We are still here and have been making some amazing acquisitions

Thanks for looking at our blog and we are happy to be posting some good news about the store- we are moving higher on the local search results for bookstores in town and have been able to acquire some high quality books that are improving our stock and exciting to deal in.  We purchased a collection of high end fashion books, some of which are listed now and some photos of a book about Grace Coddington, the legendary stylist at Vogue, are pictured below.  We've also purchased some beautiful sets from the 1800s which are in solid shape and extremely decorative, for any of you reading this who appreciate the finer aspects of book binding.  We have 34 volumes of Walpole's writings bound in the same leather binding as the last photo, along with a beautiful 6 volume set of Smollett's Works from 1806.  We have purchased books on Ferraris, samurai swords, Oregon history and lots of stuff in between.  Please take a look at the photos below and let us know if you have anything special or interesting that you would like talk to us about selling.  Thanks for looking.

New Photography and Art Websites

So I have been interested in photography for quite a while, but only started taking pictures seriously in the last 9 months or so.  My Mother was a photographer when I was younger, though she now focuses more on her Chinese art, but I've always been interested in the medium and decided that I would pick up a camera and see what happened.  9 months later I decided to put up a photography site to let people see my work and so I thought I would post the link to it here, in case anyone is interested in taking a look at it.  I would love to hear your feedback if you have any, and my email is on the contact me link on the homepage.  www.nilehagen.com


The second thing I have been working on is a website showcasing some vintage magazine covers we got into the store a while ago.  They are beautiful examples of the Art Deco style and we have over 20 original Erte covers, if you happen to know who that is.  Most of them are available to be sold and generally on a frame to suit basis.  Please check out the site and let us know if you are interested in any of these beautiful, original pieces:

www.vintagemagazineart.com

Longfellow's Books Named One of Portland's Best Places 2010/2011!!!

Congratulations are in order for us as we have recently learned that we are to be included in the new edition of Portland's Best Places.  We have been included 4 times in the last 9 years and this year it is particularly gratifying as we have been particularly dedicated to keeping the store clean, presentable and chock full of beautiful books and magazines as of late.  You can find the link to the new edition here:  Amazon.com: Portland's Best Places and we hope you will check it out.

Beautiful sets for interior decorators and bibliophiles alike

We have had some contact from local interior decorators looking for attractive books to buy to fill the needs of their clients.  We also notice that some of the books we have in the store are quite attractive and would be to any bibliophile.  Making them even more interesting is the fact that most stores don't carry many multi-volume sets and that we love the quality of antique publishers in lots of cases, thus I thought I would post some photos of books- some recently acquired and others we have had for years that I know someone out there wants.  The first photo is of some limp suede leather volumes with beautiful gilt on the spines, and then there are some sets that I'm sure will interest some of you.  Honestly we have approximately 20 other sets which might be of interest if you are looking for such attractively bound books, not to mention all of the single volumes in the store.  Please let us know if you would like more information and we hope to see you in person.

Nile

A wonderful review of the store written by an intrepid bibliophile

One of our new customers is apparently a blogger, and a good one at that from what I can tell.  Tiah came into the store a couple of weeks ago and wrote a very nice review of the store on her blog, which we are providing a link to here.  Please take a look for some photos taken by a customer and her thoughts on the store, which include the words "chaotic" and "higgeldy-piggeldy" but only in the nicest possible way.  Thanks for looking and I will be posting some photos of some books new acquisitions in the next couple of days.

http://placeofpassage.com/2010/07/27/longfellows%C2%A0books/

Thank you very much for looking at our blog (Also, Dante's Infernos have sold)

We have had a recent rush of inquiries regarding one of our posts- the copies of Dante's Inferno from the mid-1800s.  While we wish we had a thousand copies of these books to sell, unfortunately they were sold within a month of acquiring them and we haven't seen any similar copies since.  We will certainly post photos of any copies we acquire in the future and we thank you very much for looking at our blog and website.  It appears as though traffic on the blog and site have picked up considerably as we went over a year without any inquiries regarding these books and now have had many in the last two weeks.  Thanks again for looking and we hope you will check back next time you are looking for rare/antiquarian/interesting materials.

My first music tip- Diane Birch

So I'm interested in music, as we all are. I spent a while refining my tastes and seeking out things that I like/which interest me. When you come into the store I might be playing anything from Prince, Aretha, Etta James, Van Morrison, Frightened Rabbit or something more obscure. That being said, if customers are in the store I normally lean towards more accessible, less funky/distracting music. I am a big fan of all kinds of music and feel obligated to endorse a friend's music, in case you haven't heard of her. Her name is Diane Birch and she was born in South Africa before moving to Los Angeles and living in Portland off and on, which is where she met a friend of mine and eventually me. She put out an album last year on S-Curve Records (Tom Jones' record label- awesome). She's a very talented pianist, writes all her own music, and is the proud owner of a beautiful voice. Her website is www.dianebirch.com and the cd is entitled 'Bible Belt'. I highly recommend you checking out her site, cd and everything else you can find. She is an extraordinarily talented woman and a great person to boot. Last thing: She played a show here and in Seattle last weekend and I got to see both of them. I took the photo posted above, and I will embed a couple of videos, including one featuring her singing with Daryl Hall from Hall and Oates (awesome again!). Also, my friend Colin referenced us on his blog, located at http://www.smoking-drinking.com/. He is an extremely creative and talented DJ, graphic artist and person. If you go to his site and search for Longfellows you will pull up a short post on the store with some photos.