{"id":909,"date":"2020-02-10T22:53:52","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T22:53:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/?p=909"},"modified":"2020-02-10T22:53:52","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T22:53:52","slug":"treading-through-treader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/2020\/02\/10\/treading-through-treader\/","title":{"rendered":"Treading Through Treader"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photograph by Julie Campe<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1979, the Dawn Treader Bookshop planted its humble roots in a basement down East Liberty Street in Ann Arbor. There, the founder and present-day owner Bill Gilmore sold the books he\u2019d owned. The business expanded from Gilmore selling books to taking in books, and over time Dawn Treader migrated across the street into its own street-level building, becoming a local used bookstore that\u2019s just a five minutes\u2019 walk from the University of Michigan\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n

Dawn Treader has a collection of 70,000 books and counting. Walking through the store, one can see stacks of books on the floors and browse through crowded aisles alphabetized by diligent staff members. These books range from 21st century politics to paperback science fiction novels, but regardless, Dawn Treader carries something for anyone who loves to read.<\/p>\n

\u201cMostly I\u2019m a mystery and a science fiction person. I\u2019ve tried to expand my literary horizons a little bit because people come to the store and they\u2019re just so happy [because] everyone wants to talk about the book[s they\u2019re reading],\u201d said Christopher Black, an employee of Dawn Treader.\u00a0 Black has been working at Dawn Treader for decades, and prior to becoming an employee there, was a loyal customer since his high school days.<\/p>\n

The age demographic of the book store might be surprising. Black stated that it\u2019s common for university students to come through and drop off their books once the semester is over. \u201cActually, we get a lot of young people in here, which I\u2019m happy about,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m surprised and amazingly optimistic to see people your age come and walk in the door and [saying] \u2014\u201d here Black mimicked the idea of smelling the atmosphere, \u201c\u2018Ah, I just love the smell of old books\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photograph by Taylor Martinez<\/p><\/div>\n

In an age where digital reading is creeping further into the market, the idea of used books might seem like a foreign concept or outright obsolete to some, though Black disagreed. \u201cFrom what I\u2019ve heard and read, e-books haven\u2019t taken off like they thought that they were going to. It certainly hasn\u2019t killed off regular book publishing.\u201d\u00a0 E-books tend to run at a lower retail price than printed books, but indeed physical books still outrun digital ones<\/a>.\u00a0Though there\u2019s the fact of mom-and-pop bookshops dealing with online powerhouses like Amazon, where many college students \u2014 myself included \u2014 buy books for the rapid delivery and cheaper prices, something which Black considered a \u201csoulless\u201d process. \u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re trading away more fulfilling experiences for something that\u2019s just easier,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n

That is part of the charm that Dawn Treader holds. While one can still preview a book for free when shopping online, there\u2019s also the choice to flip through the physical pages of a novel in a bookstore or inhaling the scent of a novel, new or used.\u00a0 Black and I touched on the topic that online shopping also doesn\u2019t grant people the chance of bumping into fellow book-shoppers and \u201cstriking up a conversation with them and them recommending something–which is better than an algorithm,\u201d Black added in a whisper. \u201cActual human contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dawn Treader also sells tote bags for merchandise, which can be useful for carrying a hefty load of books home.\u00a0 Need to sell some books?\u00a0 Dawn Treader is happy to buy books from people who want to give books a new home, whether it\u2019s a childhood novel you\u2019ve outgrown or a business student finished with their class for the semester.<\/p>\n

In terms of pricing Dawn Treader\u2019s books, Black admitted that \u201cit can be a lot of things.\u201d Namely, the worker who is handling the book and their potential attachment to the author. \u00a0Ultimately customers will find a book knocked down a few dollars from its original pricing, as well as gain the memories of stepping foot in a hidden gem like the Dawn Treader Bookshop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1979, the Dawn Treader Bookshop planted its humble roots in a basement down East Liberty Street in Ann Arbor. There, the founder and present-day owner Bill Gilmore sold the books he\u2019d owned. The business expanded from Gilmore selling books to taking in books, and over time Dawn Treader migrated across the street into its Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":170,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[86,85,87,88,89,84],"class_list":["post-909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-off-campus","tag-ann-arbor-bookstores","tag-books","tag-bookshop","tag-dawn-treader-book-shop","tag-reading","tag-usedbooks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/170"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":926,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909\/revisions\/926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/english-344-001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}