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Bookselling was a cottage industry. Small, hand built and carefully cared for with sales driven by consumers instead of consumers driven by sales. Or so we have been told. We do not remember that time. We do not remember that Philadelphia was once a great publishing town. We cannot recall  the street names and locations of the forty-some-odd independent bookstores that used to speckle the city like a group of lighthouses. Much less those in the surrounding areas. Some of you may remember those days, may know the street names and may have frequented those stores, but we do not. We have not accumulated enough weather to know of such things. If those things linger in your memory, or if like us, you know of them only through passed down tales, we would like to take this chance to introduce ourselves. And to the strong independent stores that continue to operate, we are honored to join your ranks.
There is a Russian proverb, “He is young but he has read old books.” In it there is a message about the nature of the relation between books and the humanity that they spring from. The proverb subtly explains why we keep books, organize them and work to preserve and teach them. The only social justification for a bookstore is found in the idea, in the teacher and the concept of wisdom a good bookstore can provide. When we set out to become booksellers, we discussed first what we wanted out of the profession. Other than a love of books and the ability to work with them, there was the notion of activism. In the love and contemplation of the written word, and the reasons to preserve it, exists a notion of its importance to the individual and society. We learn by reading books, and, in a detached way, we teach through books. Authors speak to readers across both time and distance. Books are essential to the health of a society – especially one of our size and implication. We have, however, come to a point where there is more business than book.
Wolfgang Books is a business; that we do not deny. But it is a small one, willing to and capable of looking someone in the eye and giving an honest recommendation. Wolfgang Books will help, when we can, in the understanding of the books we sell. We will encourage people to open old books. We recognize that books continue to evolve, and we will encourage people to read the contemporary writers, including those whom have been marginalized but continue to produce important work.
As of July 1, 2004, we began actively selling books to Philadelphia area communities and worldwide via the web. We started by selling rare & collectible books online and reading copies off of tables on sidewalks. Now we have a shop. A walk in bookstore with an impressive selection of literary titles, both rare & readable. You can come in to Wolfgang Books and sit down in our Reading Room and while the hours away reading. We stock a small library of unique titles that are not for sale, but instead are purely for the community to read. Books are too often relegated to the shelves. The nature of their technology is to be open and in hand, lap, tabletop or even computer screen. We started tooth and nail, “attack dogs for the book,” as one person put it. We will continue to approach bookselling with the same tenacity and passion. The only change is that we now have a base of operations.
There is also The Wolfgang Journal, an ever expanding online cultural publication with a literary focus. Entertaining fictional standards, insightful book and movie reviews, creative conversation on literary themes, and more than one political jibe can be found between the shimmering electic pages of The Wolfgang Journal.
In the near future, among other things, we are looking to bring out of print and neglected classics back into print, and we will work to support undiscovered talents in the Philadelphia area and beyond.
We thank you for your interest in Wolfgang Books. We sincerely ask you to check back, as we will constantly be updating the material on the website.
Please Come Visit Us
The address for our store is listed below.
Wolfgang Books
237 Bridge Street
2nd Floor
Phoenixville, PA 19460
1-610-410-5039 (international and local)
1-866-379-6429 (toll free)
Any and all questions or comments are welcome.
E-mail us at wolfgang@wolfgangbooks.com.
The picture is of us of course. Either that or an image taken from The Victrola Book of The Opera. Victor Talking Machine Company. Camden, New Jersey, 1919.
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