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Bookstores in New York City? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Bookstores |  | |
| zack Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 7018 days ago 122 posts - 127 votes  Speaks: German*, English, Spanish, French Studies: Mandarin | Message 1 of 10 22 March 2005 at 3:55pm | IP Logged |
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Can anyone recommend good bookstores for language learners in New York (including 2nd hand bookstores that carry language learning material, eg FSI and Assimil)?
Thanks! Edited by Fasulye on 01 March 2010 at 5:36pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| heartburn Senior Member United States Joined 7016 days ago 355 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 2 of 10 22 March 2005 at 4:22pm | IP Logged |
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The best used bookstore that I know of in NYC is the Strand Bookstore on the corner of 12th Street and Broadway. I haven't been there in a long time. I don't remember how good the language section is. Maybe I'll go shopping this weekend. Edited by heartburn on 22 March 2005 at 4:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7185 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 10 23 March 2005 at 12:06am | IP Logged |
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There was a large language-only bookstore in the basement of a building near the Rockefeller center. You need to find one of these Manhattan bookstores guide. I had one in print and used to know one online, a list of some sort. That bookstore was not 'great' but they only sold language programs so that is better than Strand, which is a labyrinth of dusty out of print books. Great fun for sure but if you are looking for recent publications that's not it.
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| heartburn Senior Member United States Joined 7016 days ago 355 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 10 23 March 2005 at 2:26am | IP Logged |
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"Labyrinth" is the perfect word to describe the Strand.
I didn't know there was language bookstore in Rockefeller Center. I will have to look for it. You don't remember the name? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| zack Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 7018 days ago 122 posts - 127 votes Speaks: German*, English, Spanish, French Studies: Mandarin | Message 5 of 10 23 March 2005 at 7:05am | IP Logged |
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Thanks! I'll check them out this weekend. Out of print material is fine - I was hoping to stumble across some of those old Assimil courses Ardaschir has been praising
and maybe some grammar books. Edited by administrator on 23 March 2005 at 7:33am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7185 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes 12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 10 23 March 2005 at 7:41am | IP Logged |
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Here is the text about this bookstore which I had saved from a now defunct website. It deals with all languages, not only French and Spanish:
Librairie De France/Liberia Hispanica 610 5th Ave, Rockefeller Center A small storefront on the Promenade, near the skating rink, opposite the Teuscher's Chocolate shop. :-) The Promenade is located off of 5th Ave, between 49th and 50th streets, 212-581-8810, livresny@aol.com, www.frencheuropean.com). At first, the store appears to be very small, but there is a downstairs section with about five or six times the space as the upstairs. I had been in the store several times before I discovered the downstairs section. A very large selection of French novels, short stories, non-fiction, etc. Some newspapers, magazines, and records. They also have a reasonably large selection of dictionaries and instruction books for other languages. Prices tend to be high, though there are occasional sales in their basement. Staff is usually fluent in French. Mon-Sat 10AM-6PM. The guy downstairs is no Ardaschir. When I asked him whether they carried Pimsleur, he answered me they had a serie that was better. I don't recall the serie but it was not so good. He told me 'Well, they sell very well'. In New York, when somebody tells you that, I think it means 'If it sells well, it means it is good, since the market cannot be wrong'. Anyway, that was the tone he used and I do not have a great recollection of this gentlement. The bookstore is worth a visit though. Edited by administrator on 23 March 2005 at 7:45am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| heartburn Senior Member United States Joined 7016 days ago 355 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 7 of 10 24 April 2005 at 4:41pm | IP Logged |
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Hey Zack! You never told us how you made out on your shopping trip.
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| fredmf Diglot Groupie United States Joined 6272 days ago 43 posts - 51 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish | Message 8 of 10 14 June 2007 at 10:21am | IP Logged |
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Hello...new to this forum and reviving an old thread. I live in New York City and was at Librairie de France yesterday (picking up a Tintin comic, which, along with Asterix, has been an enjoyable way to aid my learning).
Anyway, they have signs in the store that say they will be closing in 2009. Although the signs didn't elaborate, it seems that as is the case with many old New York businesses, their lease goes back many years--all the way to 1935, when Rockefeller Center was first built. The sign adds that Librairie de France is the oldest existing tenant. When that lease expires in '09, they won't be able to afford to stay...not so surprising, given that commercial space rents for $1,000 per square foot in that district (that's what the announcement says, and I don't doubt it). Small, service-oriented merchants are not really to be found in Rockefeller Center these days. So this is a sad development, as the bookstore has been enjoyable resource in my language-learning journey. Sad but probably inevitable--it's been an enjoyable resource, not an indispensable one. The Internet has largely replaced stores like that (as a matter of fact, I could have bought my Assimil New French with Ease right off the shelf from them, but Amazon offered it at less than half of Librairie de France's price). So all that as a long-winded prelude to say that if you enjoy or study French and happen to be in New York this year or next, you may want to stop by and visit one more thing that's soon to be gone. Fred 1 person has voted this message useful |
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