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Peter Miller of the Freebird Books will host the Brooklyn Holiday Book Fair in Park Slope. Photo by Caroline Ourso
Text and the city
Holiday book fair to showcases volumes of urban interest
COURIER LIFE, NOV. 29-DEC. 5, 2019 45
ROSE ADAMS
A Brooklyn bookstore that specializes
in tomes about New York
City will bring highlights of its
used treasures to the Brooklyn
Holiday Book Fair in Park Slope
on Dec. 7. The event will let holiday
shoppers browse through a unique
selection of titles focused on the
boroughs and neighborhoods that
make up the Big Apple, said the
store’s owner.
“It’s a city of small towns, and
every one of these small towns has
its own story and its own personality
and character,” said Peter
Miller, who runs Freebird Books
in the Columbia Street Waterfront
District. “There’s not another bookstore
that does the same thing.”
Miller’s love for New York Citycentric
books dates back to the
1980s, when he moved here from
his home in Missouri, and became
curious about the Big Apple’s inner
workings.
“I walked around the city and I
just wanted to learn more, and to
learn more, you have to read all
these books,” he said. “It reached
a point where I ended up collecting
tons and tons of books … anything
that was touching on the city.”
Miller took over Freebird Books
in 2007, and modeled it after the
now-closed New York Bound Bookshop,
which sold works solely about
the Big Apple. Now he and his wife
— previously a Freebird customer
— run the business together.
Freebird sells used books from
across all genres, but Miller specifically
seeks out volumes that focus
on the city’s politics, history,
transportation, architecture, and
crime.
“At the end of the day I’d rather
just have a wide variety of things,
and some of them might just be beat
up paperbacks with coffee stains
on them,” he noted. “We try to be
broad in what we have.”
Miller will bring a selection of
his all-time favorites to the Book
Fair at the Old Stone House, where
seven other Brooklyn booksellers
with different specialties will
also showcase their wares. Other
vendors include Marine Park’s Enchanted
Books, which specializes
in vintage children’s books, Honey
& Wax from Gowanus, which sells
antique first editions and other
rarities, and a bookstore on wheels
whose proceeds go to local educational
programs.
The event will also feature
Dutch spiced cookies, colonialera
candies, and a fun community
atmosphere, said Miller, who
has taken part in the fair since it
started eight years ago.
“It’s just such a positive vibe,”
he said. “People genuinely love
talking to book sellers and getting
recommendations. And even if you
don’t make a book sale, you’re meeting
a lot of interesting people.”
Brooklyn Holiday Book Fair at
the Old Stone House 336 3rd St.
between Fourth and Fifth avenues
in Park Slope, (718) 768-3195, www.
theoldstonehouse.org. Dec. 7, 11
am–5 pm. Free.
LOCAL FLAVOR: Peter Miller’s favorite
book is “Lowlife” by Luc Sante, which explores
politics in Lower Manhattan from
the mid-19th to the early 20th centuries.
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