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March 18, 2004

Throwing down

I've never been to Boston, but I have it on good authority that Avenue Victor Hugo Books is a fine independent bookstore. Unfortunately, it will be shutting its doors permanently in a couple of months after 29 years of business.

The owner isn't letting the store go gently into that good night. On the site is a list of culprits in the death of small and indy bookstores (it's a regular Mystery on the Orient Express), which includes:

7. Librarians--once the guardians, who now watch over their budgets instead--for destroying books which would last centuries to find room for disks and tapes which disintegrate in a few years and require costly maintenance or replacement by equipment soon to be obsolete.

Owww. Yeesh. Not to revive the whole Double Fold debate, but ... oh heck, words fail. Better people than I can, have and will continue to address such things.

On the other hand, what a fabulous vision statement for the store:

This small outpost of civilization exists because a few people still believe in the essential freedoms guarded by the first amendment to the United States Constitution. Some people believe that government should define for us what we should be able to say, write, or read. Most people think there should be limits to such rights, but are unclear on who should have the power to dictate those limits. Most of our rights have already been traded away by those who prefer the safety of government control to the anarchy of individual freedom. Very few people understand the Faustian bargain they have made. This shop is dedicated to those who have rejected the bargain. It is open to those who might reconsider.

Posted by misseli at March 18, 2004 09:19 PM

Comments

I'm sorry to see another indie (apparently a very good one) go down. And I understand small booksellers' frustration at conditions that are beyond their control. But AVH's list seems to blame pretty much *everyone* except the person who wrote it, and has far too much flavor of the fist-shaking, irrational, anger-fueled rant. As I read it, I had to wonder whether this is the kind of bookseller who heaps scorn upon patrons (customers?) who come to him asking for the wrong sorts of books.

Posted by: Frederick Emrich at March 20, 2004 03:59 PM