Books of Wonder is an

independent bookstore An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store (although there are some multi-store independents). They may be structured as sole proprietorships, cl ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

based in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. It was established in 1980 by Peter Glassman and James Carey and is focused on selling antique, classic and new children's books. It has been called "New York City's oldest children's-only bookstore" still in activity.

History

The first Books of Wonder store was established in 1980 on Hudson Street in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. Peter Glassman, who had recently dropped out from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, wanted a place to sell his antique children's books to collectors. After Carey and Glassman finished setting up the bookshelves and placing the items, the couple realized they still had plenty of space left and decided to sell classic and new children's books in addition to Glassman's books. During its first year open, the store made around US$78,000 and saw enough success that they decided to move from its 150 square feet to a larger location in 1982. The location on Hudson Street factored into the store's early success, as it was close to a number of schools and was used frequently by New Jersey commuters. Two years later, in 1984, at an American Bookseller Association conference, Glassman and Carey met with David Reuther, then

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of Morrow Junior Books. There, Glassman discussed with Reuther his idea to reissue all the

Oz books The Oz books form a book series that begins with ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900) and relates the fictional history of the Land of Oz. Oz was created by author L. Frank Baum, who went on to write fourteen full-length Oz books. All of Baum's bo ...

originally written by

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the ''Oz'' series, plus 41 other novels (not includ ...

, which would also include the original illustrations in full color. As this aligned with Reuther's plan on reissuing classic children's books, and due to low costs because of expired copyrights, he agreed to help, and in the next year they started an imprint under

William Morrow and Company William Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. The company was acquired by Scott Foresman in 1967, sold to Hearst Corporation in 1981, and sold to News Corporation News Corporation (abbrev ...

. The imprint, initially called Books of Wonder Classics, grew as they began to hire artists to illustrate and color classic children's books that lacked illustrations, which included ''

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court ''A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'' is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled ''A Yankee in King Arthur's Court''. Some early editions are titled ''A Yankee at the Court of King Arth ...

''. In 1988, Books of Wonder also opened a small press, called Emerald City Press, and began publishing its own books at the store and via

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing a ...

Other stores

Books of Wonder first expanded in 1986, when a new, larger store was opened on Seventh Avenue in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. In 1991, a branch of the store opened in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

, California, funded in part by ''

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...

'' co-creators Les Charles and

James Burrows James Edward Burrows (born December 30, 1940), sometimes known as Jim "Jimmy" Burrows, is an American television director who has been working in television since the 1970s.Stated in interview on ''Inside the Actors Studio'' Burrows has direct ...

. It included an art gallery, directed by

Michael Cart Michael Cart, born on March 6, 1941 in Logansport, Indiana, United States is an author and expert in Children's literature, children's and Young adult fiction, young adult literature. He earned a degree in Library science, Library Science from Colu ...

, where customers could buy original pictures by children's books illustrators. By 1993, both the Hudson Street and Beverly Hills locations were struggling. Road repairs in Greenwich Village had hurt foot and vehicle traffic to the former, and the California location was affected by the

1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in S ...

, flooding, and an earthquake. The Hudson Street store closed in 1993, and the Beverly Hills location closed in 1994. In June 2017, Glassman announced that he would be opening a new Books of Wonder at

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

, mentioning having a second place would be beneficial in case he was unable to renew the

lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

of the Chelsea store, which was ending soon. The location, which had 2,600 square feet, was formerly a

Gymboree Gymboree Group, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Children's Place. History Gymboree was founded by Joan Barnes in 1976. Retail stores In 1986, the company opened a chain of clothing stores named Gymboree. Gymboree stores offered coordi ...

, which factored in Glassman's decision, due to the need of "a doorway wide enough to accommodate double strollers". Glassman also spoke about the demographics of the region, which he saw as "the most family friendly neighborhood in the city". The new store opened in September 2017, but had to close in 2021, when the building where the store was located changed owners.

Notable sellers

Various children's books authors and illustrators started as sellers at Books of Wonder before having their books published. Among those are

Nick Bruel Nicholas Tung Ming Bruel is an American author and illustrator of children’s books, most notably the ''Bad Kitty'' series. The first book in the series, ''Bad Kitty'', is an alphabet-themed picture book, and expanded series includes both pic ...

, Jason Chin, Julie Fogliano,

Jenny Han Jenny Han is an American author of young adult fiction and children's fiction. She is best known for writing the '' To All the Boys'' series and ''The Summer I Turned Pretty'' trilogy, which were adapted into a film series and TV series, respe ...

and George O'Connor. Editor

Neal Porter Neal Porter is an American children's book editor. He is the founder of Neal Porter Books, an imprint of Holiday House. After a brief stint in the college textbook department of St. Martin’s Press he moved into trade publishing, in 1977, whe ...

called this group of authors the "Books of Wonder mafia".{{cite news , last1=Nolan , first1=Abby McGanney , title=Shelf Lives: From Bookseller to Bestseller , url=https://www.hbook.com/story/shelf-lives-from-bookseller-to-bestseller , access-date=February 11, 2022 , work=

The Horn Book ''The Horn Book Magazine'', founded in Boston in 1924, is the oldest bimonthly magazine dedicated to reviewing children's literature. It began as a "suggestive purchase list" prepared by Bertha Mahony Miller and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietres ...

, date=December 17, 2015

References

External links

Official website
Bookstores in Manhattan Independent bookstores of the United States Retail companies established in 1980