The Word : Hollywood Bibliophilia

On a recent weekend, a dozen books lay on a table just inside the Heritage Book Shop on Melrose Avenue. Ranging from Alexis de Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” (in French) to Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven and Other Poems,” the mostly first-edition books were worth well over $1 million. And there are 22,000 more volumes where they came from.

Not bad for a neighborhood known more for rubber dresses and leather jock straps than literature. And it’s not just Melrose--Heritage is merely one of more than 50 Southern California stores specializing in rare books and manuscripts. Other notables include Lorson’s Books and Prints in Fullerton, and Krown & Spellman Bookseller and Kenneth Karmiole Bookseller in Santa Monica.

So pronounced is the literati boom that even a reporter for the New York Times recently named Heritage as “the best rare-book store I’ve ever been in.” Similarly, Selby Kiffer, Sotheby’s vice president of rare books and manuscripts, said first editions of modern poetry, science fiction, and original movie scripts are “‘more abundant in California. Clearly, over the last 15 years, Los Angeles has emerged as New York’s equal.”

The reason even New Yorkers concede Los Angeles’s newfound clout is simple: There are lots of people out here with lots of money. “The film industry has a lot of very literate people, with a large disposable income and an appreciation for history and literature,” says Kenneth Karmiole. “These are the type who can appreciate a well-crafted story in its original.”

Hmmm. That’d be news to screenwriters.