Boston is a wonderful city for walkers and readers.

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With a metro population of under a million, there's loads going on, but it never loses its human scale.

Compared to New York City, Boston feels like a village. But what a village! An active hiker can hoof it from Park Square through the public gardens, take in the tony cobblestone streets of Beacon Hill, the stately march of the Commonwealth Ave Mall through Back Bay, and then cross the Charles River to ogle MIT on the way to Harvard Square. And there are lots of MBTA stations to help them along should their feet get tired along the way.

That's why I'm still milking my visit to the city earlier this week for #walkwithme posts. (I hope you can forgive me!) But I think this is a good one.

The leading picture is the golden-domes State House. It guards the southern flanks of Beacon Hill, and looks down on Boston Common, where the earliest settlers grazed their livestock:

The buildings in the distance are part of the Back Bay neighborhood - including Copley Plaza and the Boston Public library which I posted about here and here.

Funny thing about Back Bay - it used to be underwater.

On account of being "Back Bay." It was only filled in as recently as 1900. Mostly with trucked in gravel spread around by hand.

Today, though, we'll turn left and head to Downtown Crossing,

where the streets look a little more typically "urban." Like this:

And this:

Lots to do in this neighborhood, especially if you have the money and the patience for the theater! But this was a #walkwithme day, in a city built for sneakers, and I was in more of a browsing mood.

So what's this, tucked around the corner on Brattle street:

It seems to be a bookstore But oddly enough, much of it seems to be outside.

This was a well-below freezing day, but it didn't stop browsers from going through the carts. The prices might have had something to do with it. $3 for anything on the carts on the left, $5 on the right.

And despite what your preconceptions of down-and-dirty, crime-ridden city living might be, there are no clerks or security guards out here to mind the merchandise. Just signs, instructing the customers to "please pay inside."

The only problem with books on a #walkwithme day is, they add a bit of weight. (And I was already carrying my laptop.) So despite seeing some great bargain SF and a copy of Helmholtz's classic On the Sensations of Tone for just three dollars, I headed inside to see if I could add a more appropriate burden to my perambulations in the form of a gift for The Wife.

There are three whole floors to this bookstore, you guys!

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The first two floors contain your "usual used book store" fare. Stuff from the past couple of decades on all subjects, priced under $10 for the most part. And there is a lot of it.

The shelves are actually packed two deep in most places. So if you want to feel like you're on a treasure hunt, this is the place to go.

The second floor contained more nonfiction - art, history, and science books in larger formats that contained more illustrations. But just when I thought I'd taken in a thorough, if scattershot, survey of paper-bound knowledge and story, I came across this rather innocuous looking door.

"Rare Book Room/Third Floor"

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These look like the sort of stairs you need a special pass to access. But I've never let that stop me before.

No worries. At the top there was a young lady working away at a computer. I asked her if she'd like me to check my bag. "You can if you want. But you don't have to," she said.

Up here on the third floor, the books were a bit more dignified and... leathery.

But the prices remain quite reasonable. Most of these books sell for less than you'd pay for a new hardcover edition of this week's best-seller.

So of course this is where I found my gift for @donnadavisart.

If you've read her blog, you know that she has quite the fondness for the little animals, raising quail and chickens and serving as mother to our dogs and cat. So Little Folks in Feather and Fur (and Others in Neither) seemed an appropriate choice.

It's a natural history text, written primarily, but not exclusively, for "young people." Printed way back in 1879, it's peppered with charming illustrations:

And scary ones:

I love a book with a lot of history and handling behind it. You know, books that have been actually read. This one has a little water damage along the bottom edge, and an inscription on the first page, indicating it was a gift from a teacher.

A book like this must have meant a lot to someone like Bessie Tucker. Books, especially illustrated ones, were not cheap in those days.

Also, it's kind of sobering to look around a place like the Rare Book room and consider that most of these books were originally purchased and read by people who are dead now. (You're welcome for that ray of sunshine.)

Kind of makes you want to get out and enjoy today a bit more, doesn't it? Or stay in and read. Whatever turns you on. Life is short, so do lots of it.

I'll close with a vertical shot of the bargain book alley, just to give you an idea of how charmingly tucked away it is. That's a piece of primo real estate right there, and I'm surprised some developer hasn't gobbled it up to put in another store front and tower of apartments. But I'm hoping it stays like this for a long, long time.

Next time you're in Boston, give it a visit.

Actually, let me know first, and maybe I can meet you there!

Yours,

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