The drag queens are the large black and white photo
When I visited Capitol Hill Books, a used bookstore in Denver, CO, I noticed a collage running down the entire side of a bookshelf. It was made up of all the things found in used books. My favorite was an 8 x 10 photo that at first glance is a group of 1940s “pin up” girls, but on closer look is a lineup of drag queens.
Joel Eis, owner of Rebound Bookstore, described in an interview some of the interesting items found in books in his store: a World War II book with a Dear John letter; stationary with the Union Army logo in a Civil War book; a coffee table book containing two huge marijuana leaves; a $100 bill (flip through the used books you buy, you could find lunch money); and, stacks of airline boarding passes (I use them as bookmarks when I travel, helps me to remember where the boarding pass is located).
In one of my book groups we’re reading the Rabbit series by John Updike. One of the members is a John Updike fanatic and owns almost all of his books, many of them she purchased used. She shared with us an old Book-of-the-Month Club summary of Rabbit Redux and a review from 1971 she found in a used copy of Rabbit Redux, it felt like opening a literary time capsule.
What have you found in a used book? We’d love to hear, leave a comment and share!
a provider of all things art in San Rafael, CA. A quality used bookstore that also sells CDs and video, hosts live events, offers free coffee with purchase of a book, and runs Higher Space Gallery a place of artists to hang their work. The 
Following the closure of Robin’s Book Store in Philadelphia, Jakob Dorof of the 
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