The Black Swan in the Bookshop

The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

"I do love secondhand books that open to the page some previous owner read oftenest. The day Hazlitt came he opened to "I hate to read new books," and I hollered "Comrade!" to whoever owned it before me." - Helene Hanff, 84, Charing Cross Road

 

The Raven in the Bookshop

The Raven and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe and Gustave Dore

"Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—

Nameless here for evermore." - Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven