The bookshop is a private space, a place where one can be alone with the collected works of countless writers, poets, philosophers, and other literary sorts, as well as the type who prefer to speak with pictures rather than use words. The bookshop is a place of wonder and discovery that can make the trip an adventure when your eye seizes upon that very book you must have.
In an age when books have been relegated to electronic, intangible forms, the experience of book buying has been transformed. Where there were once a variety of options for general as well as specialized bookshops, today most retail happens in a vast online catalogue of titles at discounted prices. Undoubtedly, for every gain, there is an equal and opposite loss. While more is available for less, the quiet grandeur of book browsing and shopping has lost some of its charm. Today, we are in need of bookshops more than ever.
Enter One Grand, a new bookshop concept conceived and created by Aaron Hicklin, the edition in chief of Out and founder of editorial agency, Grand Editorial. Hicklin’s personal passion for the printed page has found him living his dream with One Grand. Beginning with a summer installation co-hosted by Whisper Editions in South Street Seaport, NY, One Grand features a “desert island” theme selection curated by those whose lives have informed Hicklin’s own, those with whom he has developed personal relationships over the years.
From Tom Ford, Tilda Swinton, and Annie Lennox to Ryan McGinley, Michael Stipe, and Ta-Nehisi Coates, Hicklin selected some of the most dynamic personalities working today. Each has chosen ten titles that speak to their minds and heads. Several authors and books come up on various lists, including Peter Pan, Mary Renaud, Edmund White, and Jean Genet. Perhaps the overlaps are Venn diagrams of a sort, offering insight into the literary spirits guiding this bookshop forth.
Book selection curated by Tom Ford.
As Hicklin observes, “Bookshops are a very special place. They are a sanctuary from what we have to do to get through the day to live in New York. The bookshop has become a refuge. It is fresh and new. I’ve spent hours in bookshops as a teen and an adult. I’m very glad to have grown up in an age when there were plenty of bookshops. I realized what matters to me. I love writing and reading. I am very at home surrounded by words. It’s hard to get too cynical about books. They are stories and ideas in their purest form. I want to be in this conversation, in this space. It is a response. To create a very small, highly curated series of books that themselves tell a story and resonate beyond what a reader might want; they are selected by someone you’re interested in who has cherished these books. Books tell a story about them. These are intimate, real relationships.”
Book selection curated by Annie Lennox.
Hicklin reveals the ethos of his bookshop and the type of customers it attracts, understanding the nature of bookselling a deeply intimate affair. He explains, “This is for people who love books, to inspire them to pick up books they wouldn’t otherwise pick up. Books they might not see anywhere else. Most bookshops have to keep up with what’s new and stock the classics. Here I’ve had to chase down a few out of print books. Books The Country Between Us [by Carolyn Forché, selected by Ta-Nehisi Coates] would fall through the cracks at a larger bookshop. This is the cracks, actually. These are personal favorites of people. With idiosyncratic, esoteric tastes. When people go into bookshops, they want to be inspired.”
Indeed, One Grand is for those who enjoy the printed page in its many forms. One Grand will be at Whisper Editions in South Street Seaport, NY, through September 2015, before making its permanent home in the Catskills town of Narrowsburg this Fall.
All photos: Courtesy of One Grand.
Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer, curator, and brand strategist. There is nothing she adores so much as photography and books. A small part of her wishes she had a proper library, like in the game of Clue. Then she could blaze and write soliloquies to her in and out of print loves.
