Bookseller Review: Book People

Book People

536 Granite Ave. 

Richmond, VA

804.288.4346

www.bookpeoplerichmond.com

Book People is an old-fashioned books shop that prides itself on personal service, above all else. They have four rooms and over 20,000 titles in stock of half new, half used and collectible volumes. 

What we like: Off-the-beaten-path bookstore that's simply a house full of books. We definitely like that. Fair collection of fiction, with many older editions. The woman who appears to run it is extremely kind, and very helpful.

What we don't like: The organization system is unique, and not the easiest for browsing, let alone finding what you're looking for. Prices are kind of all over the place, and seem much too high for some items.

Would we go again? Yes, we would make a point to stop here anytime we make the trip over to Richmond.

The books and the bees

A small parking lot to the side of a house, a few tables out front lining the sidewalk on the way toward the front door, a man either asleep or passed out taking in the sun from one of the Adirondack chairs on the lawn.

Welcome to Book People in Richmond, our next stop on today's adventure.

It's literally a house filled with books, and upon first entering, there was a small cart up front with some older editions of Hawthorne and others, but nothing that jumped out at us. After getting our tour of their very unique way of organizing their shelves (read: not really organized that much at all), Deborah headed toward the back rooms and I started in the front.

I eventually made my way to the back, where I located a Riverside Edition. Maybe the most obscure Riverside Edition out there -- Minor Classics of Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. I -- and though it had clearly seen better days (and some water), it had to come home with us.

Deborah also found a cookbook there, for recipes using honey, and while checking out, the owner (or one of the owners) of Book People, a nice lady probably in her 60s with a northern European accent, said to me: "My mother used to have the northern-most beehive in the world, in Iceland. It didn't last very long, it's too cold."

That's kind of an impressive distinction, though, no matter how long it lasted.

Book added: Minor Classics of Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. I, Buckler, William E., ed.

Publisher:  Riverside Editions, Houghton Mifflin, B107

Year: 1967

Where obtained: Book People, Richmond, Va.

Price: $2.00