As far as I can determine, Ballard Books is still where I said it was more than 10 years ago. This is how it looked to me then.
Ballard Books
2221 N.W. 56th
Seattle, WA 98107
206-782-0820
Inventory: Used and rare books
Hours: Mon-Sat: 10-8
Sun: 12-6
Ballard Books lives on Market Street in Ballard Square. Enter between The Tux Shop and H&R Block and veer to the left. It’s a lovely, airy shop, with wooden shelves and built-in alcoves along the back wall. You’ll find romance, suspense and horror, and a very large sci-fi section including the series Star Trek and Magic the Gathering. One shelf holds books for writers. Baskets on the floor are filled with books. There was a 12-volume Women’s Day Encyclopedia of Cooking for $30. The Hardy Boys are here, as is a 16 volume Childcraft set and a Funk and Wagnalls. There is a nice selection of books on collectibles. Under glass I saw Edmund Rulac’s Fairy Book, and a sign advertises A Is For Alibi, Sue Grafton’s first Kinsey Milhone mystery, a signed first edition, for $800. Footstools are available for those of us less than tall. The floor is covered with a nice rose carpet. There are no comfy chairs, but folks stop in to chat with Jaclyn Brandt, the owner, who watches her store accompanied by a ceramic cat and croaking frogs. Under her watchful eye you can browse through the collections in the front of the store which include Stories from the Arabian Nights, a 10-volume set of the works of Robert Louis Stevenson and a 1930’s edition of Little Men. It is what Hemingway would call “a clean, well-lighted place” and a pleasure to shop.