Academy Bookstore
Address: 10 W 18th btwn 5th & 6th Aves
Phone Number: 212-242-4848
Small, well-kept used book store. Has strong humanities, photography, and social science section. Also a large supply of used CDs, especially classical and opera!

Antiquarian Book Arcade
Address: 110 W 25th, 9th floor
Phone Number: 212-678-6011
"Home to 20,000 vintage, rare & antiquarian books. Seminars and special events." More than 64 dealers.

Architecture Books
Address: 48 W 22th btwn 5th & 6th Aves
Phone Number: 212-463-0750
Architecture, I assume.

Bilingual Publications
Address: 270 Lafayette near Houston, Suite 705 Phone Number: 212-431-3500

Biography Bookshop
Address: 400 Bleecker at 12th
Phone Number: 212-807-8655
One poster says, "Nice store, but try the Strand first-this place is way overpriced." (Editorial note: this probably just means that new books are in general over-priced.)

Books & Binding
Address: 172 Madison Ave
Phone Number: 212-229-0004
A large loft-like space with many departments, including psychology, science, computer books, sports, novels, poetry, encyclopedias, sculpture, and art.

Bookleaves
Address: 304 W 4th at Bank
Phone Number: 212-924-5638
Small store, used books.

Book Scientific
Address: 10 W 19th btwn 5th and 6th Aves, 3rd floor
Phone Number: 212-206-1310
FAX: +1 212-675-4230
Scientific and technical books; (good) selection consists of physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and computer texts (not books like "DOS for Dummies," but texts). Not a large place, but small occasional gems for those who look for them. 10% discount to faculty or university researchers, 5% discount to students. They'll order books, and ship them worldwide. Best stock in the city of scientific books.

Books of Wonder:
Address: 16 W 18th
Phone Number: 212-989-3270
Heavenly gift to adults who like children's books. Everything from first editions to the latest paperbacks. They do readings periodically. Periodic newsletter they'll send to customers announcing new books. "On Sunday mornings at eleven-thirty, Tim Hall, the assistant manager, reads stories to neighborhood kids. Publications include a monthly newsletter, an Oz newsletter, and a catalogue for collectors. Books of Wonder is a Barney-free zone, with limited parking for strollers."

Center for Book Arts:
Address: 626 Broadway (fifth floor) btwn Houston & Bleeker
Phone Number: 212-460-9768
Limited edition art books, fine printing, sketch books and journals, small publishers, bookbinders, fine printers.

Chelsea Books and Records
Address: 11 E12th
Phone Number: 212-645-4340
Used books and records.

Chess Forum
Address: Thompson btwn Bleecker & 3rd

Creative Visions
Address: 548 Hudson
Phone Number: 212-645-7573
Gay/lesbian/bisexual bookstore and coffeebar. Mail order available on any G/L/B-themed book or movie currently in print. Discounts for members/contributors to G/L/B, women's, or AIDS organizations. Also has performances, readings, and art showings.

Different Light
Address: 151 W 19th at 7th Ave
Phone Number: 212-989-4850
Gay/lesbian/bisexual bookstore with 13,000 titles. Does mail-order.

Drougas Books
Address: 34 Carmine btwn Bleecker & Bedford
Phone Number: 212-229-0078
"Non-imperialist unoppressive bargain books." Remaindered books, good selection.

East Village Books & Records
Address: 101 St. Mark's btwn 1st and A
Phone Number: 212-477-8647
Used.

East West Books
Address: 78 5th Ave btwn 13th & 14th
Phone Number: 212-243-5994
Stocks books on Buddhism, Taoism, Sufism, Indian Religions also New Age, self-improvement, health and healing. Cards, jewelry, audio tapes, incense. Good-sized stock.

Forbidden Planet
Address: 840 Broadway at 13th
Phone Number: 212-473-1576 / 212-475-6161
"The Science Fiction and Fantasy Flea Market." Books, comic books, posters, magazines-if you're at all into this stuff, it's worth it. Recently [early 1996] moved to this new location one block up and across the street; the old location still has their big name sign. Open 7 days a week.

Fred Wilson Chess Books
Adrress: 80 E 11th btwn University Place & Broadway
Phone Number: 212-533-6381
Chess books, chess sets, etc. There are, amazingly, at least two other stores in the area devoted to chess, both on Thompson between Bleecker and West 3rd.

Hudson News
Address: 753 Broadway south of 8th
Phone Number: 212-674-6655
Carries foreeign-language periodicals.

Housing Works Used Book Cafe
Address: 126 Crosby btwn Houston & Prince
Phone Number: 334-3324
45,000 new and used books in a two level wooden library setting and a lovely cafe make this a great place to spend down time. The best part isn't the prices, the cushy loungable chairs, or the italian sodas; it's the fact that all the profits go to Housing Works, an organization which provides housing, health care and support services for homeless people living with HIV and AIDS.

Macondo Books, Inc.
Address: 221 W 14th
Phone Number: 212-741-3108
THE Spanish-language bookstore.

Manhattan Books
Address: 150 Chambers
Phone Number: 212-385-7395
New and used NYU texts.

Manhattan Comics & Cards
Address: 228 W 23rd btwn 7th & 8th Aves
Phone Number: 212-243-9349
Comics.

Mercer Street Books
Address: 206 Mercer
Phone Number: 212- 505- 8615
Piles of used books, and (for a change) strong sections in math and science (although one poster says this section has diminished lately). They also have loads of used textbooks. (They used to be called the Art of Reading.)

The Mill Store at Dieu Donne Papermill
Address: 433 Broome btwn Broadway & Crosby
Phone Number: 212-226-0573
FAX: 212-226-6088
Books on papermaking by hand, paper conservation, alternative photography on handmade paper, and bookmaking.

Murder Ink
Address: 1 Whitehall near Water.
A branch of the original. The usual suspects, plus a nice magazine selection.

New York Nautical Instrument and Service Corporation
Address: 140 West Broadway near Worth
Phone Number: 212-962-4522
I had said "Boating and marine." Someone wrote, "The description doesn't do it justice. It's like saying F.A.O. Schwartz is a toy store, or that Zabar's is a deli. You go to New York Nautical when you want serious books and publications (they also have a good selection of popular "boating and marine" books). By serious, I mean official government charts for the whole world, textbooks explaining how to load a container ship to maximize stability, almanacs, tide tables, etc, etc. Most of their trade is to the commercial shipping industry (or what's left of it)."

New York University Book Center
Address: 18 Washington Place
Phone Number: 212-998-4661
General and textbooks.

New York University Computer Store
Address: 242 Greene
Phone Number: 212-998-4659
General interest and some technical books. Software and hardware generally restricted to full-time NYU University denizens.

New York University Medical Center Bookstore
Address: 550 First Ave, in the basement of the Medical Sciences Building
Specializes in (no great surprise here) medical texbooks and paraphenalia that med students need (stethoscopes, reflex hammers, the little flashlight gizmos for looking in ears and noses, that sort of stuff).

New York University Professional Bookstore
Address: 530 LaGuardia Pl btwn Bleeker & 3rd
Phone Number: 212-998-4680
Law/Business/Public Administration School texts and related paraphernalia. (Replaced Law School book store.)

Oriental Culture Enterprises Co, Inc.
Address: 13-17 Elizabeth, second floor
Phone Number: 212-226-8461
"I got my five-volume SELECTIONS FROM MAO ZEDONG there. (They have it in English, too, by the way, along with Lenin, Marx, and others. But finding the books in English is not easy, particularly if you don't speak Chinese.) A great selection of books, most of which are in Chinese. They also sell things needed for Chinese calligraphy, Chinese musical instruments, recordings of Chinese music, Chinese-language periodicals, and many other things Chinese. An attached art gallery sells paintings. While browsing through the books, sit down and enjoy a cup of tea free of charge. Well worth a visit. Two complaints: it's more expensive than it should be, and too many of the books are damaged (by careless customers, or by thoughtless staff?). Unquestionably the best bookstore in all of Chinatown."

Oscar Wilde Bookstore
Address: 15 Christopher btwn Gay & Greenwich Ave.
Phone Number: 212-255-8097
Gay/lesbian/bisexual books. This is a much older store than A Different Light, and was probably the first such in the city.

Pageant
Address: PO box 1081 New York, NY 10013
Phone Number: 212-674-5296
"There used to be a peculiar mishmash of unexpected gems buried in the dreck. But since they have less floor space in this location than in the old one on 9th Street, they have switched almost entirely over to prints rather than books. Now only a pale shadow of its former self, it's hardly worth a visit."

Partners & Crime
Address: 44 Greenwich Ave near W 10th
Phone Number: 212-243-0440
Mysteries. Much larger selection than Foul Play.

Pathfinder Bookstore
Address: 167 Charles
Phone Number: 212-366-1973
"Features books on the Cuban revolution, South Africa, union struggles, Black history, women's liberation, Russia and Eastern Europe. Books by Marx & Engels, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Che Guevara, Rosa Luxemberg, Mother Jones, Lenin, Castro and many others." They also send out catalogs.

Posman Books
Address: 1 University Place, NE corner of Washington Square Park,also try New School University store, 70 5th Ave
Phone Number: 212-533-2665
Small bookstore near NYU with liberal arts slant. Limited selection of sale books, quite different from Barnes & Noble's or B. Dalton's remainders. 30% off NYT best-seller hardcovers; 10% off selected new releases.

Reborn Books
Address: 228 Ave B
Inexpensive used books, mainly paperback.

Revolution Books
Address: 9 West 19th
Phone Number: 212-691-3345
Huge Marxist and otherwise left-wing inventory.

Richard Stoddard
Address: 41 Union Square West Rm 937
Phone Number: 212-645-9576
Rare books in the field of drama.

Rizzoli's
Address: 454 West Broadway bwtn Prince & Houston,also at 31 W 57th
Phone Number: 212-674-1616
Italian Bookstore chain. Excellent art, design, and architecture sections; probably the premier art book store in the city. New books at list prices. Lots of fun stuff, also foreign books and periodicals. "A classy place, strong on art books." "Opulent bookstore specializing in art/architecture/design books." Has an espresso bar. (Also has an uptown and a WFC store.) (For out-of-towners, note that West Broadway is an entirely separate street from Broadway, running parallel to it and about four blocks west.)

Ruby's Book Sale
Address: 119 Chambers between Church & West Broadway
Phone Number: 212-732-8676
Now comprised of a single storefront. The half-price used paperbacks remain, but the dirt-cheap remainders are largely history.

Russica Book and Art Shop
Address: 799 Broadway at 11th (third floor)
Phone Number: 212-473-7480
Russia and Russian art (in both English and Russian).

Samuel French bookstore and reading room
Address: 45 W 25th btwn Broadway & 6th Ave
Phone Number: 212-206-8990
The ad says "1000's of play titles; out-of-print archives for Samuel French plays; bookstore and reading room open to the public". "I've never been there; caveat tourist."

Science Fiction, Mysteries, and More
Address: 140 Chambers west of West Broadway
Phone Number: 212-385-8798
Opened June '92. Conveniently placed about 50 feet from a subway stop (1, 2, 3, 9 line). They have a used/half-price section with a much bigger selection than that in the SF Shop. The main SF section seemed smaller than that of the SF Shop, but my friend found four books he was looking for that he didn't find at the SF Shop earlier that afternoon. They also have readings and signings.

Science Fiction Shop
Address: 214 Sullivan btwn Bleeker & 3rd, second floor.
Phone Number: 212-777-2770
FAX: 212-475-9727
A better selection of new SF books than Forbidden Planet, and they have a used/half-price section. Ships worldwide. Recently [5/96] moved to this new location (its fourth). Hours may have changed.

S F Vanni
Address: 30 W 12th btwn 5th & 6th Aves
Phone Number: 212-675-6336
Italian books.

Shakespeare & Co.
Address I: 716 Broadway just north of 4th
Address II: 939 Lexington Ave
Address III: 1 Whitehall St
Phone Number: 212-529-1330
A good, large selection, they're good about getting in the new stuff quickly.

Skyline Bookstore
Address: 13 W 18th btwn 5th & 6th Aves
Address: 212-675-4773
Another used book store, across the street from Academy and apparently owned by the same person. This one has a slightly different focus than Academy.

Soho Books
Address I:351 West Broadway, 1/2 block below Broome
Address II: 350 Bleecker
Address III: 80 Nassau
Phone Number: 212-226-3395
Opened May '92. Good assortment of used books in a wide variety of subject areas; biography section seemed especially diverse. Worth dropping into on your way to buy new books at Spring St. Books and Rizzoli.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Soho Museum
Address: 536 Broadway
Phone Number: 212-219-9939
A good art bookstore (big surprise, right?). There's absolutely no reason to visit Rizzoli's and not here, or vice versa. (For out-of-towners, note that West Broadway is an entirely separate street from Broadway, running parallel to it and about four blocks west.)

St. Marks Bookshop
Address: 31 3rd Ave near 9th
Phone Number: 212-260-7853
"A GREAT bookstore. Excellent selection of books for the downtown intellectual." Though they had some financial difficulties in the past, they are now in the black again. Smart, sometimes helpful, staff. Moved to this new location July 1992. "The new store is decorated in the style that used to be called 'High Tech': lots of fixtures you would expect in a factory instead of a bookstore. The place feels more like the hold of a spaceship in a Dr. Who episode than a bookstore. However, the selection is as good as ever. Large selection of fiction, philosophy, art books and magazines, small-press literary magazines, SF, etc., and they are open until midnight, which is always a plus." An aricle in the April 18, 1994 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY described their award-winning design.

St. Marks Comics
Address I: 11 St. Mark's Place (8th) btwn 2nd & 3rd Aves
Address II: 150 Chambers St
Address III: brooklyn at 148 Montague St
Phone Number: 212-598-9439
Comics.

Strand Books
Address: 828 Broadway at 12th
Phone Number: 212-473-1452 / 800-366-3664
This place is huge. They specialize in reviewers' copies for half-price, used books, and the out of print. "The Strand is one of the world's largest bookstores, and yet the employees there, unlike those in many smaller bookstores, really do know what is on the shelves and can tell you immediately whether or not they have what you are looking for: 'Do you have "The Complete Encyclopedia of Illustration," by...' 'By Heck. No, sorry; we don't.' is a much better answer than : 'Uh, gee, I dunno...look around on the shelves.'" (And one more thing that makes the Strand unique--they have restrooms!) There's a muchsmaller branch at the South Street Seaport (95 Fulton St., 212-732-6070), and another on Second Ave between E 59 and 60 (at the Manhattan terminal of the aerial tramway to Roosevelt Island), and I've seen a mini-branch of a few portable bookracks on Fifth Ave along Central Park. The Strand has a separate store for antiquarian books next to the main store (not at ground level), accessible by escort or appointment. This store has a good selection of original editions and valuable books.

Sufi Books
Address: 227 W Broadway
Phone Number: 212-334-5212
Like it says, books on Sufism.

Three Lives Book Store
Address: 154 W 10th east of 7th Ave
Phone Number: 212-741-2069
A wide variety of subject matter, but seeming to concentrate on women authors, reissues of 1920s and 1930s books. Very interesting place to browse.

Tompkins Square Books
Address: 111 E 7th at Avenue A
Phone Number: 212-979-8958
Used books and records. "A slight walk down from the street on the south side of the street. Has some great stuff and the prices are very good. The owner is an older woman who has been in the neighborhood a long time." Someone else says, "Better organized and more cheerful than similar side street used book shops in the Lower East Side, contains some tables with real collectibles as well as reasonably priced reading copies.

United Synagogue Book Service
Address: 155 Fifth Ave
Phone Number: 212-533-7800
FAX: 212-353-9439
"In addition to books published by United Synagogue, the Rabbinical Assembly, and the Jewish Theological Seminary, they also carry a small selection of books from other publishers, including the Steinsaltz Talmud and the JPS Torah Commentaries. Nice catalog, and includes lots of good Hebrew story books geared towards children with 250-word vocabularies. These are among the least expensive childrens Hebrew story books I have found."

Untitled
Address: 159 Prince west of West Broadway
Phone Number: 212-982-2088
Before art postcard shops became something to franchise, there were cramped stores like this jammed with an exquisite selection of cards. Another branch on West Broadway is more spacious and has an extensive art book selection, specializing in typography and design, but lacks the down-home feel of the original. The corporate name is Fine Art In Print, Inc.

Ursus Books Ltd.
Online books
Phone Number: 212-226-7858
New and out-of-print art books and catalogues. (Also has an uptown location.)

U.S. Government Bookstore
Address: Room 110, Federal Building, 26 Federal Plaza
Phone Number: 212-264-3825
"Did you know that the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) operates 24 bookstores across the country? ...and that they have some of the most >ahem< unusual and interesting things you'll find anywhere?" However, someone reports, "There is now a security check on persons entering the building. It takes about half an hour to get through the checkpoint." (4/93)

Viewpoint, Inc.
Address: 111 E 14th, Suite 125
Phone Number: 212-242-5478
Reliable and competent at book searching.

Village Comics
Address: 214 Sullivan, part of Science Fiction Shop
Phone Number: 212-777-2770
Good selection.

Waldenbooks
Address: 59 Broadway south of Wall St.
Phone Number: 212-269-1139
Very strong on finance. Reasonably strong on everything else.

Witkin Gallery
Address: 415 West Broadway btwn Spring & Prince
Phone Number: 212-925-5510
Large selection of art and photography books. (For out-of-towners, note that West Broadway is an entirely separate street from Broadway, running parallel to it and about four blocks west.)