GONE WEST BOOKS - Murray Gray's 'slightly used books'

Bulletin One - Monday, 13 December 2010

This is the beginning of a regular newsletter, sent to you as a patron / aficionado / friend of Gone West Books - a small, but perfectly formed, shop in Titirangi West Auckland.

Why does Gone West Books exist? It bucks all sensible notions of book purchasing in a recession and in the face of the slow disappearance of independent book sellers in a world of large retail chains and internet trading.

Gone West Books is a small jewel; a red, womb-like room filled with treasures; a library as much as a shop for Murray Gray (left) - owner and expert on all / most things literary.

Visiting Murray at Gone West Books can be as simple as buying a book sighted or wanted. It can be a quiet and uninterrupted 'poozle' or a dynamic conversation about a particular interest; a segue into a related or unexpected field of interest.

Murray's areas of special interest are focused on New Zealand literature - contemporary and historical. He is renowned for his success in searching out long wanted titles from scant evidence and for introducing customers to new and unplanned areas of interest.
Most of the books in the shop are 'slightly used' but there are carefully selected stocks of the very best new NZ publications at any one time.

A visit to Gone West Books is an experience of one of the west's great characters with a possible purchase as a consequence.

Until Christmas all 'slightly used' paperback fiction is selling at $5. Holiday reading doesn't come better than that! Is that a sprat to catch a mackerel? You bet!

Our bulletins may be interspersed with brief updates on particular titles and special stock sales.

Opening hours: The shop is open Tuesday - Sunday from noon - 6pm.

Footnote:
This arrived in my e-mail box today so without permsiion or consultation I have posted it to my blog. I will not be posting future bulletins so if you wish to receive them go to his website and sign up, even better pay him a visit up there in Titirangi. You are guaranteed to be enetertained and informed.

I should say that Gray is an old friend of mine from way back, he's been around in the book trade for almost as long as I have and of course he was the founder and driving force behind the Going West Book Festival.