Baldwin's Book Barn

Another stop on my Pennsylvania bookstore trip was Baldwin's Book Barn in West Chester, PA. Baldwin's has always been special to me, it's one of the first antiquarian bookstores I visited and probably led to my addiction of old books.

Located in the Brandywine Valley of Chester County, Baldwin's is a 19th Century barn, built by the Darlington family in 1822. It was purchased by the Baldwin family in 1964 to be converted into a bookstore. It presently houses over 300,000 books on five stories. They did a wonderful job of preserving the barn feel - much of the store is still heated with a wood burning stove giving the shop a smokey, drafty warmth. The floors are original split timber that creak as you make your way up and down the narrow stairways dividing the floors. Each floor is packed with shelves and narrow aisles, making an almost impenetrable labyrinth of books. However, just when you feel like you're going to be overwhelmed with books, you happen upon a quite corner with a period chair set up for reading (or resting).

Nostalgia aside... this had been the first time I'd been back to Baldwin's Book Barn in probably ten years. For an amatuer book enthusiast it's quite impressive, so I was curious what it would be like as a semi-serious collector. I can only speak for the books of my genre, so other areas of the store may be different but overall I was disappointed. Their offerings were common at best... they mostly consisted of pamphlets and cheap local histories. Their small "rare" book area did carry a few classics but all of them were in poor condition and overpriced. I tried to negotiate with the gentleman there but he was only able to reduce the price by a few dollars; not bring it to an acceptable, competitive price. Two examples of this were 'Records of the Courts of Chester County, Pennsylvania' - they were asking $120, a quick search of Abebook.com revealed several copies of similar quality at $80 and below. The best they could offer me was $110. They had a set of 'Chester and Delaware Counties' for $400 - volume 2 had a detached board and water damage with mold - G.S. MacManus had the same copy for $200 in near perfect condition. I will say that it did help me realize how good G.S. MacManus' prices are... he's competitively priced at market value AND his quality far exceeds what's available in the market.

Though disappointing, it was worth the stop. It was fun visiting the place it all began - I'll probably stop back again. It's fun just exploring the levels and layers of their collection. Small bookstores are always worth your time - you never know when you'll find tucked away in their shelves a diamond in the rough. I should do my next post on book barn finds...

G.S. MacManus Co.

Last month, while spending the holidays in Pennsylvania with my family, I was able to visit G.S. MacManus Co. bookstore. Founded in the 1940's by George S. MacManus, his company has grown to be the premier bookstore in southeastern Pennsylvania. Their collection consists of over "45,000 cataloged titles focuses on primarily 18th and 19th century Americana with specialties such as Voyages and Travels, Local Histories, Indians and the West and the Civil War. Also included in our collection are English and American literary first editions, Limited Edition Club selections and Books about Books". Today it is owned by George MacManus' partner's son (that's a mouth full), Clarence Wolf. Over the last few years of book buying Clarence has become not only a supplier of high quality rare and antiquarian books but also a mentor in book collecting. He's sold me some of my best pieces including a leather, signed copy of 'Genealogy of the Smedley Family'; 1870 H.W. Hopkins, 'Atlas of Delaware County'; 1909 Frank H.M. Klinge, 'Atlas of Delaware County' and has put many other hard-to-find family and local histories on my library's shelves.

To understand my excitement in visiting this store, you have to consider the situation I am in... I collect Pennsylvania books with a focus on Delaware and Chester County family and local histories. Living in the middle of Utah, there aren't many bookstores to shop. So all of my collecting thus far has been done online. I realize we live in a global age where commerce is conducted easily over the internet, however, purchasing rare books online is difficult. It often involves requesting detailed photos, asking questions, getting more photos, negotiating prices then waiting for the books to arrive. Not bad... but to be able to walk the aisles of a bookstore filled with thousands of books that pertain to my collection... well... that's a dream.

I had a high expectation for Clarence's store, I've spent hours searching his online lists and he's sent me dozens of photos of books. Even with a basic understanding of his content, I wasn't prepared for what I was going to find. His shop consists of floor to ceiling shelves, often times 12+ feet tall, of every kind of book imaginable. His section of Pennsylvania, family and local histories had nearly every book on my wish list and even a few that I had never heard of. He had multiple copies of nearly every book, giving you the choice of modern prints, modern re-backings, original cloth, leather - every combination and option.

One book that I was specifically going to see was his copy of 'Genealogy of the Sharpless Family', 1887 by Gilbert Cope. This book has been in my top ten list of books I couldn't find and here he had 4 copies (he probably needs to work on updating his inventory system or he's masterfully controlling the prices). All in all, I exercised some self constraint and only came away with four books (pictured) - Genealogy of the Sharpless Family by Gilbert Copy, 1887; Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Chester and Delaware Counties Pennsylvania by Henry Graham Ashmead, 1904; and History of Chester County, Pennsylvania by Gilbert Cope, 1881. I'm looking forward to my next trip to Pennsylvania and some more time to peruse G.S. MacManus' collections. I'm sure over the coming years, we'll build my collection into something great.