the strand book store

My trip to The Strand was unexpected, dreamy, and left me wanting more to say the least. However, it was a good thing; it ended when it did, or I might have left with my pockets hanging out. The first time I went to the strand was in 2002. I was in New York CIty looking at graduate schools. Had The Strand offered a graduate school, maybe I would have gone to school in New York City. I remember back then the strand was only a used-book store, and I had to go through huge piles of unsorted books to find that perfect catch. I couldn't help but love the thrill of the search! Twelve years later, on a whim I decided to take my second trip, having felt the effects of the dying off of book stores in my area forcing me to the internet, I decide it was time I smell some old musty books, while feeling the roughness of a cover and seeing the life they have lived reflected in the covers and pages. Off I went… TAXIE!!! I entered The Strand to find they not only sold used books now, but new ones as well. The art section was huge and organized nicely, a different type of dream I found just as satisfying. A mixture of old and new books filled shelf after shelf, and I think at one point I might have drooled a little bit… shhh, please don't tell anyone. Ok so I did drool when I happened on my favorite find of the day, a catalog from a John Walker show. John Walker was my professor in graduate school. He is a great painter, teacher, and person. I can still close my eyes and smell his cigar smoke coming from his studio. His catalog is a true treasured find…

Whoops! I bought another Braque book. I cannot wait to start reading Philip Guston Menoir's, maybe I will start today, that is after I figure out where to put all these books. Perhaps I should finally alphabetize my collection? Hmm…I do like having De kooning sandwiched between Auerbach and Freud. Makes sense to me, What do you think?