Circle City Books & Music

Circle City Books & Music OPENED OCTOBER 20, 2012 Thirty years ago Dennis Gavin opened the Fair Exchange and brought in Myles Friedman to help run the business.

Circle City Books and Music is a close descendant of the old Fair Exchange from Carrboro, and the recently departed Skylight Exchange from Chapel Hill. When the Fair Exchange closed Dennis moved the store to Chapel Hill where it thrived for 20 years. Soon, (mid-October) Myles, with Dennis at his side, will bring their love of literature and music to downtown Pittsboro. We'll be buying, selling and

trading all types of books, records and CDs -- Call Myles for more information at (919) 619-8407, or come by the store for a visit!

This is a first printing of the 1931 Modern Library Giant edition of War and Peace. The Modern Library has issued this t...
12/23/2025

This is a first printing of the 1931 Modern Library Giant edition of War and Peace. The Modern Library has issued this title with three covers over the years, but this art deco original is the best. It's also my favorite, and the 12th, of this year's 12 Books of Christmas.

This 1923 Oxford Press edition of Jane Austen's works was issued as a limited, numbered set. I'm addition to being well ...
12/22/2025

This 1923 Oxford Press edition of Jane Austen's works was issued as a limited, numbered set. I'm addition to being well illustrated, each volume includes a new, replacement paste-down (photo 3) to substitute for the worn one pictured above. This set is the 11th of our 12 Books of Christmas.

Sometime in the next few years, unless mortality intervenes, Robert Caro will finish the last book in his five volume bi...
12/21/2025

Sometime in the next few years, unless mortality intervenes, Robert Caro will finish the last book in his five volume biography of Lyndon Johnson. When that happens the celebration in the book world will likely exceed anything I've ever seen (Caro is now 90 years old). Until then, here's a first printing of Caro's first book, The Power Broker, all 1162 pages, our 10th Book of Christmas.

Near the end of Harry Crews' career, this novella pairing Crews with Ralph Steadman was issued in a limited, signed edit...
12/20/2025

Near the end of Harry Crews' career, this novella pairing Crews with Ralph Steadman was issued in a limited, signed edition. The book is the sequel to Crews' first novel, The Gospel Singer. This is our ninth book of Christmas.

By the time Hemingway completed this gem, Scribner's was ready to order a first printing of 50,000 copies. But because t...
12/19/2025

By the time Hemingway completed this gem, Scribner's was ready to order a first printing of 50,000 copies. But because the entire story was published in Life magazine a week before the book was released, it's possible the 5 million copies of Life sold that week prevented an even larger print run. This is a first printing from 1952, our eighth book of Christmas.

Zane Grey pioneered the western novel at the beginning of the 20th century until his death in 1939. This story is about ...
12/18/2025

Zane Grey pioneered the western novel at the beginning of the 20th century until his death in 1939. This story is about a teenaged girl alone in the west, passing as a boy. This Harper & Brothers first printing is our seventh book of Christmas.

Kurt Vonnegut's debut was not a success. The paperback rights were sold to a pulp publisher who tried marketing it as sc...
12/17/2025

Kurt Vonnegut's debut was not a success. The paperback rights were sold to a pulp publisher who tried marketing it as science fiction, changing the name from Player Piano, and sexing up the cover with space age art. This is it, in the rarely-seen first paperback edition of 1954.

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol has been with us for nearly 200 holidays, but in the 1800s it had the measurable impa...
12/16/2025

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol has been with us for nearly 200 holidays, but in the 1800s it had the measurable impact of spurring a burst of charitable giving. That and all of Dickens work is collected in this complete 16 volume set from The Folio Society, and is our fifth book of Christmas.

This signed first edition of Bobby Fischer's classic came out in 1966, six years before he won the world championship. T...
12/14/2025

This signed first edition of Bobby Fischer's classic came out in 1966, six years before he won the world championship. Then, in 1972, the paperback edition became the only chess book to become a best seller, holding the number two position for four weeks. This is our fourth book of Christmas.

This copy is from 1954, before Catcher in the Rye had sold the first million of its 65,000,000 (and still counting). It'...
12/13/2025

This copy is from 1954, before Catcher in the Rye had sold the first million of its 65,000,000 (and still counting). It's our third book of Christmas.

There aren't many truly rare books in modern publishing, but a first edition of A Confederacy of Dunces is one. In 1980 ...
12/12/2025

There aren't many truly rare books in modern publishing, but a first edition of A Confederacy of Dunces is one. In 1980 the first printing was just 2,500 copies and the next printing was equally small. This second printing from 1980 is the second of our 12 Books of Christmas.

Tonight begins this year's 12 Books of Christmas. Pictured is a 1974 edition of Travesties by Tom Stoppard who, when he ...
12/11/2025

Tonight begins this year's 12 Books of Christmas. Pictured is a 1974 edition of Travesties by Tom Stoppard who, when he died 12 days ago, was arguably the greatest living playwright in the English language. Travesties was his magnum opus.

Address

121 Hillsboro Street
Pittsboro, NC
27312

Opening Hours

Monday 12pm - 5pm
Tuesday 12pm - 5pm
Wednesday 12pm - 5pm
Thursday 12pm - 5pm
Friday 12pm - 5pm
Saturday 12pm - 5pm
Sunday 12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+19195485954

Website

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