The founder of The Book Shop began his bookselling career in 1963 as a pre-teen apprentice cataloging acquisitions in a small Des Moines bookstore. The first incarnation of what would become The Book Shop was as a textbook reseller out of a dormitory room on the campus of the University of Iowa in 1969. Soon after, we concentrated on collecting beautiful first edition prose and poetry, offered to our clients primarily by catalog. Persuaded by customer requests, by the time we opened our first walk-in store our non-fiction selections grew to more than quadruple the size of our fiction collection.

In May of 1986, we laid claim to our present location, a wee two-story bungalow that originally served as a Pony Express and stage coach layover station. Within the fitting shell of this small slice of history, we've built an eponymical brick-and-mortar store offering collectible and popular books in every category and genre.

We count on our service, selection and a friendly, relaxed atmosphere to meet our in-store clients' book needs, and we trust that our honesty and attention to detail will continue to delight our online customers.

Our goal at The Book Shop is simple. We're readers, too. We know what it's like to run out of things that we can't wait to read. And, we know how great it feels when a friend recommends or helps you find a book that turns out to be wonderful. We welcome the opportunity to become that kind of friend to you. If you're ever in Iowa City, we hope you'll stop in and visit.