narrow cobblestone roads, embedded abandoned streetcar rails, and red brick houses lined by trees: walking along p street in northwest washington dc can give you the leipzig feeling. the cherry on top of the german town experience is this small but significant book store.
the lantern, as it is called, has funny hours but offers "used & rare" books in several languages. when i entered the little store it was a half hour before closing time. the smell of books filled the cozy place. an elderly lady working silently behind a small counter was the only other person inside. she showed me the book shelf with german books. with time breathing down my neck i browsed the three or four rows of mostly german authors printed in their mother tongue and the rest of the books translated into german.
heinrich böll. marion gräfin dönhoff. imgard keun. thomas mann. hera lind. in my over-joy to find german literature i quickly piled up thirteen paperbacks. underneath the teutonic writings i noticed books in russian. but with just a few minutes left to pay a few dollars each for my treasures i vowed to return to this bright light in the bookstore landscape otherwise ruled by borders and barnes & nobles. who knows what other gems await the diligent digger?
and by the way, if you buy five books, you get the fifth one free.
happily i logged my roughly seven pounds in a brown paper bag to the next metro station twenty minutes away and eventually home. the seed of a new german library.
the latern hours:
tue-fri 11-4
sat 11-5
sun 12-4
3241 p street
washington, d.c. 20007
just off of wisconsin avenue
in the heart of georgetown
read more about the history of the store established in 1977 with the mission to fund the "education for bright young women".
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