South Congress Books

For you on this stormy Monday, Valeriana Tuberosa.
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #art #valerian #botany #independentbookstore #read #books #readbooks

Scenes from in front of a bookstore. South Congress was hoppin’ yesterday!
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #rampantrabbits #atx #independentbookstore #read #books #readbooks

“So often, a visit to a bookshop has cheered me and reminded me that there are good things in the world.”
—Vincent van Gogh, 1877

And where else would you rather be on a gray and possibly rainy spring day? Our door is open (as of noon).
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #vangogh #vincentvangogh #art #painting #artbooks

“Alas, poor Yorick! How surprised he would be to see how his counterpart of today is whisked off to a funeral parlor and is in short order sprayed, sliced, pierced, pickled, trussed, trimmed, creamed, waxed, painted, rouged and neatly dressed - transformed from a common corpse into a Beautiful Memory Picture.”
#JessicaMitford #AmericanWayofDeath
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #funerals #death #customs

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life. Awakening from the stupefying effects of the vice of over-industry and the deadly apathy of luxury, they are trying as best they can to mix and enrich their own little ongoings with those of Nature, and to get rid of rust and disease.” #JohnMuir #OurNationalParks

Written 121 years ago, yet still germane today . . .

“Our National Parks” by John Muir, published by Houghton Mifflin / The Riverside Press Cambridge, November 1901, first edition, first printing, $675.
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #mariposagrove #sequoia #nationalparks #naturaltreasure #muir #ushistory

Utterly ♥️in love♥️ with this photo of us. Thank you, @josiane_mone! So gorgeous, as are all your photos!
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #portraitofastore #photography #read #books #readbooks #igaustintexas #igaustintx #igaustin #austintexas #austintx #austin #atx #shoplocal #shopatx #bookstore #southcongressatx #atxphotographer #atxphotography #austinphotographer #austinphotography #trueaustin

Once a proofreader, always a proofreader. 🙌
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks

Swedish Saturday! $25 each.
The covers alone! Also, all you completists out there, we’re looking at you. 👁 We’ll consider a bulk discount.

#PeterBenchley #JohnSteinbeck #IanFleming #HGWells #KilgoreTrout #philipjosefarmer #ErnestHemingway #KurtVonnegut #JackLondon #HansHellmutKirst #IsaacAsimov
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks
#swedishsaturday #paperback #jaws #eastofeden #venusonthehalfshell #grapesofwrath #drno #islandofdrmoreau #slaughterhousefive #eastofeden

“The reader will, we apprehend, by this time have had enough of absurdities.”
#ThomasBulfinch

“Bulfinch’s Mythology” by Thomas Bulfinch, Random House, three-quarter leather binding, $150.
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks
#bulfinchsmythology #ageoffable #ageofchivalry #legendsofcharlemagne #mythology #fable #legend #atx #independentbookstore

•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks

“Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.”
#JosephCampbell
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #myths #dreams #legends #mythology #religion #history #lore #read #books #readbooks #atx

"My life is a lovely story, happy and full of incident." #HansChristianAndersen

Did he really say this? Not sure, but we like it either way.

“The Complete Tales of Hans Christian Anderson,” two-volume set, first thus UK, Folio Society, 2005. $275.
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks
#fairytales #classics #tbt #tmbt #childrensbooks #booksforeveryone

#Repost @rye.unbranded. Thanks for the gorgeous photo, Rye!
・・・
Bookstores always feel like home.
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #read #books #readbooks #independentbookstore #atx

“‘And I don't speak of myself, particular,' said Mr. Omer, 'because, sir, the way I look at it is, that we are all drawing on to the bottom of the hill, whatever age we are, on account of time never standing still for a single moment. So let us always do a kindness, and be over-rejoiced. To be sure!’”
#CharlesDickens #DavidCopperfield
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #dickens #read #books #readbooks #atx #independentbookstore #shelfie #saturdayshelfie #shelfiesaturday

“Anyone who has a book collection and a garden wants for nothing.”
#Cicero

•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #tbt #read #books #readbooks #independentbookstore

“The Big Green Book” by Robert Graves—his only book written for children. Illustrations by Maurice Sendak. 1985, limited edition, signed by Sendak. $750.

Maria Popova called this book “a wondrous and subversive story about the magic of reading.” And it is!
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #robertgraves #mauricesendak #biggreenbook #mariapopova

ART! BOOKS! ART BOOKS!

We have some. Actually, we have a lot of them. Browse at your own peril!
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #art #books #artbooks #read #readbooks #independentbookstore #atx

“To build up a library is to create a life. It's never just a random collection of books.”
#CarlosMaríaDomínguez

Happy Sunday! We’re here. See you when you get here!
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #HouseofPaper #read #books #readbooks #atx #independentbookstore #supportyourlocalbookstore

This week’s, or maybe this month’s, fav illos!

Atak’s “Topsy Turvy World” from Flying Eye Books, a mere $15.
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #art #bookart #illustration #bookillustration #atak #flyingeyebooks #topsyturvyworld #childrensbooks

A peek into our treasure trove of a front case. Which is your pick?
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #kellybarnhill #nickcave #italocalvino #trumancapote #richardbrautigan #johnmuir #andywarhol #cormacmccarthy #edwardabbey #yellowstonepark #fbf

“I guess there are never enough books.”
#JohnSteinbeck
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #atormentadatierra #toagodunknown #tomlea #kingranch #izaakwalton #waltonslives #arabiannights #bishopburnet #italianterracotta

“Call me jackanapes again, and I break yours, sir.”

“JACKANAPES!”

(Just kidding. We made up that last.)

“Westward Ho!” by Charles Kingsley, illustrations by Charles E. Brock, two volumes, MacMillan, 1896, $200.

The voyages and adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, of Burrough, in the County of Devon, in the reign of Her Most Glorious Majesty Queen Elizabeth, rendered into modern English!
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #literature #fiction #history #macmillan #independentbookstore #atx #read #books #readbooks

#Repost @willreadforfun. Thanks, Alex! ♥️📚💕
・・・
Swipe for some magical bookstore charm ✨

Still thinking about my recent first trip to Austin, Texas. Used - collectible - unique indeed!

“Imagination, of course, can open any door—turn the key and let terror walk right in.”

“In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote, first edition, 1965, $225.
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #literature #newjournalism #nonfictionnovel #history #TrumanCapote #InColdBlood

#fbf to the days of Big Eye by @lanceletscher. Good times.

#Repost @magpiephotobook. Thanks for the gorgeous picture, Maggie! ♥️
・・・
Chapter 236: Eye
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #collage #lanceletscher #sign #metal #metalcollage #independentbookstore #atx #soco #southcongress

“With my intellect I see cause for nothing but pessimism and even despair. But I can't settle for what my intellect tells me. That's not all of it. . . . There are still stars which move in ordered and beautiful rhythm. There are still people in this world who keep promises. . . . That's enough to keep my heart optimistic no matter how pessimistic my mind.”
#madeleinelengle #awindinthedoor
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks
#timequintet #read #books #readbooks #independentbookstore #ya #childrensbooks #youngadultbooks #shelfie #tbt

RINGO FOR PRESIDENT!

“Arthur Tress: San Francisco 1964” by Arthur Tress & James A. Ganz, signed first edition, $100.

Photos by Tress, a new arrival in San Francisco in 1964, make for a wonderful time capsule of the city—but perhaps more important, they showcase his unique perception & vision as a photographer.
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #tress #arthurtress #jamesaganz #photography #photographybooks #sanfrancisco #history #beatles #ringoforpresident #ringostarr

“Still, I’ve always believed—still do—that the radical is far more interesting when it looks benign and ordinary on the outside.”

“Girl in a Band” by Kim Gordon. First edition, $25.
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #music #musicbook #sonicyouth #kimgordon #girlinaband

DICTIONARY
noun
dic·​tio·​nary | \ ˈdik-shə-ˌner-ē , -ˌne-rē \
plural dic​tio​nar​ies

Definition
1 : a reference source in print or electronic form containing words usually alphabetically arranged along with information about their forms, pronunciations, functions, etymologies, meanings, and syntactic and idiomatic uses

Synonyms: lexicon, wordbook
Examples: //Look it up in the dictionary. //try to develop the habit of going to the dictionary whenever you encounter an unfamiliar word.
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #dictionary #shelfie #oxfordclassicdictionary #shorteroxfordenglishdictionary

“Who knows the end? What has risen may sink, and what has sunk may rise. Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men. A time will come—but I must not and cannot think!“
#hplovecraft #callofcthulu

Cthulu coloring book, $15.
•
•
•
#socobooks #usedcollectibleunique #southcongressbooks #cthulu #childrensbooksarentjustforchildren #read #books #readbooks