Books of Wonder

Books of Wonder first opened its doors on September 2, 1980. The tiny, hole-in-the-wall shop was barely 200 square feet with bookshelves hand-built by 20-year-old founder, Peter Glassman, and his partner James Carey. The original concept was for the store to be devoted primarily to antique children's books until Peter discovered he didn’t have enough antique books to fill his shelves, and quickly decided to add a section of new children’s books as well. Located at 444 Hudson Street in New York's Greenwich Village, the store moved up the street to 464 Hudson in 1982 to larger quarters – though still small, at only 400 square feet.

In 1986, Books of Wonder expanded to two stores with the opening of a new, larger location at 132 Seventh Avenue on the corner of 18th Street. Three times the size of the Hudson Street location, the new store quickly became known not only as the largest children's bookstore in New York, but as one of the nation's finest. As more and more customers came to 7th Avenue, we chose to expand that space and close Hudson Street in 1993 after nearly 14 years in the West Village.

In 1996, Books of Wonder moved to an even larger, better trafficked location at 16 West 18th Street. With a third more space than our 7th Avenue location, Books of Wonder continued to grow in our new location, hosting standing-room only events with such celebrated authors as J.K. Rowling (twice!), Madeleine L’Engle, Lloyd Alexander, Maurice Sendak, Eric Carle, and many others.