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Monday 11am - 6pm Tuesday 11am - 6pm Wednesday 11am - 6pm Thursday 11am - 6pm Friday 11am - 7pm Saturday 10am - 7pm Sunday 11am - 6pm

The Book Escape

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The Book Escape

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New and used books, and more! Bring your unused books in and we will give you generous store credit.

11/06/2026

New on the wall at The Book Escape!

This acrylic painting was brought in by someone over a year ago but has been sitting in storage ever since because of hundreds of tiny black spots on the surface. Thought it was hopeless, but yesterday we finally tried restoring it, and it looks great. Amazing what a little water and a paper towel can do! (Meanwhile, at the Louvre: "Uh, Book Escape folks? We need to talk.")

The painting is called Bass Fishing. We don't know who painted it, though there might be a signature hidden under the lip of the frame. To us, it doesn't really matter. We just love the scene, with its tiny fisherman dwarfed by that enormous, beautiful sky.

Lovely little painting, and we suspect a true fisherman might appreciate the scene even more than we do. Priced modestly at $95

Open from 11-7 today with Happy Hour from 4-7pm where if you buy 2 used books, you get the third one FREE! Hope to see you here!

11/01/2026

Happy November 1st! Three things of note today at The Book Escape:

First, our free children's book box outside has officially become a general FREE BOOK BOX! You'll still find children's books, of course, but now there will be a whole assortment of other books, too. Check it out, and take as many as you like!

Second, speaking of children, we just received a wonderful batch of children's board books, thanks to a generous store credit donation. (Thank you, Emily!) Virtually all are priced at half list price or less. A great chance to stock up for the little ones!

Third, we have a bowl of Halloween candy left over from last night — Ravens-purple Hershey's Kisses and mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Please take a few on your way out. Save us from ourselves!

P.S. The Ravens aren't playing in Baltimore today, so parking should be a little easier than usual. One more reason to stop by!

10/30/2026

Just in! A perfect Halloween curiosity, with some great Baltimore trivia—and a rather spooky coincidence—to go along with it!

A vintage 1950s Ouija board, dating from the days when the famous talking board was still produced by the William Fuld Company of BALTIMORE.

And here's where it gets interesting. Did you know the Ouija board actually got its name on Charles Street? Yes, our very own street!

In April 1890, a group gathered at 529 North Charles Street to experiment with a talking board. According to the story, they asked what it wanted to be called. It spelled out O-U-I-J-A. And what did that mean? The board supposedly replied, "Good luck." The building is actually still there, now a 7-Eleven, with a plaque commemorating the occasion.

Later that year, on October 30, 1890—exactly 136 years ago TODAY—the Kennard Novelty Company was incorporated in Baltimore, becoming the first commercial manufacturer of Ouija boards, and
Ouija remained a Baltimore institution until 1966, when the William Fuld family sold the company to Parker Brothers.

Now for the spookiness. Remember where the board got its name?
At 529 North Charles Street. And where is our store, 136 years later, selling one? 925 South Charles Street.

North becomes South. 529 becomes 925. Same street, same numbers. Only everything is reversed. Twilight Zone music, please, lol.

Anyway, our vintage board is on eBay for $85.00, and we're accepting offers, so who knows what you might snag it for.
And as the board itself might say itself, "Good luck!"
https://www.ebay.com/itm/206664237416

10/27/2026

Slices of Bookstore Life #24: Soviet Pins

Putting out a few more Soviet souvenir pins today (one of the more popular sections of our store!). Two tell us something about life in the Soviet Union, while the third has a story involving artificial intelligence making a complete fool of itself.

First pin: the Soviet Mars-2 and Mars-3 missions of 1971. Mars-2 became the first human-made object to reach the surface of Mars (by crashing into it), while Mars-3 made the first successful soft landing, though it stopped transmitting after about 20 seconds.

The second reads "Honored Veteran of Labor." We rather like this one. We sometimes recognize longtime employees at the company level in this country, but it's nice to see ordinary working people celebrated on something approaching a national scale. Not every hero has to be a sports star, politician, or astronaut.

And then there's the third pin...

ChatGPT recently proved invaluable in translating a slew of Korean books we acquired, many now listed on eBay. And although I speak Russian myself, I sometimes ask it to translate Soviet pins, just to compare.

This particular pin was in Ukrainian, a different but closely related language. ChatGPT confidently informed us that it commemorated the "20th Congress of Ukrainian Philatelists Abroad."

Philatelists are stamp collectors. I was pretty sure I knew that, but the translation seemed so out of place on this type of pin that I began to question my own vocabulary. So I innocently asked ChatGPT, "What is a philatelist?"

"A philatelist is a stamp collector," it helpfully explained. LOL.

Hmmm. Now, Russian and Ukrainian share quite a few words, and I was pretty sure I spotted the word for "fascist" in the inscription. So I challenged ChatGPT.

Well... turns out the pin actually commemorates the 30th anniversary of the liberation of Ukraine from fascist invaders.

Fascist invaders? Ukrainian stamp collectors living abroad? Now THAT'S an epic AI fail. And yes, ChatGPT did eventually correct its mistake.

We still find AI enormously useful. Hiring a Korean translator for all those books, for instance, might have cost us hundreds of dollars. But as Ronald Reagan liked to say during the Cold War, borrowing an old Russian proverb: "Trust, but verify."

10/25/2026

Courtesy warning about parking today: Ravens play at 1:00 pm so parking will be very scarce or nonexistent all day long. Sigh... happens 8 times a year. Walking or the free circulator buses are great alternatives, though! And business is usually not as brisk on these days, so if you can get here, it's a great time to browse!

10/24/2026

Just in: a handsome two-volume set of Robert Graves' The Greek Myths, published by Penguin Books in 1955. In Baltimore, no less!

Yes, Penguin Books, one of the most prestigious names in publishing, had its American headquarters right here in Baltimore on Clipper Mill Road from 1949 to 1976!

Who knew? And some 70 years later, this lovely set has found its way back to Baltimore, at The Book Escape! $25

10/24/2026

Pick of the litter from a recent 1,000-book house pickup! Wouldn't one of these vintage beauties look great on your bookshelf?

We're open until 7 PM today. Stop on in!

10/23/2026

The British royal extended family is in the news again, and for all the wrong reasons. So what better time to bring them down a peg or two?

We've decided to cheapen the monarchy's stock by putting out a whole collection of current and former kings and queens of England. Anyone for $2 each!

Never before has royalty been so affordable.

10/21/2026

Things are happening now across the street from us in that big beautiful Shofer's building. Hoping for some great neighbors in the near future!

10/18/2026

THE GREAT HALLOWEEN REVERSE AUCTION! 🎃👻

We've acquired this rather extraordinary little painting, featuring ghosts, spiders, an ominous red sun, and what appears to be a fountain of blood. Or perhaps tomato juice. Hard to say.

It's approximately 11 x 13 inches, nicely framed, and considerably more colorful in person.

Rather than simply putting a price on it, we're going to try our first-ever "REVERSE AUCTION" at The Book Escape. Today, the price is an already reasonable $24. Tomorrow, $22. The next day, $20. And so on, dropping $2 every day until someone grabs it!

And if nobody does? It'll be FREE on Halloween!

How long do you dare wait to claim this cool, slightly kitschy (in a good way!) piece of modern art?

Let the Halloween games begin!

Address

925 S. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD
21230

Opening Hours

Monday	11am - 6pm
Tuesday	11am - 6pm
Wednesday	11am - 6pm
Thursday	11am - 6pm
Friday	11am - 7pm
Saturday	10am - 7pm
Sunday	11am - 6pm

Telephone

+14105041902

Website

http://www.thebookescape.com/

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