Our antiquarian shop is located in the W.W. Rutherford building, built in 1905.

Our building just celebrated its 104th birthday (Tolkien fans, check back with us when we celebrate its eleventy-first one!). We'd love to know more about its history, so if any of you out there have any anecdotes about its pre-lion days, please shoot us an e-mail or stop by the shop.

The Literary Lion was first opened by Dr. and Mrs. Vanderhoof in 1996.  When their first grandchild was born, they closed the store to spend more time with her.  The store was re-opened in '05, and while the ownership has changed, we hope that the spirit of the store has remained.  Before the Lion, the building hosted two other bookstores.  Fables and Fancies, a children's book shop, was in residence for a while before moving to another location.  The first bookstore in this location was the Cat and Candle, a new book and record store run by Betty Heath for over 20 years (I'm not sure of the exact numbers, so if anyone out there knows for certain or sees anything that needs correction or augmentation, please drop me a line).  She and her husband installed all of the cedar woodwork that to this day gives the shop its distinctive character.  We've been told the building was originally a dry goods general store.  As we find out more about it's history, we'll be sure to add to this page.

"This store is a work in progress."  How many times a day do we say that here in the Lion?  Almost as often as our second-favorite phrase, "Pardon the mess." 


The following are bits of Lion history, pictures, articles, and various fluff from our sordid past.  Enjoy, and please remember, this is a work in progress, as we hope it will always be.

Big Country Book Tour

"Hardships Don't Overcome Dreams"

excerpt from Poem Written in a Rare Used Bookstore

additional scraps coming someday...