The Write Stuff: The Bookshop with Evan Friss

The Write Stuff is a periodic series at Barnes & Noble Philadelphia created for aspiring authors looking to learn more about navigating the route from writing to publication and to offer behind-the-scenes glimpses into the publishing industry.

People keep thinking the bookstore is heading toward its demise, and yet here we are! In this illuminating history of bookstores, Evan Friss, author of The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, tells fascinating stories of bookstores past and present — including Barnes & Noble! Join us for a conversation about what makes bookstores tick, and why we will continue to need them. The author will be in conversation with our store manager, Lynn Rosen.

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To make this event safe and enjoyable for all attendees, please read the guidelines below before registering for a ticket so that you know what to expect on the day of the event.

General Admission Ticket ***LIMITED QUANTITY AVAILABLE:

• Registering for a General Admission Ticket guarantees entrance to the event for the discussion and signing.
• Seating: Limited quantity is available and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Standing Room-Only: Limited quantity is available and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. In the event all seating is filled, ticket holders will be granted a standing view from behind the seated audience -- some views may be more limited/obstructed than others.

ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES:

--Please note that Eventbrite is the only authorized dealer for this event. Each person must have a ticket to enter.

--Due to health and safety and space limitations, those without a ticket will not be permitted into the event space.

--The exact time at which the event ends will be determined on the night of the event. To avoid disappointment, we strongly advise you to arrive on time for the event.

--All event guidelines are subject to change.

--If you have any additional questions, please can call the store directly at: (267) 234-9790.

--Barnes & Noble may cancel this event at any time with or without notice to the ticket holders.

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ABOUT Evan Friss

Evan Friss is a professor of history at James Madison University and the author of two other books: The Cycling City: Bicycles and Urban America in the 1890s and On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City. He lives with his wife (a bookseller) and two children (occasional booksellers) in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

ABOUTThe Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore

An affectionate and engaging history of the American bookstore and its central place in American cultural life, from department stores to indies, from highbrow dealers trading in first editions to sidewalk vendors, and from chains to special-interest community destinations

Bookstores have always been unlike any other kind of store, shaping readers and writers, and influencing our tastes, thoughts, and politics. They nurture local communities while creating new ones of their own. Bookshops are powerful spaces, but they are also endangered ones. In The Bookshop, we see the stakes: what has been, and what might be lost.

Evan Friss’s history of the bookshop draws on oral histories, archival collections, municipal records, diaries, letters, and interviews with leading booksellers to offer a fascinating look at this institution beloved by so many. The story begins with Benjamin Franklin’s first bookstore in Philadelphia and takes us to a range of booksellers including the Strand, Chicago’s Marshall Field & Company, the Gotham Book Mart, specialty stores like Oscar Wilde and Drum and Spear, sidewalk sellers of used books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon Books, and Parnassus. The Bookshop is also a history of the leading figures in American bookselling, often impassioned eccentrics, and a history of how books have been marketed and sold over the course of more than two centuries—including, for example, a 3,000-pound elephant who signed books at Marshall Field’s in 1944.

The Bookshop is a love letter to bookstores, a charming chronicle for anyone who cherishes these sanctuaries of literature, and essential reading to understand how these vital institutions have shaped American life—and why we still need them.