The patron decides to purchase a photography book by Linda McCartney rather than a copy of Franz Kafka’s Diaries.  Glancing upward before taking out her credit card, another title attracts her.  Accessible by a traveling ladder, a double volume of Apples of New York (published 1905) waits for a new home.  This is a bookstore for eclectic as well as, perhaps, eccentric tastes.  It is nearly a world unto its own among the more familiar looking shops and restaurants that flank its location.

            Dragon Books is the brainchild of Jay Penske, a collector of books since he was a kid.  “I first fell in love with the printed word as a child after reading a collection of tales from the late John Gardner’s irreverent pen,” he said.

            Those tales came from the book DRAGON, DRAGON.”…Ever since completing it” he told the publication Vanity Fair “I’ve been devouring books that I wished to read, I dreamed of creating a bookstore of my own….and after more years of reading and collecting, you have found my world of Dragon Books.”

            Dragon Books had just celebrated their three year anniversary of the online store when the Beverly Glen store was opened. 

            “Dragon Books attracts those whose interests may be focused on establishing  a personal library, acquiring a hard-to-find title, building a specific collection, locating a special gift or just finding a new treasure.  Dragon Books is always actively seeking to acquire rare and fine books.

            In a corner near a 20th century fireplace, a pint-sized chair sits in front of several lower, hand-carved oak bookcases filled with children’s books.  Penske has been known to say (that): “They start in the juvenile section but find themselves drawn to the rare books…and I can see it in a kid’s eyes- that sense of wonder, the awakening of a new book-lover.”

            Penske, the man who loves books, is a supporter of the Quill Foundation, the New York Public Library and other literacy causes.  Later this month (please check with the store for exact dates and times) Dragon Books will be hosting readings.  Plans call for a reading by the 91 year young, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Horton Foote.  And that little children’s corner will have the pleasure of hearing Camp Creepy Time read by its author, Gina Gershon. 

 

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dragon Books is located at 2954 Beverly Glen Circle, at Beverly Glen Boulevard and Mulholland Drive, Bel Air    310 441-8545