Mast: a new used bookstore in NYC

The third year anniversary of 5B4 passed last month without me even noticing until now. I haven't been posting much lately, partly because I am finding it harder to sit down to write, partly because I am about to leave for Europe for 5 weeks (get ready for complete silence...maybe), but mostly because I spent every day of last month helping my friend Bryan and his wife James build a bookstore. Yes, a fucking used book store...where you buy, you know, used books.

The store is called Mast and it is on Avenue A between 4th and 5th streets in Manhattan. Today was the opening and the crowds braved the blustery winds and filled the store for over ten hours. The first sale of the day just five minutes after he opened was Brion Gysin and William Burroughs's The Third Mind. My purchase was a copy of The World from Here: Treasures of the Great Libraries of Los Angeles. Of course, a book about books.

Mast is a decent sized but smallish space so the stock has to be a bit curated. If you're into really good 20th century art, photography, philosophy, film or literature, you'll want to stop by. His prices are well below retail and it is a place where you may come in looking for photobooks but leave with a bag full of killer academic film books (the cinema book section is the best you will find in the city. Hands down). So check out this new spot. Buy a book. They make you smarter.