Riverby Books

10/03/2026

10/02/2026

If you’re like us, you’re ready to start working on your novel - if only there were a smidge more time or a structured plan or a handy guidebook.

If that’s the case, we’ve got news for you. Just arrived, in plenty of time for NaNoWriMo, a full bookcase of How To guides and prompt books and references for getting your book down on the page.

And if you’ve already written your book — let us know! — we’re setting up a Local Authors Shelf this month — bring a copy of your book for us to display — (and try to sell for you) — (through November first Friday only)

Don’t forget the Book Festival in the riverfront part this weekend, too. Writers everywhere!

10/02/2026

20 volumes from the Blackshirt mystery series from the 1930s through the 1960s.
Written by Bruce and David and Roderic Graeme (all pseudonyms but actually all members of the same family).
The series was mildly successful, with a crime solving anti-hero who was himself a thief.
It was reprinted with several different dustjacket illustrations & you can trace the trends of pulp and mystery in the depiction of the main character.
You can also get a glimpse into the wonderful purpose of a community library, the original literary commons -- as these books have been passed along through dozens of eager hands over the years.
One has THREE pages of checkout stamps from the Chain Library in Rugby -- they charged 4d (fourpence) a week to lend out books. (adjusted for inflation, that's less than 50 cents/week -- cheap, but not as cheap as your local public library!) This copy was checked out at least 39 times.
Another was at The Novel Circulating Library in Liverpool. Circa 1930, it cost a shilling a month for anything you wanted to check out. This one was checked out 37 times, including 9 times in October alone.
A shilling was 1/20th of a pound.
A pence was 1/240th of a pound.
The shilling remained in use in the UK until Feb 15, 1971.

I want to learn more about these British membership libraries.
I want to see what all the Blackmask fuss was about.

But today is about moving new things up into the store, not stacking up research projects.
$10 each.

10/02/2026

This curious bookplate has been on my Too-Hard-To-Do list for a while.
Time to pass it on to a new owner.
The name: "Evelina Du Pont de Nemours"
The iconography: an emblem of pillar beneath a crescent moon.
and the motto "Rectitudine" (moral uprightness, and other good things).
The book: Life in the Eighteenth Century by George Cary Eggleston.
The year: published in 1905

The du Ponts have a long and elaborate family tree, as do the de Nemours... but I have not yet slotted this into its proper place.
Maybe you can.
$20

09/26/2026

Our books are the same price now that they were when we opened in 1996.

(Except some $6 books that were once $5)

09/20/2026

We’ve got $100 in store credit apiece for these local teachers who were kind enough to share their motivation and inspiration with us — are you a teacher too? We’re giving away $10,000 worth of books for classrooms this fall — simply scroll back to our post with simple instructions to get your name in the hopper for consideration!

09/17/2026

In 1990, the US Congress passed the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act.

The same year, Jane's Information Bureau added a publication called "NBC Protection Equipment" (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) to their distinguished roster of open-source military reference guides. They has already been publishing information guides to all the ships, planes, and mu*****ns of the world's militaries since the end of the 19th century.

The 1989-90 NBC Protection guide is 192 pages of photographs and descriptions of the whole world's collection of gas masks, protective suits, radiation equipment, Life support equipment, decontamination kits, and more.

This copy used to belong to the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- and is stamped on the title page. Colin Powell was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs at that time. It's tantalizing to imagine him leafing through this copy at a Pentagon conference room.

$100

09/08/2026

Was that a chill we felt in the air this morning?
Riverby hoodies are in stock & waiting.
Lightweight. Long lasting.
2 colors, 2 designs. Keeping it simple.

09/07/2026

We’re
laboring
today -
Open 10-6

09/04/2026

A whole new bookcase with nothing but Naval history. Try not to push and shove; plenty for everyone.