Although we wish it were for other reasons, our little bookstore was on the front page of today’s Times Picayune / New Orleans Advocate, in an article about the challenges of re-opening during the pandemic.

In the photograph by David Grunfeld, store co-owner Devereaux Bell “looks for a certain book” which we’re quite sure must be for one of our many happy subscription customers.

Quoting the article “Faulkner House Books, a mainstay for rare editions and fine literature in the French Quarter, opened May 18 and by the afternoon had sold five books to four customers, one of whom “was desperate for some Milton,” said manager Joanne Sealy. Sealy said her “tiny” store can only take three customers at a time now, and all sign in and need to wear masks and gloves. Hand sanitizer is trickier because of its potential to damage the books, and she trusts that her customers will know how to acquit themselves indoors during the first, tentative steps toward reopening.” But by far the best part of the article is Joanne casually inserting the word “maunder” into things:

“I don’t want people maundering over the books, but you do have to browse”

I’d never even heard of it before, but especially in these days of masks and droplets, “to talk in a rambling manner” is not something up with which one can put; and so it is wonderful to have such a succint word with which to protect oneself. Speaking of pandemic precautions, last week we were picked up in the paper for our old-fashioned contact tracing system:

And Steven Melendez of Very Local included our store in a smart piece about how New Orleans bookstores are coping with the crisis. There’s a nice mention of our growing Instagram page, with nearly 1,000 followers and counting, as well as some nice quotes from the store’s other co-owner, Garner Robinson:

“What makes a bookstore great in a community is it’s a gathering place, and now with the pandemic we can’t gather”

Also in the piece is a brief description of our subscription service, which although no longer in its infancy, we are still very excited to promote: “The bookstore has rolled out monthly subscription packs catered to individual tastes, based on a “dossier” built from a questionnaire submitted by interested customers and conversations with Faulkner House. “It’s been actually really nice now that we’re into our second month of it to see the repeat business,” said Robinson, explaining customers can also call to order individual selections if they prefer.”