European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 7, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                New York s Gotham Book Mart literary landmark under a Legal Cloud by Mitchell Landsberg associated press ome people say the Gotham Book Mart is the Only real Bookstore Tell in new York. Others possessed of More modesty simply claim thai it is the Only one left with wooden floors thai creak neither statement is precisely True bul these claims speak volumes about Gotham a cluttered relic of a place thai May be As dose to heaven is some Book lovers will get. Us founder Frances a Elolf celebrated tier 99th birthday on new year s eve with the future of her literary landmark under a Legal Cloud. Bul while Staloff presses a lawsuit to establish ownership of Gotham s building the store remains what ii has been Tor nearly seven decades a sort of Carnegie had of modern american literature. All the greats have graced its stage. When customers descend the three Steps off 47th Street into its dickensian warmth they Are following in the loot Tiepe of Ernest Hemingway. Dylan Thomas be. Cummlri0srw.h. Auden Gertrude Stein anal Nin and John Dos passes to name a Tew of Gotham s celebrated customers. When Henry Miller was writing books in France that were banned in the United states Steloff helped smuggle them to american readers. When the Ever impoverished Miller moved to big sur Calif so Golf posted a sign Reading help Henry Miller and asked customers to leave cans of Lood or household items for shipment to him. Tennessee Williams worked As a wrapping clerk for a Day but could t Cut it. After Steloff whipped loge Lher a package with blinding Speed she held ii up to the astonished Williams and said thai s a Messy Job. You can do  he could t and quit. Poel Allen Ginsberg recalled being fired by Ste toll alter working at Gotham for a few weeks during a collage vacation. I was probably incompetent confused he said. Ginsberg still shops at Gotham and Calls ii a National treasure that ought to be  he said ii contains the whole literary treasure of the United states for the last 80 years in the Backol its  Gotham is tucked away in the Middle of the City s Diamond District a soft spot among harder gems. Many people know in mainly for its sign depicting three fishermen whose lines have converged on one big fish. Wise men fish Here it proclaims. The shop Sells both new books and used and casual browsers can stumble across such unexpected pleasures As a firs edition of Thomas Wolfe s the web end the Rock for $8.50, or a 1914 edition of Jack London s while Fang Tor $2. Those looking Lor the latest thriller or die Book Are advised to look elsewhere. There is one prominent Sheet devoted to russian poetry another devoted to Hemingway and three shelves devoted to James Joyce who used to order books from Gotham. The shop is the Headquarters of the Joyce society. It also prominently features the work of Illustrator Edward Gorey whose Peculiar edwardian lairs seem right at Home a t Gotham so does Gorey. Who often can be found prowling the shop in a Ful Mengeh fur Coal during trips to new York. Savvy customers know to ask tar a Book it they can t find it for one thing the shop lines up lha books two deep on its shelves making it difficult to spot some. For another roughly two thirds of its Stock is kept in storage areas thai Are closed to the Public. If a Book can t be found on the premises Gotham will order it. Customers these Days include Norman Mailer John Updike. Joseph Heller . Salinger Woody Allen Joyce Carol Dales and Susan Sontag Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis now a Book editor Al Doubleday buys books almost on a Dally basis according to sell of s successor Andreas Brown Selloff opened lha Book Mart on Jan. 1,1920, two blocks from he present site. She invested $100 from a savings account a $100 Liberty Bond a $300 loan from her sister a Bookcase tilled with her personal Library and a love of language and ideas. She had a dearth of books at the Start in s hard to imagine today so she spread them out is much As possible using magazines to fill in the empty spots. When one poet asked her to carry his out of print volumes she accepted eagerly. I needed books to cover up the holes in the Wall she says. A Petite Lively woman with watery Light Blue eyes Steloff earned a rep Lelion As a Stem overseer who intimidated some of the Besl bleary minds of several generations. In 1946, Columbia Una Verity sold her a five Story Brownstone in Manhattan for $65,000 the same Price Columbia paid for ii in 1913. Selloff moved the shop into the first floor took the third floor for her apartment and began storing books throughout the rest of the building. Ii is now tilled to the rafters. In 1967, she sold the business to Brown a rare Book appraiser and collector. She Kepi title to the building and stayed on As a consultant. Those were trying limes for Brown who said he grew fearful of making any changes in the store for fear of incurring Steloff s Wrath. Remember you Don t own this shop you re just the custodian she once told him in a succinct explanation of her philosophy of Commerce. Although she insists that the bookshop ultimately belongs to ils customers its Stock is a reflection of her interests in modern american fiction and poetry with a Strong emphasis on the Evant Garde in philosophy especially the Indian philosophers and in film history and criticism. Jack Salzman director of the Conler for american culture studies Al Columbia University compares Gotham to Shakespeare and co., Sylvia Beach s famous shop in Paris As among the Best of the bookstores that have been concerned with the Way writers go about  in 1980, at age 93. St loll agreed to donate Gotham s building to the american friends of hebrew University in memory of her parents. It was a decision she now regrets bitterly. Her understanding she says was thai the american friends would immediately sell the building to Brown for its Lair Market value roughly $1 million. She says it was a Way to sell the real estate to Brown avoid capital gains taxes and make a donation to a worthy cause. But the american friends did not set the building to Brown and the papers Selloff signed drafted by the organization s lawyers contained no mention of such a Sale. Steloff began writing a series of letters to the Charity at first Friendly later pleading finally angry and desperate. Meanwhile the value of the building soared. I have read about such things happening to others but How could it happen to me sell of asked in one letter. After All. Was i nol dealing Wilh friends and my motives seem so right yet i have had nothing but anguish and heartache instead of the Joy of  a Elolf tiled a lawsuit against the american friends late last year. Ii is pending. The University certainly has no desire for the Bookstore to close Down said a lawyer for the Charity Ovid Ellenhorn. Unfortunately we be never been Able to have a meaningful discussion with or. Brown. He seems to. Want to get a piece of property Worth several million dollars for $1  Brown insists that to Only wants to ensure lha Lulu re of the shop which he said would be imperilled if Selloff lost her  is lost. It would be the end of the Siloro he said. Because the moment miss Steloff Dies and she s 99, they re going to throw me in the Streel Tenro s no doubt about  the Bottom line Brown said is it s a i Craible Way to treat a Nice old lady who tried to give Thorn a million  not too Long ago it would be unlikely Lor anyone to refer to Frances Steloff As a Nice old  As one old Friend mused Al Steloi s 99lh birthday parly. When did she become angelic bul angelic is a pretty Good Way to describe the while haired woman who now Speaks lovingly and with remarkable clarity about her custom cars through the years. I love the books and i love my customers she said. They Ell had something to say and they All had ideas and they All brought them Here to the Gotham Book  a photo Staloff opened the Gotham Book Hart in 1910. ,1987 the stars and stripes Page 15