Our first recognition as bibliophiles

A hot May day deserved a trip to a local frozen-yogurt establishment, and while enjoying our sweet treats outside on the Downtown Mall, the owner of Random Row Books came walking toward us on his way through town.

We've been into his shop a few times (maybe eight or 10 now in 10 months), had some small talk here and there, etc., but we'd yet to encounter him outside the scene where it's obviously easy to place us.

But as he passed today, he said hello, we said hello, and then -- looking at our frozen yogurt -- he said with a smile, "You guys buy that with the money you got from selling that book I sold you?"

We got a good laugh out of that, wondered whether he meant the Sherlock Holmes or the Jane Eyre, and vowed to let him know soon that we don't sell what we buy. It's only for us.

A random discovery of Sherlock Holmes

For my money, the best bookstore space in Charlottesville is Random Row Books.

It's probably because it's a bookstore that also hosts many community-oriented events, and so it is a wide-open, loft-like space, though only a one-story building. I'm not sure of the history of the building, but it was possibly some kind of garage or warehouse in the past. Whatever it was, it makes for a gritty yet extremely welcoming bookstore space today. Plus, what other bookstore do you know where you can walk in looking for books, and walk out with a free set of sewing-machine needles for the old Kenmore sewing machine you just received as a gift?

Anyway, books line most of the walls, from floor to ceiling, and while browsing, I found a little corner shelf containing a couple of piles that looked to be yet-cataloged additions to Random Row's offerings.

In these piles I spied what looked like a worn-leather spine, with a crack or two, and as I am always curious to see how old a book that looks like that will be, I took it up and gave it a closer look.

It was The Sign of the Four, the second Sherlock Holmes story written by Arthur Conan Doyle. What it actually was was The Sign of the Four and A Study in Scarlet, which was the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes.