Inside the curious world of New York’s rare books sellers 📚
does exactly that. Filmed in beautifully cramped apartments, overflowing bookstores and ageing archives, the film profiles an eclectic array of caretakers and collectors who have been steering the rare books industry through decades of disruption and change. Including commentary from Fran Lebowitz, Susan Orlean and Gay Talese among others, it’s a touching and insightful portrait of a private world that Young hopes would have made his aunt proud.
Filming was an enjoyable, if tantalising experience. “The frustrating thing is you never have any time to do any browsing,” says Young. “Inevitably you’re rushed for time once you’ve finished the interview and gathered all your B-roll. I always wished I could stop and just browse.” After so much time spent filming among so many old books, the sights and smells of each store have stayed with the director, a fact his subjects remained largely oblivious to.
“One of the things I remember,” says Lebowitz mid-way through the film, recalling the height of New York’s bookselling days, “is that they were all little, dusty, Jewish men, who were very irritated if you wanted to buy a book. If it was warm, they’d be sitting outside on a box, their hands were yellow from nicotine.
As for what motivates the subjects of his film, what drives them to keep doing what they’re doing despite the threat of chain bookstores and the shifting challenges of the internet? Young attributes it to a shared impulse – collecting. “Most of them have it in some form or other,” he says. “Jay Walker has a very specific idea in mind with his
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