Click to view pdfL.A.’s antiquarian bookstore universe, which has been shrinking for some time, received a boost this summer: Dragon Books was opened in Bel Air-one of Hollywood’s luxury enclaves, on Beverly Glen Circle just below Mulholland – by an unlikely owner: young turk Jay Penske, a high-tech entrepreneur and scion of a prominent family-think Penske racing and Penske Corp., whose yellow trucks one can spot across the country. Penske, a passionate book collector himself, is the chairman and CEO of Velocity Services, Inc., an interactive media and technology company. He is also a man-about-town who has dated Laura Flynn Boyle and Jordana Brewster. Kevin Costner and Wayne Gretsky were part of the store’s opening-night crowd.Â
           Penske was
hooked on books at the tender age of 8; the store is named after John Gardner’s
Dragon, Dragon, “a dark little
children’s story†which was the first book he remembers reading. Today, two decades later, he has one of the
14 original copies, self-printed and bound by the then-penniless author, which
Penske unearthed in
Of the store’s 1516 edition of The Decameron only one other copy was up for sale at an auction in the past 30 years, and only seven copies of earlier editions are known worldwide. Another rarity here: a 20-volume French collection of Balzac owned by Edith Wharton, with markings in her hand. It could make a great gift from somebody close to Jodie Foster or Kate Beckinsale, since both are fluent in French and well-versed in French literature.
Customers often bring the treasured tomes they’ve acquired for a consultation from Penske, like a recent booklover who brought in a 1929 edition of Les Liaisons Dangereuses in two volumes, published by Black Sun Press with illustrations by the famed Alastair. “These books are a work of art,†Penske marvels. Printed on creamy Moirans paper in an exquisite coral-red and black type and featuring sublime two-color, bound-in illustrations that feel like original woodcuts, it is one of a limited edition of 1,020 copies printed.
           “This is
what the Black Sun Press did†Penske explains.Â
“It was a mystical outfit founded in ‘20’s
           “Oh, I want both!†exclaims the Liaisons’owner.
           “This is how people get hooked,†says Penske, knowingly. “I understand it only too well.â€
           Indeed, Penske’s life these days presents a unique dichotomy, a very literary saga of a man caught between two worlds. “It’s kind of crazy,†he admits. “I mean, I’m still running a technology company, but on weekends or evenings I’m here behind the cash register or working with customers and clients, selling books.â€
           Penske pulls a volume from the store’s shelves to further illustrate how one can feel history through a vintage book, this time on a more lighthearted note. Published in flapper-era London, The Savoy Cocktail Book is pure Art Deco in style and contains “a complete compendium of the Cocktails, Rickeys, Daisies, Slings, Shrubs, Smashes, Fizzes, Juleps, Cobblers, Fixes and other Drinks, known and vastly appreciated in this year of grace 1930, with sundry notes of amusement and interest concerning them, together with subtle Observations upon Wines and their special occasions. Being in particular an elucidation of the manners and customs of people of quality in a period of some equality.â€Â “The recipes are compiled by the renowned barman at the London Savoy Hotel,†explains Penske, “who wisely abandoned the States during Prohibition to ply his trade on a more indulgent shore.â€Â  As rare book enthusiasts know all too well, there’s a kind of time travel that occurs when holding such a piece of history in one’s hand. It’s a pastime that may not be inexpensive-Penske prices The Savoy Cocktail Book at $1,150-but for the truly cultured, the pleasure that comes from it is invaluable.