Do you have fond memories of hanging out at your neighborhood bookstore? Remember browsing through the shelves and finding just that perfect book for yourself or someone you know? How about those intellectually stimulating conversations with the owner or other patrons? If you think all of this is a remnant from another time and place, think again and check out Vintage Books and Fine Arts in downtown Easton.
Describing themselves as a used, rare, and antiquarian bookstore and art gallery, the shop specializes in Eastern Shore history, antique maps, historical newspapers, and hard to find books. You’ll also discover art by local artists, Maryland souvenirs, and even some kombucha (more on that later). There you will meet Tim Boyle, owner and subject matter expert in many things other than books, guaranteeing you’ll always find something interesting to learn or share.
Just recently, the bookstore moved to 4 N Washington St. in Easton, around the corner from their previous E. Dover location. The new store is three times larger than their former place. You may be asking, why? Aren’t bookstores becoming obsolete in this age of Amazon, Kindles and other e-books? Boyle disagrees. “Who wants to come home after sitting in a cubicle for eight-plus hours staring at a screen and continue staring at another screen? In my opinion, there is a bright future for books. I have confidence in books as objects, reading material, and vessels to carry knowledge forth into the future.” He may be on to something. After all, Amazon currently owns seventeen brick-and-mortar stores and plans for additional expansions.
While Amazon’s physical bookstores are extensions of their online business, indie bookshops are unique in that they provide a valuable and unique source of all things historical and local. “Every used bookstore,” says Boyle, “carries the owner’s loves, passions, and ideologies.” To get a glimpse of Boyle’s principles, walk around his shop. From David Blight’s new Frederick Douglass book to newspapers from the 1700s to first editions to area maps, it’s all there, lovingly on display.
“I try to make my store unique in that I carry different products and keep it well curated. I don’t carry modern bestsellers. I carry things that stand the test of time—things that are historically important and have tremendous influence over the course of history. For example, in medicine, I try to carry things that are historically important in the field of medicine. Philosophy? The same thing. In fiction, in literature, or poetry—the same thing. Do I carry fiction and literature? Yes. Do I carry bestsellers? No, I’m not carrying beach reading.”
So, is anything historical what local customers want?
Richard Marks, founder of Dock Street Foundation was in the store during our interview with Boyle, and we asked him that question, which prompted an interesting exchange between the two men.
Marks: I’m becoming a history buff. As my life has evolved, I have a deeper appreciation for the history of our country, particularly the history of our African American community.
Boyle: Which is certainly, historically underrepresented.
Marks: So many of us were not given history in this accurate form.
Boyle: Like all history, it was written by the winners.
Marks: By the white people, if you will. Frederick Douglass might be the exception. He was a great writer he was a great orator. But, let me be precise to what keeps me coming back here…
Boyle (interrupting): The beer?
Boyle wasn’t kidding. He enjoys interacting with patrons, discussing history, books, and the Eastern Shore, anytime, but preferably over an ale. The mood is relaxed and festive—another reason why this store is so important to the community and why people, such as Marks, keep coming back.
But this is now. Five years ago, Boyle was investing in a risky lifelong passion. “I always wanted to do this,” he said. “I spent many years in the corporate world, kind of got burnt out, kids were older and time was right. And at that time, the writing was on the wall, bookstores were closing rapidly, and I thought to myself: ‘if I don’t do this now it’s never going to happen.’” However, within months of opening, he realized he might not succeed. “I look back at that time now and know that I knew nothing. The stuff I opened my first shop with… most of that I wouldn’t carry today,” he says.
Luckily for Easton, Boyle was not deterred. “Money has never been one of my driving passions. A lot of people are ambitious because they will earn as much money as they possibly can, it’s their driving force. That has never ever been me. I would rather be doing something I love than be monetarily rich. Happiness is very important to me, much more so than money.”
The happiness was evident when Boyle carefully uncovered a copy of a 1767 Pennsylvania Gazette, explaining: “The saleable part of this newspaper is on the back page where we have a letter from the Maryland General assembly to King George III related to the repeal of the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act in 1765 was the first major step along the road to revolution. It was the first time that the colonies were unified and the first unified protest. It’s really where the violence started. So, here we have a really cool piece of Maryland history.”
He showed off additional cool pieces, including other vintage books, land grants, and anti-slavery pamphlets, but Boyle’s attention returned to the Gazette. “What I like about newspapers, why it’s an important media, is that outside of having the original manuscripts, it’s the closest you can get to the history as it originally happened. This newspaper, for example, was held in somebody’s hand in 1767 and somebody was reading about the repeal of the Stamp Act. So, this is an authentic piece from that time. It’s not a book written later in history. It’s the closest you can get to the actual history itself.”
Seeing the reverence given to this particular relic, made us wonder if there was anything he regretted selling. Yes, Boyle admitted and surprisingly the owner of that regret was Marks who had bought it years ago. “It was an 1820 Easton Newspaper,” Boyle said, “with a front-page chart of the 1820 census and on that chart, it had a slave census, right here in Easton MD. So here was a slave census from the hometown of Frederick Douglass, while Douglass was a slave here. It was spectacular! I’ve regretted selling it. If I had it over again, I wouldn’t sell it. I would hang it in my house.” He added, “The reality, though, it’s with the right person.”
The concept of things being in their rightful place and that ‘owners’ were merely custodians was something Marks and Boyle are passionate about. There was agreement that historical mementos should be shared and enjoyed and belong outside of institutions. Their reasoning is sound.
“So many things end up in museums,” Marks said, “but museums also put things in their private collections, and people don’t get to see them. Obviously, it’s advantageous. There are things I own that someday, if I donate it to a museum, I will be able to get a tax advantage or a write off doing that, but how will it end up?”
Boyle agrees. “When people pass, they want to feel like they accomplished something, that they have a legacy, so they donate all their stuff to museums and, in all honesty, much of these museums today are bursting at the seams and can’t display a fraction of what they have. And meanwhile, all the stuff that people have donated just sits in a warehouse or in a closet. I would rather see things like that stay on the open market. That way people who might have a particular love of something, have an opportunity, if they want and can afford it, to have it displayed it in their home. The good stuff gets harder and harder and harder and harder to get because it all gets donated to the museum, so people don’t have access to it anymore.”
As an example, he referenced the Folger Shakespeare Library in DC. “They own approximately, 80 first folios out of a couple of hundred that exist and nobody ever gets to see those. They’re stuck in a vault somewhere.” Boyle hopes that some of the historically significant items he has in the store will find a home where it will be protected, enjoyed, and displayed.
That’s the kind of guy Boyle is: somewhat of a rebel, somewhat of a free spirit. Which brings us to kombucha. His assistant, Sarah Bieda, is a fan of the drink. “I wanted to have something in the fridge for her other than water, which she drinks, and beer which she doesn’t. I called the Federal Brewing Company in Federalsburg, we came to a deal and the next thing I know I’m carrying Federal Brewing kombucha and now Sarah has something to drink, I’m helping out a local company, and I pick up a sporadic sale or two.”
In this day of online shopping, take a moment to return to the days when you can be affected by the feel of a book or the touch of a historical memento. Go ahead and look for that special and individual gift, and in the process learn some history. Do this at Vintage, all while spending time talking to a knowledgeable, entertaining, and inspiring person. And maybe, if you happen to hang around, he might share a beer with you. Or a kombucha.
Val Cavalheri is a recent transplant to the Eastern Shore, having lived in Northern Virginia for the past 20 years. She’s been a writer, editor and professional photographer for various publications, including the Washington Post.
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