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, ...

and

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

based in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. 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, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

. Peter Glassman, who had recently dropped out from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, 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.

Book publishing

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 editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

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. Baum ...

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 fantasy books, particularly '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', part of a series. In addition to the 14 ''Oz'' books, Baum penned 41 other novels ...

, 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 (now News Corp) in 1999. The ...

. 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 historical 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 ...

''. 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 an order by telephone call ...

Other stores

Books of Wonder first expanded in 1986, when a new, larger store was opened on Seventh Avenue in Chelsea. In 1991, a branch of the store opened in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

, California, funded in part by ''

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American television sitcom, created by Glen and Les Charles, Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows, that aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/C ...

'' co-creators

Les Charles Brothers Glen Gerald Charles (born February 18, 1943) and Les Charles (born March 25, 1948) are American screenwriters and television producers, best known for working on ''Taxi'' and co-creating ''Cheers''. Early lives and careers The Cha ...

and

James Burrows James Burrows (born December 30, 1940), sometimes known as Jim "Jimmy" Burrows, is an American television director. He has received numerous accolades including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards and five Directors Guild of America Awards. He was honored ...

. It included an art gallery, directed by

Michael Cart Michael Cart (March 6, 1941 – February 13, 2025) was an American author and expert in children's and young adult literature. Born in Logansport, Indiana, he earned a degree in Library Science from Columbia University in 1964 and a degree in journ ...

, 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 were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after ...

, 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 We ...

, 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 is a sub brand of The Children's Place. Gymboree began with operating retail stores between the early 1970s and the later 2010s. It was founded by Joan Barnes. History Early years In 1986, the company opened a chain of clothing stores ...

, 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 was temporarily closed between March and July 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The Upper West Side store reopened on August of the same year, but had to close in 2021, when the building where the store was located changed owners.

Notable employees

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 (born September 3, 1980) is an American author, screenwriter, executive producer, and showrunner. She is best known for writing '' The Summer I Turned Pretty'' trilogy, which she adapted into a TV series for Prime Video. She also wrot ...

and George O'Connor. Editor

Neal Porter Neal Porter is an American children's book editing, 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 ...

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 and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietors of t ...

, date=December 17, 2015

References

External links

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