Dove & Hudson Old Books
Once or twice a year, usually with my mother in the course of a family visit, I spend an hour or so in the Dove & Hudson bookstore in Albany. (Photo is courtesy of Maud Newton, who blogged about the store some time ago.) Mnemonically named for the corner where it’s located, the Dove & Hudson is probably the best of all the many used-book stores I’ve visited in a long career as a bookbuyer.
It’s not as big as Boston’s late lamented Avenue Victor Hugo, or as physically beautiful as Housing Works in Soho, but it has the best combination of excellent selection and reasonable price that I’ve seen anywhere. Rather than go through the titles one by one, it almost seems I should move entire shelves from the Dove & Hudson into my living room. A key part of the experience is the presence of the owner, Dan Wedge, in his broad-brimmed hat, reading behind the counter or puttering around the shelves, never hurried or flustered, making friendly but not intrusive conversation in his resonant voice, and dispensing purple money for future discounts with the change. How can you not like someone who’s read the Aubrey-Maturin novels more times than I have?
