Smoky Mountain News reports:
Here, by the side of U.S. 74 as you start up the Balsams after leaving Sylva, isn’t exactly the place you’d expect to stumble onto a bookstore with some 20,000 volumes of select, vintage books.
A photography shop bookends one side of this tiny, easily missed strip mall. Harry Alter’s used, scholarly and rare bookstore serves to bookend the other. And a thrift store and furniture store fills out the middle of this odd juxtaposition of businesses.
Be that as it may, Alton, 43, is here with his bookstore, and has been for about three years. The Pittsburgh native ended up in Jackson County six years ago after his wife, Elizabeth Heffelfinger, took a position in the English Department at Western Carolina University as director of motion picture studies.
Alter’s book selection in the store is tremendous — particularly choice in the political science and history venues, such as the Civil War, but there is also plenty to peruse for those who want books on gardening and the environment, or philosophy and psychology. ...Read the full article
Here, by the side of U.S. 74 as you start up the Balsams after leaving Sylva, isn’t exactly the place you’d expect to stumble onto a bookstore with some 20,000 volumes of select, vintage books.
A photography shop bookends one side of this tiny, easily missed strip mall. Harry Alter’s used, scholarly and rare bookstore serves to bookend the other. And a thrift store and furniture store fills out the middle of this odd juxtaposition of businesses.
Be that as it may, Alton, 43, is here with his bookstore, and has been for about three years. The Pittsburgh native ended up in Jackson County six years ago after his wife, Elizabeth Heffelfinger, took a position in the English Department at Western Carolina University as director of motion picture studies.
Alter’s book selection in the store is tremendous — particularly choice in the political science and history venues, such as the Civil War, but there is also plenty to peruse for those who want books on gardening and the environment, or philosophy and psychology. ...Read the full article
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"Selling rare books in Jackson County"
I was excited when I saw this lead on the cover of your October 19-25 edition of SMN. I read the article and enjoyed it. I will definitely look forward to visiting the store and browsing the political science and history sections.
However I may have some trouble finding the store. Even though I'm new to the area, I know how to find U. S. 74, and I've seen a "Balsam Mountain" sign. I won't have an address for the store and I know that open highway locations don't always numbered addresses.
The other problem is that I won't know the name of the store, since that was never mentioned in the article. If it was and I missed it, I apologize.
Raymond Spears
By Raymond Spears
10/20/2011
Aren't all books in Jaxo County 'rare'?
I kid.
By bill smith
10/20/2011