ABSTRACT

Established in 1927 by Adrian Gambet and Gordon Cairnie, the Grolier Poetry Book Shop describes itself as the ‘oldest continuous bookshop’ devoted to the sale of poetry. 1 The plate glass window of the store’s single 404 square foot room fronts Plympton Street, which runs between Adams House and Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Academy of American Poets recognised the Grolier’s iconic status when it designated the store as a ‘National Poetry Landmark’ in 2004. One of thirty-one sites honoured, it takes its place alongside City Lights, the only other book store cited; the Woodberry Poetry Room, located a block away in Harvard’s Lamont Library; and McLean Hospital, a nearby mental institution which provided care to a number of the store’s more famous customers.