Pen Pals: Mike Donovan, Old Books Hudson
"It’s amazing to see the idiosyncrasies of personal libraries from the '80s, '90s, and 2000s"
Like many small cities upstate, Hudson has been vitalized by vintage shops and high-end clothiers, coffee and fine dining — a destination for thrifters, weekenders, and leaf-peepers alike. Still, you’re never quite insulated from the geography and industrial history, imposing mountains on all sides, pockets of abandoned buildings ringing the Warren Street corridor. For all the stunning restoration, Hudson remains close to the bone.
A number of Hudson’s neighbors — Beacon, Kingston, Peekskill — have legendary used bookshops which, to my daytripper’s eye, would inform a palpable literary culture. I hadn’t experienced that in Hudson until I wandered into Old Books on a Sunday afternoon in December. The store opened last fall on the eastern end of Warren Street, marked by a hand-painted A-frame sign and sidewalk stand with discounted hardbacks. A single, narrow storefront lined with pine shelves on both walls, the shop houses a distinguished selection of vintage novels as well as classics, works-in-translation, and biographies. I settled on a deeply discounted 1994 Houghton-Mifflin collection of Louis Auchincloss’s short fiction.
When I reached out, I was interested to learn Old Books was opened by Chicago-born musician Mike Donovan, frontman of Sic Alps and the Peacers. Prior to Old Books, Donovan helmed Dial Records and Folding Cassettes while also recording as a solo artist. In our email correspondence, Mike and I discuss Old Books and his latest act.
Can you tell me a bit about your journey from the music industry to bookselling? How did you end up in Hudson? How did you decide the city was ripe for a used bookshop?
Music brought my wife and I to Hudson, in a roundabout way. A friend told me Mike Fellows was doing sound at The Half Moon and having known Mike in DC in the 90’s and keen to reconnect, I booked a show there on a 2017 tour. That was the first time I’d been to Hudson or upstate, really. Later that year we found our spot in Greenport and moved out from SF. I didn’t have any real plans for opening a shop until Dan from John Doe Records suggested it at a party at our house in July, while we were sifting through books in the back of his pickup. He knew, in his infinite Warren street wisdom, that the time was ripe, and having amassed a killer mountain of books over the last few decades, he offered to supply the shop with inventory. The rest is very recent history.
What was the process of securing the space for your shop? Did you raise any outside funding? In your experience, are there any obstacles to opening and operating a bookshop in this economy?
I had idly imagined a bookstore in this space (610 Warren) while eating a taco here once, when it was Abraxis, so the morning after that party my wife Laurel and I came down to have a peek. Just to see. We found a “for rent” sign in the window and when we called the number Katrin from Animal Kind -who we’d fostered a bunch of kittens for- picked up. Everything was lining up ez. I signed the lease that week and began building out the space with eyes on a Labor Day weekend opening. Laurel spearheaded the buildout and with a bunch of work and Dan’s books, we were able to open quickly without having to lay out much cash. It’s really been a blessed start.
I read that you managed your own record labels dating back to the ‘90s. Has that experience informed your work at Old Books? Any similarities or surprises?
Yea it’s kind of the same vibe, although I hope I can actually make it a viable business. We’ve been having shows here and those events are the kind of thing I've been doing forever.
I really enjoyed browsing your selection, because although it’s curated with a distinct taste, the subject matter’s rather broad — while I was browsing fiction, a guy came in asking for a music theory book, and you had an entire section! How are you sourcing and selecting your stock? Anything you’re looking to acquire?
I’ve been adding to Dan’s initial selection of bangers via library sales, buys, donations, etc. I recently acquired a retired librarian’s massive collection- tons of local history, architecture, Native American, transportation books.
Dan’s mountain remains integral to the shop. His books run in wild seams of varied vintage. It’s amazing to see the idiosyncrasies of personal libraries from the 80s, 90s and 2000s. They reveal a kind of lost local history and it's an honor to be bringing those collections back into circulation together. Hudson isn’t short on interesting people with interesting books.
I saw you’re selling some rare first editions, and books signed by authors. What’s the market for vintage collectors? Any plans for an online or direct-to-consumer operation?
We’ve consigned some collections and I’m just getting a sense for the market. I try to stay away from the internet on the whole and in a way the shop is an antidote to it. But in the interest of sticking around I sell a bit online.
What kind of a reader are you? Any recent recommendations? Do you maintain a personal collection? Is it ever hard to let go of the books you acquire?
I’m a slow reader and prefer fiction on the whole. I don’t have a huge collection at home but it’s been great to be awash in books at work, to be able to crack one whenever and have a look at what any particular writer was getting up to. I’ve been writing an occupational novel for the last few years and lately I’m reading that kind of thing- Lightning Rods by Helen Dewitt or the white whale of occupational novels- Moby Dick. Currently reading The Employees by Olga Ravn, which is great. Also down for urban non-fiction, especially stuff that sparks the imagination like good fiction- “The London Nobody Knows” by Geoffrey Fletcher, “The Barbary Coast” by Herbert Asbury, “Diamond Street” by Bruce Edward Hall.
Can you tell me about the events and performances you’ve been staging and planning in your shop?
It’s second nature to throw shows and as usual it’s all music by friends. Over the last few summers we’ve done a bunch of shows in our yard and now with the shop we can keep that going all year, as long as the neighbors are cool with it.