Bell's Books

Larry McMurtry lived in the Bay Area in the 1960s, and he recounts in his memoir, entitled Books, his visit to Bell’s Books:

“The famously grouchy Mr. Bell in Palo Alto ordered me off his second fl0or, although I had a book in my hand and I bought it!” (page 50)

(During that decade the second floor was frequently roped off for book processing.) Today, you are free to browse that area, which includes history, philosophy, sexuality, religion, psychology, translated fiction, genre fiction (mysteries, science fiction, horror), and nature.

We will be OPEN 11 to 5 every day of the week, starting Sunday, January 2nd, 2022, with extended hours on Fridays until 8.

Happy New Year Year!!

We will be OPEN 11 to 6 through Thursday, December 23rd.

On Christmas Eve, Friday, December 24th, our hours are 11 to 4.

We will be CLOSED Christmas Day. 

We will be OPEN 11 to 6 from Sunday, December 26th through Thursday, December 30th.

On New Year’s Eve, Friday, December 31st, our hours will be 11 to 4.

We will be CLOSED on New Year’s Day. 

Bell’s Books is pleased to offer a rare set of three first editions from the early Winnie-the-Pooh series, with each copy signed by both the author, A.A. Milne, and illustrator, E. H. Shepard.

These are first editions that were released concurrently with the first trade editions of each title, and were limited to the following print run:

Winnie-the-Pooh, 1927 (350 copies)

Now We Are Six, 1927 (200 copies)

The House at Pooh Corner, 1928 (350 copies)

Each book is individually numbered and signed, and each was printed on large, handmade paper. This set comes in an attractive custom matching clamshell case. A rare addition to any serious book collector’s library.

Here’s a link to the talk Faith and other long-term business owners in Palo Alto gave regarding their businesses’ histories on October 3, 2021. Included in this talk are Georgie Gleim of Gleim Jewelers, Leslie Mills and Sue Diggle Mills of Mills the Florist, and Alex Wilbur of Wilbur Properties.

See photos of our earliest days, as well as our current staff.

https://vimeo.com/625782882

We will be CLOSED Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 25th.

On Friday, November 26th, we will be open from 11 to 8.

Starting Saturday, November 27th, our expanded holiday hours will be:

Every day 11 to 6, Fridays 11 to 8.

We will be CLOSED Christmas Day, Saturday, December 25th.

Yesterday morning Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell visited Bell’s to sign her new memoir entitled Her Honor. Judge Cordell is the first African-American woman to sit on the Superior Court of Northern California, has been a member of the Palo Alto City Council, and she is an ardent advocate for court reform. We have signed copies of her memoir in stock right now, and it is a must-read!

Come see re-imagined public spaces this coming weekend in Palo Alto.

The City of Palo Alto is hosting an event designed to “…reframe the City as a laboratory for urban interventions and creative placemaking..,” and we at Bell’s are one of the participants.

The alley to the side of our store will light up with vibrant new art, and there are at least six other areas of participation. For more information, please see below:

https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/Departments/Community-Services/Arts-Sciences/Public-Art-Program/CodeART

Sunday, October 3rd, from 2 to 3 PM the Palo Alto Historical Association will be hosting a webinar entitled “Against the Odds: Palo Alto Businesses over 50 Years Old,” and our own Faith Bell will be participating to share some of the people and events that have shaped Bell’s Books and its relationship to Palo Alto’s rich heritage.

For more information, see

http://www.pahistory.org/programs.html

If you miss the program, it will be viewable in a few weeks through the Palo Alto Historical Association.

Our Margo Davis photography event went splendidly. Congratulations to Margo for a sizable and enthusiastic turnout!

Margo (center), flanked by friends and family in front of Bell’s at the event on Sunday, September 19th. Professor Clayborne Carson, director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute, is on the far left, and Margo’s son Julian is immediately to the right of her.