Some antiquarian bookstores of Boston

Upon the Brattle Bookstore's permanent outdoor book sale lot once stood the store itself. The Brattle Bookstore, first opened in 1825, is said to be the oldest antiquarian bookstore in America. JESSICA COFFIN

Boston has a long history of book publishing and book selling so you shouldn't be surprised to find some of the best-stocked antiquarian (rare and collectible) book stores in the US.

Here's a half dozen of my favorites, all within a 10 block stretch. Just start near the western edge of the Boston Common; you'll be heading east toward Copley Square.

Peter L. Stern & Co., 55 Temple Place, is off Tremont Street along the west edge of Boston Common. Here you'll find some of the most prized treasures of 20th-century American literature - first editions by Hemingway, Faulkner and Fitzgerald. Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, detective fiction and science fiction are also well-represented. Only three blocks away is the Boston Athenaeum, a 200-year-old private library. Tourists are welcome at the exhibit galleries and the first floor, where there is a stunning view of Boston's Old Granary Burying Ground, the final resting place for many notable revolutionary-era patriots, including three signers of the Declaration of Independence: John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine and Samuel Adams. Also buried here are Peter Faneuil, Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin's parents and the victims of the Boston Massacre.

Brattle Book Shop, 9 West Street, just one block from Peter Stern, traces its roots to 1825. Its rare-book room is on the third floor, the first two are mostly very affordable used books. Fresh books come in every week on all subjects, from local history to world history, travel and art books, and bookstalls outdoors with some offerings even in the $1 to $5 range.

Commonwealth Books, 134 Boylston, along the southern edge of Boston Common, has a few rare and collectable titles in the front case. The rest of the store is an affordable, general used book shop that attracts lots of academic patrons, from professors to students.

Buddenbrooks Fine & Rare Books, 31 Newbury Street, is located upstairs one block east of the Public Garden. You'll find very rare books from a wide range of fields including 19th-century American titles, illustrated, exploration, history and sets.

Thomas G. Boss Fine Books, 234 Clarendon St., has a fourth-floor location between Boylston and Newbury streets. The emphasis here is on the Art Deco, Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts periods. Look for fine bindings, illustrated books, private press printings.

Bromer Booksellers, 607 Boylston Street, on the second-floor across from Copley Square. Anne and David Bromer have been in business for more than 30 years. They specialize in fine printing and binding, illustrated books, children's and miniature books. Books and illustrations by Edward Gorey? You can find them here and some people might stop in just for them. Diagonal to their location is the Boston Public Library, the oldest in the country. Take at least a few minutes to see the majestic oak-paneled reading room and the John Singer Sergeant ceiling murals.

If you can venture beyond this concentrated central area here are a few more worthwhile shops:

Ars Libri Ltd, 500 Harrison - art, architecture, photography. Boston Book Company, 705 Centre St, Jamaica Plain - literature, East Asia and Japan.

Happy Booking,

— by Tom Toth

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'To think that I saw it on Newbury St.!' - Christina McCarroll	Some antiquarian bookstores of Boston - Tom Toth