The Strand

The Strand

This is why book lovers move to New York. Though not New York's most complete (Labyrinth Books) or its most elegant (the Argosy Bookshop), the Strand is a literary experience nonpareil, something like discovering a pre-publication copy of your favorite book, on sale for a buck or two, while strolling Parisian bookstores beside Sartre and Camus. Their slogan is "miles and miles of books," but that misleadingly implies some linear order; this place is just a book jungle. Launched in 1929, the Strand was once the biggest attraction on "Book Row"--the stretch of Fourth Avenue just below Union Square, once a long strip of secondhand bookshops. A literary amusement park, you can get review copies for next-to-nothing, discounted old paperbacks, art books, rare books, and everything in between, so long as you're willing to dig. The Strand is as famous for its disorganization and traffic as it is for its comprehensiveness.