It's always exciting to find a new second-hand book store. I've visited so many second-hand book stores here in Victoria I often imagine there are no new ones left to discover. However a fortnight ago my wife was searching on her phone and found one I'd never heard of before. So we got in our car and drove to Centre Road, Bentleigh where we visited Helena's Curiosity Shop.
The shop is chock-full of crystalware, vinyl, magazines, knick-knacks and collectables, but the majority of the space is taken up by books.
On entering the shop Helena introduced herself from behind the counter. She explained she'd established the store in 1990 and over the years the theme has evolved; currently there's a concentration of books.
When I mentioned I was looking for James Bond novels she first pointed out the collection of 007 cars above our heads, and then walked around the shelves pulling out all the Bond novels she had for sale. She also mentioned many names of continuation authors and how many of those books had graced the shelves over the years.
I ended up buying two of the books shown; a really nice paperback copy of "You Only Live Twice" published by Pan in the 1960's, and a Jonathan Cape first edition "The Man With The Golden Gun" from 1965. Unfortunately the Cape was without its dust jacket but it's still a really nice copy.
If you get the chance be sure to visit Helena's Curiosity Shop. Despite being a small store it's got lots of quality books for sale, they're well organised and Helena is very friendly and always ready to assist. I will definitely return. Here's a link with further details.
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