andre Norton, and the 1965 version of Second Stage Lensmen, by E. E. "Doc" Smith, both replacement copies for books that I already own - sad how Time has its way with paper, ink and glue. I was particularly pleased to find the E. E. Smith book - my mother owned this edition, but by the time I was old enough to pick it up, both cover and binding were in sad condition. It was a pleasure to see an old favourite again in such good condition: they literally don't make covers like this anymore.

You know, now that I think about it, I've never been to a used book store in England, how have I missed doing that? Obviously that's on the list for my next UK visit. (Oh well, there goes my weight allowance for the flight home from that trip...)

- Sid