Antiquarian and typographic bookstores in San Francisco?

dan_reynolds19 Jan 2011

I'm going to be paying a short visit to San Francisco in a few weeks and was wondering if anyone here has any bookstore recommendations. I'm not particularly looking for bookstores that sell books that are still in print, although if there is a bookstore that has a particularly fantastic design section, I might check it out anyway. What I'm really looking for are antiquarian booksellers, especially sellers that carry the usual suspects (books on the history of typography, printing, the book trade, writing systems, calligraphy, and graphic design).

I'll be driving around a bit, so recommendations in the surrounding environs are OK, too. But I don't have time to make any longer trips to any other parts of the state, unfortunately.

John Hudson19 Jan 2011#

Brick Row is probably the best antiquarian shop in San Francisco. It is located in office space at 49 Geary Street, near Union Square. John Windle is in the same building, and I purchased a nice Estienne leaf book there on my last visit.

dan_reynolds19 Jan 2011#

Fantastic! Thank you, John.

Antonio Cavedoni19 Jan 2011#

We could organize a SF Typostammisch when you’re around. Let’s talk to Stephen Coles.

Tyler Anderson19 Jan 2011#

If you're in Northbeach (A San Francisco neigborhood just north of Chinatown, which is on most people's list anyway), try "William Stout Architectural Books".

It's not an antiquarian bookstore, but it does have a small, dense typography section plus a good design section. They have two locations now. The Northbeach one is better (I think).

http://www.stoutbooks.com/cgi-bin/stoutbooks.cgi/results_splash.html?cat...

dan_reynolds19 Jan 2011#

Thank you, Tyler, I will check them out.

I'm looking forward to the SF Typostammtisch, too!

John Hudson25 Jan 2011#

Dan, when will you be in SF? The San Francisco Antiquarian Book Fair is taking place 11–13 February.

dan_reynolds25 Jan 2011#

John, I'll only be SF from January 29th through February 3rd :(

Antonio Cavedoni26 Jan 2011#

Thanks for the pointer, John, I’ll try to go!

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