Insatiables

The few flakes of snow we had today and yesterday morning reminded me of this sign

which is posted on the door of the used book shop called Insatiables in Port Townsend, WA. (which sign also includes the owner's phone number (for those who are desperately seeking old books, no doubt!)  I already mentioned this store in this recent post but I enjoyed shopping there so much, I have to tell you a bit more about it, and the treasures that can be found there.

Inside the shop, there are other signs offering sage advice posted here and there:

and my favourite:

There are thousands of books crowded lovingly into this not overly large store.

As well as vintage shelving units (which I also coveted) containing loose pages like maps and ephemera and old magazine advertisements:

As you can see from the above photo, there are also paper bags full of even more books lining the aisles here and there throughout the store.  It's a bit like mining for gold, the hunt is half the fun!

I felt like a successful gold miner when I happened to pick up this stunning pop-up book:

while waiting to pay for my purchases on our second visit and immediately handed over to Jane Davenport, who had advised us as we were driving in to town for our first visit the day before that she collects pop-up books. The book was falling apart a bit, so Jane was able to get it for a very reasonable price and is now eternally in my debt. ;)

The owner of the store is Karen and she very kindly offered to open early for us on the Sunday morning of PLAY weekend so we could come in and have a second look around.  She told us she had specifically brought in a bunch of old ledgers for our group.  There was an entire shelf full of them, ranging from $10 to $200 - the Journalfest crowd would have cleaned her out completely! 

I was dismayed at having to leave several amazing books and ledgers behind but they were just too big and/or heavy to bring home on the plane.  If only I'd had a steamer trunk, I could have easily filled it with many delightful volumes such as these ones.

I did get some wonderful things for myself, like this ledger book:

this children's story book from 1876, named "Chatterbox" (which seems a good name for a journal, don't you think?)

and a company's minute book filled with many pages of old-fashioned pieces of vellum paper covered in the classic typewriter font.

If I owned or worked in a book shop, I'd want it to be just like Insatiables.  If you're visiting Port Townsend, it's worth the time to check out this store.  If you like old books, I guarantee you won't leave empty-handed!