Bookmarked!
Alexia Rossetti Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 9:01AM 
(courtesy of Assouline)For many students, it’s back to school this week and in keeping with the school rush, we’re exploring great bookstores. A true interior designer always has an arsenal of inspirational design books at her fingertips. But where does one go to find good design books? An automatic answer, of course, is Amazon. But if you don’t really know what you’re looking for or if you don’t have a title or author – the website could turn difficult to use. You may actually want to browse through some bookshelves for some guiding light.
Here are some of my favorite bookstores to browse around on a lazy afternoon. In New York, we have Strand Books, Potterton Books, and McNally Jackson. Opened in 1927, the Strand is the oldest remaining independent bookseller in NYC. The Strand boasts of 18 miles of books and is a favorite among booklovers. Potterton Books is located in the famous design showroom center - the D&D Building - and concentrates exclusively on books for the interior design industry. They also have a branch in the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles.
(Strand Books in New York)Up in Boston, Ars Libri in the South End offers the largest stock in rare and out-of-print art books as well as books on architecture and the decorative arts. In Washington, DC, Kramer Books rule. In Philadelphia, the AIA (American Institute of Architects) Bookstore has a wide selection on architecture, interiors, landscaping, and furniture design. Down South, there are several branches of Books and Books in south Florida.
In the Midwest, the Chicago Architecture Foundation not only has a bookstore but they also offer tours of the city, exhibits, and gallery talks.
If you are on the west coast, you can meander through Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon, William Stout Architectural Books in San Francisco and Builders Booksource in Berkeley, California. The last two deal exclusively in the design fields. In Los Angeles, there are two design & architecture bookstores: Hennessey + Ingalls and Arcana, both in Santa Monica.
Besides book dealers, there are also publishers with their own brick and mortar bookstores. Assouline Publishers have a wide variety of art and design books and have stores in the Crystals, Las Vegas; Costa Mesa in southern California; New York; London and Paris. Taschen Publishing also has retail stores in Miami, Los Angeles, New York, and several in Europe. Rizzoli Publications produces many art, fashion, and design books and have a store in Manhattan.
(Rizzoli Bookstore)These are just a sample of bookstores well-stocked in art and design books. If you have any recommendations from your hometown, feel free to share your suggestions to our readers below.
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