brattle book shop

by nina fauci

For this week’s post, I've chosen to visit a bookstore that I often overlook as I pass by daily on my way to class or to the Park Street station. Brattle Book Shop is an independent bookstore in the heart of Downtown Boston, just a short walk from my dorm on Boylston Street.

Founded in 1825 in Downtown Boston (which was known as the Cornhill area at the time),  Brattle Book Shop is one of America’s oldest bookstores, a literary treasure tucked away in an alleyway on West Street inside a three-story building. By 1949, the store faced the brink of closure which was a pivotal moment in its history.

George and Dorrit Gloss, a newly married couple with a profound love for books, stepped in and purchased half the shop for $500, a choice that would shape the future of the Brattle Book Shop forever. Within a year, they became full owners and had a son, Ken, who is now the current owner alongside his wife Joyce Kosofsky, has played a crucial role in turning his family’s legacy into one of the largest antiquarian bookshops in the country.

The Gloss family's journey with Brattle has been marked by resilience and passion. With a history dating back two centuries, it stands as a testament to the preservation of Boston’s deeply-rooted literary history. However, this respected establishment’s path has not been without obstacles. Originally named for its location on the no longer existing Brattle Street (now West Street), the shop faced multiple relocations in the 60s, including a period of sharing a building with a card shop infamous for selling illegal drugs on other floors. 

Through fires, crane mishaps, and seven relocations, Brattle has navigated challenges while accumulating hundreds of thousands of used and collectible books. A fire in 1980 resulted in the creation of the famous outdoor book lot, offering carts of $1, $3, and $5 books. Generous donations from the local community allowed Brattle to swiftly relocate to the storefront next door and reopen within a month. The early 2000s brought a new challenge when a crane fell through the outdoor area, marking another chapter in the shop’s storied history.

As I’ve visited more and more bookstores, I’ve learned that one can accurately determine a bookseller’s character by the books they choose to display proudly. What struck me the most was that these used books were not just your run-of-the-mill cast-off books that are often seen at libraries or big-box bookstores; most of these books on the shelves were vintage and first or second-edition copies.

Brattle has gained a reputation for the breadth of inventory they can carry, from cheap paperbacks in their outdoor lot, books on local history, fiction, art, architecture, maps, postcards, and a children’s on the first floor; world history, religion, sports, science, music, theater books on the second floor; to antique and rare books on the top third floor. 

Ken has shared with various media outlets over the years that one of the most impressive volumes to pass through his hands was the first edition of The Great Gatsby, signed by F. Scott Fitzgerald and inscribed to “the greatest living poet, T.S. Eliot.” He has also encountered a customer who eats Bible pages, J. D. Salinger on the hunt for an obscure author, and a man who has visited the shop with such regularity over the last fifty years that he calls in sick on days when he’s unable to make it. I guess these are just some of the perks of being the proprietor of one of the oldest bookstores in the country.

They market themselves well as a one-stop shop for any book needs or wants a customer may have because it succeeds in incorporating literature into the landscape of the city, literally, through its outdoor book section, and metaphorically through its timeless dedication to the preservation of books and upkeep of traditional methods with a sense of hospitality and kindness that seems to have skipped a generation, but is always preserved in the walls of this store. 

One way they give back to the community is by allowing movie sets to rent books for short-term projects, and recently served as a location in The Holdovers (2023), directed by Alexander Payne starring Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Dominic Sessa. Ken Gloss and other members of staff visit estate sales almost every day, buying between 5,000 and 30,000 books. Now that’s passion. 

I visited Brattle Tuesday afternoon with my friend, Cameron. We walked in and when the door shut behind us, the noticeable air of silence among the customers browsing was palpable and felt more like a library than a bookstore in a busy city. I wanted to check out the highly anticipated rare books collection on the third floor of the shop, so we asked a friendly employee to open the doors for us so we could look around. 

The staff at Brattle are extremely approachable, and if you happen to stop in one day and can’t find what you’re looking for, someone will be happy to help you, or you could also utilize the website’s online search form that customers can fill out as a request for the shop to see if they have a certain book in stock to ship domestically or internationally. 

I’ve chosen to wrap up this post differently this week, with two great pieces of media I’ve found while researching Brattle. The first is this welcome video that can be found on Brattle’s homepage, which features Ken, his employees, and his customers talking about the store in a way that just has to be watched instead of written. I felt like I had just been there after watching it, so maybe you will, too!

The second is a quote from The Guardian’s interview with Ken Gloss back in 2016 that really resonated with me: 

During the interview, Ken was asked, “What’s been the biggest surprise about running a bookstore?” and his reply was golden: “That the business keeps on going. Seeing how many young people are still buying and reading books is a pleasant surprise. I always say the most interesting part about collecting books isn’t the books themselves; it’s collecting the stories about the people who bring them in.”

Ken’s answer beautifully ties together the heart and soul of each of the five bookstores I’ve reviewed so far this semester: Beacon Hill Books & Café, Papercuts, I AM Books, and now Brattle, all of which have been pleasures to experience and review. 

Being surrounded by books has always made me feel at home, even when I’m not. To everyone who has followed this journey with me since the first post: Thank you for continuing to live A Literary Life with me. 

A Literary Life: Official Bookshop Rating Scale

Title Selection: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Atmosphere: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Location: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Prices (rated by a 21-year-old broke college student): 🌟🌟🌟

Revisit? Definitely, since it’s so close by! I’d love the chance to talk to Ken during my next visit.