Harvard Book Store

Last updated

Harvard Book Store
Harvardbookstore.jpg
Harvard Book Store (2006)
Harvard Book Store
Location Cambridge, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°22′21″N71°06′59″W / 42.3725°N 71.1164°W / 42.3725; -71.1164 Coordinates: 42°22′21″N71°06′59″W / 42.3725°N 71.1164°W / 42.3725; -71.1164
Opening date1932(91 years ago) (1932)
OwnerJeffrey Mayersohn and Linda Seamonson
Website Harvard Book Store website

Harvard Book Store is an independent and locally owned seller of used, new, and bargain books in Cambridge's Harvard Square.

Harvard Book Store was established in 1932 by Mark Kramer, father of longtime owner Frank Kramer, and originally sold used textbooks to students. [1] [2]

Family-owned for over seventy-five years, the store was sold in the fall of 2008 to Jeffrey Mayersohn and Linda Seamonson of Wellesley, Massachusetts, and remains an independent business. [3] [4]

Though often confused with the Harvard Coop,[ citation needed ] the store has no affiliation with Harvard University or the Harvard Coop bookstore, which is managed by Barnes & Noble. With a focus on an academic and intellectual audience, the store's selection and customer service is repeatedly honored by local publications and surveys.[ citation needed ]

Forbes named the book store as its top bookshop in its "World's Top Shops 2005" list. [5]

In 2009, the store introduced an on-demand book printing service called the Espresso Book Machine, produced by New York firm On Demand Books, using books in the public domain available through Google Library. [6]

In recent years, a well-attended author event series has hosted Al Gore, Salman Rushdie, Haruki Murakami, John Updike, Orhan Pamuk, and Stephen King, in addition to a number of local writers and academics. [7]

Related Research Articles

The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. Since October 12, 1931, The New York Times Book Review has published the list weekly. In the 21st century, it has evolved into multiple lists, grouped by genre and format, including fiction and nonfiction, hardcover, paperback and electronic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borders Group</span> Defunct American corporation

Borders Group, Inc. was an American multinational book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. In its final year, the company employed about 19,500 people throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders and Waldenbooks stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnes & Noble</span> American bookseller and retailer

Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller. It is a Fortune 1000 company and the bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. As of July 7, 2020, the company operates 614 retail stores across all 50 U.S. states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powell's Books</span> Bookstore chain selling new and used books

Powell's Books is a chain of bookstores in Portland, Oregon, and its surrounding metropolitan area. Powell's headquarters, dubbed Powell's City of Books, claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. Powell's City of Books is located in the Pearl District on the edge of downtown and occupies a full city block between NW 10th and 11th Avenues and between W. Burnside and NW Couch Streets. It contains over 68,000 square feet, about 1.6 acres of retail floor space. In 2016, CNN rated it one of the "coolest" bookstores in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Textbook</span> Type of academic study book

A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textbooks and other books used in schools. Today, many textbooks are published in both print and digital formats.

This Ain't the Rosedale Library was an independent bookstore located in Toronto, Ontario. Located in the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood for much of its history, the store moved to Kensington Market in May 2008, but closed in June 2010. Its name referred to Rosedale, an affluent neighbourhood of the city.

Waldenbooks, operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain, from 1995 as a subsidiary of Borders Group. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware, as well as a children's educational toy chain under Walden Kids. In 2011, the chain was liquidated in bankruptcy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kramers (bookstore)</span> Independent bookstore in Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C., United States

Kramers is an independent bookstore and cafe in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Since its founding in 1976 by Bill Kramer, Henry Posner, and David Tenney, Kramer's has become a local institution and meeting place for neighborhood residents, authors, and politicians. It was one of the first bookstores in the country to feature a cafe which influenced similar business models nationwide. Notable people that have visited Kramer's include Barack Obama, Andy Warhol, Maya Angelou, and Monica Lewinsky, whose purchases at the bookstore attracted national attention during the Lewinsky scandal investigation and led to a high-profile legal battle. Kramer's was sold in 2016 to Steve Salis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independent bookstore</span> Retail bookstore which is independently owned

An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store. They may be structured as sole proprietorships, closely held corporations or partnerships, cooperatives, or nonprofits. Independent stores can be contrasted with chain bookstores, which have many locations and are owned by large corporations, which often have other divisions besides bookselling.

Glad Day Bookshop is an independent bookstore and restaurant located in Toronto, Ontario, specializing in LGBT literature. Previously located above a storefront at 598A Yonge Street for much of its history, the store moved to its current location at 499 Church Street, in the heart of the city's Church and Wellesley neighbourhood, in 2016. The store's name and logo are based on a painting by William Blake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bookselling</span> Business of selling and dealing with books

Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of libraries in c.300 BC stimulated the energies of the Athenian booksellers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brentano's</span>

Brentano's was an American bookstore chain with numerous locations in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Globe Corner Bookstore</span> Former bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

The Globe Corner Bookstore was one of the largest travel book and map retailers in North America. It was located at 90 Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Harvard Square. The store provided a full range of travel and outdoor recreation reference materials for a destination: guidebooks, maps, atlases, recreation guides, travel literature, nature guides, photography books, cookbooks, and language products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society</span> U.S. campus bookstore chain

The Harvard/MIT Cooperative Society is a retail cooperative for the Harvard University and MIT campuses in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While the general public is able to shop, membership discounts and other benefits are restricted to Coop members. As of 2020, there are three store locations at Harvard, and two at MIT. The main store is located in the heart of Harvard Square, across the street from the Harvard subway station headhouse.

<i>Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar</i>

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar – Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes is a 2007 book by Thomas Wilson Cathcart and Daniel Martin Klein that explains several philosophical concepts with the help of jokes that serve to illustrate the points in the book.

<i>Curious George</i> (book) Book by Margret Rey

Curious George is a children's book written and illustrated by Margret Rey and H. A. Rey, and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1941. The first book in the Curious George series, it tells the story of an orphaned monkey named George and his adventures with the Man with the Yellow Hat. As of 1 May 2021, it has sold over 25 million copies, and has been translated into various different languages such as Japanese, French, Afrikaans, Portuguese, Swedish, German, Chinese, Danish, and Norwegian. It is also in the Indie Choice Book Awards Picture Book Hall of Fame and has been the subject of scholarly criticism.

Book store shoplifting is a problem for book sellers and has sometimes led stores to keep certain volumes behind store counters.

Firestorm Books & Coffee is a worker-owned and self-managed "anti-capitalist business" in Asheville, North Carolina. Named after the firestorm, this infoshop operates with an eye on creating a sustainable, radical community event space. Firestorm features regular events, such as film screenings, political and economic teach-ins, local and traveling musicians and community workshops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thalia (bookstore)</span> German book shop chain

Thalia is a chain of more than 200 book shops in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Russell Books is an independent bookstore in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. A family-owned business still owned and operated by the children and grandchildren of its founder, it has been labelled as the largest used bookstore in Canada.

References

  1. "Harvard Book Store". Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
  2. David Mehegan (28 May 2008). "Next chapter for best seller". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
  3. David Mehegan (2 October 2008). "Wellesley couple buy Harvard Book Store". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
  4. Lee, Felicia (30 May 2008). "Bookstore for Sale". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  5. "World's Top Shops 2005". Forbes.com. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  6. Merrigan, Tara (22 September 2009). "Google Library and Harvard Offer On-Demand Books". FoxNews.com. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  7. Beryl C.D. Lipton (November 2007). "Harvard Book Store Celebrates 75 Years of Literature and Community" . Retrieved 9 May 2010.