Bleak House Books

Bleak House Books Est. February 2017. We buy and sell books. Once in Hong Kong, now in Western New York. 100% independent. February 2017 by an ex-lawyer and historian.

Bleak House Books is family-owned and -operated independent bookshop specializing in quality new and used books. Once in Hong Kong, now in Western New York. Come visit our beautiful bricks-and-mortar bookshop in the village of Honeoye Falls, New York.

Even Lady Liberty 🗽has Knicks fever! Truly, a game for the ages last night. Having grown up during the Ewing era, when t...
06/11/2026

Even Lady Liberty 🗽has Knicks fever! Truly, a game for the ages last night. Having grown up during the Ewing era, when the Knicks were always good but not good, or maybe lucky, enough to win it all, last night’s historic comeback win was especially sweet.

As Coach Mike Brown said in his postgame interview, the Knicks were certainly lucky to have won game four but not all luck is the same. In his words, there’s ‘natural luck’ but ‘you can also make your own luck too.’

And that’s what these Knicks did last night. They made their own luck in not giving up even after being down by what seemed like an insurmountable margin. To quote the great Branch Rickey: ‘luck is the residue of design’.

Here’s wishing the Knicks all the luck in the world in game five. GO NY, GO NY, GO NY, GO!

Today, I’m going to feature some books with iconic cover designs by some of the best in the business, past and present. ...
06/08/2026

Today, I’m going to feature some books with iconic cover designs by some of the best in the business, past and present.

First up is the Jurassic Park T-Rex cover design by Chip Kidd , circa 1990, easily one of the most recognizable book covers of recent memory. This is due, in part, to the decision (by whom, I don’t know) to use Chip’s design as the park logo in Steven Spielberg’s movie adaptation of Crichton’s breakout novel. But Chip’s book design portfolio spans hundreds of other titles, including those for one of our favorite novelists, Haruki Murakami!

Up next is the cover design for JFK Jr.’s Profiles in Courage (ours is a first edition, early printing), which was done by Paul Grushkin who studied under another renowned book designer, George Salter (I’m sure I have a Salter cover design somewhere in the shop but I don’t have time to dig it up right now). Grushkin was known for his hand-lettered cover art. I can’t say for sure but I ‘m pretty sure his cover design for Profiles in Courage was also hand-lettered.

Our third slide features the work of legendary cover artist and book designer, Paul Bacon. If you’re a book person, even one of the casual variety, chances are you’ve seen Bacon’s art. He did many of the Philip Roth covers and also the Catch-22 cover. He also did a version of the cover for Jaws by Peter Benchley that was adapted by Roger Kastel to create the cover most people are familiar with today (also used for the movie poster).

The last slide belongs to Milton Glaser whose cover art was used for Anaïs Nin’s two posthumous erotica short story collections. Glaser is perhaps most well-known for his “I ❤️NY” logo but his cover art can still be found in fine bookstores around the world, including this one! Not to mention the many record stores that have album covers designed by Glaser as well.

As an aside, I was surprised to learn that of all these books, which I’d consider rare finds, it is Jurassic Park that commands the most money on the market, especially if it is a first edition, first printing and in exceptional condition, which is the case for our copy.




Some facts about Thomas Pynchon and his novel, Gravity’s Rainbow, considered one of the most original and finest works o...
06/06/2026

Some facts about Thomas Pynchon and his novel, Gravity’s Rainbow, considered one of the most original and finest works of literature in the American literary canon:

1. The print run for the first, hardcover edition of Gravity’s Rainbow was only 4,000 copies. By contrast, the print runs for Pynchon’s later works like Mason and Dixon, Inherent Vice, and Shadow Ticket, are generally in the range of 100,000-plus copies, a reflection of Pynchon’s popularity and influence.

2. The original retail price for the first, hardcover edition of Gravity’s Rainbow circa 1973 was $15.00 which is the equivalent of around $112.00 today. The hefty price tag was due, in part, to the size and, well, heft of Pynchon’s magnum opus. For that reason, Viking Press, Pynchon’s publisher, simultaneously published a paperback first edition along with its hardcover equivalent which retailed for $4.95, or the equivalent of around $37 today.

3. Unlike other classics of American literature which did not enjoy immediate acclaim upon their publication, Gravity’s Rainbow was hailed by most critics as a work of great imagination and artistry soon after it was released in 1973. It won the 1973 National Book Award (Pynchon didn’t appear to accept the award but instead sent a comedian by the name of Irwin Shaw in his stead). Gravity’s Rainbow was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction that same year but some judges and critics on the prize committee objected to the content of the novel, going so far as to veto its nomination. As a result, no award was ever given for the fiction category that year.

4. Thomas Pynchon was born and grew up in Long Island, NY. And so was this bookseller. It means that I will sometimes talk about Long Island with people who visit the bookshop as I did one day not long ago. The conversation went something along the following lines:

Me: I’m from Long Island.
Him: Yeah? Me too!
Me: But I can’t stand it and would never want to live there now.
Him: My dad once told me a story. He was walking home from school and he got into a scuffle with another kid. The kid slugged him and gave him a bloody nose. Guess who that kid was? Thomas Pynchon!
Me: . . .


This is an extremely rare, first hardcover edition of Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon published by Viking Press in 1973. The book is in unusually good condition, which is also uncommon. With bright orange cloth boards and a rainbow motif blindstamped to the front board cover. Corners are sharp. Publisher’s red top edge stain to text block. Light to medium toning. No markings or soiling. Binding tight and square. The dust jacket bears a $15 price to the front flap and has some wear to the top and bottom edges; a small closed tear is apparent along the bottom edge of the front jacket cover. 766 pp.

Those interested in this collectible copy of Thomas Pynchon’s landmark novel should message or call for a viewing appointment.





The only thing better than seeing the Knicks up 2-0 in the Finals is getting Dan, our awesome UPS driver and diehard Bra...
06/06/2026

The only thing better than seeing the Knicks up 2-0 in the Finals is getting Dan, our awesome UPS driver and diehard Braves fan, to be the first one to sit in our vintage, original Shea Stadium seats fake reading one of the best books ever written about the Metropolitans: The Bad Guys Won! by Jeff Pearlman.

The seats are a belated birthday from a dear friend of mine who isn’t much of a Mets or baseball fan himself but knows that I am. The act and the mark of a truly thoughtful person.

Having tried the seats myself they are surprisingly comfy for what are essentially four pieces of moulded plastic. And the best part about sitting in our Shea seats is that you can relive the experience of being at a Met game during the olden days but without the heartbreak of having to watch them lose another squeaker!

Before I head home for the day, I’m lighting this candle in memory of the many lives lost and upended in the Tiananmen S...
06/04/2026

Before I head home for the day, I’m lighting this candle in memory of the many lives lost and upended in the Tiananmen Square massacre, 37 years ago.

It is this time of year that, like clockwork, the Hong Kong government and its Beijing overlords demonstrate to the world the absurdity and cruelty that is authoritarian rule. Where the smallest gesture in public — a black T-shirt, a string, a bouquet of flowers — is enough to trigger the kind of police reaction generally reserved for a crime of violence.

This is the sixth year in which what was once a very uncontroversial public tradition of honoring those harmed and killed in Beijing during the summer of 1989 has been banned by the government because what is more dangerous and radical than remembering bad history and bad governance? And so the cat-and-mouse game continues.

But you can’t stop us from remembering. That’s a fight you are destined to lose. And I look forward to the day when it happens.

📷 slide 3 the annual Tiananmen Square vigil in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park and its erasure from 2019 to 2026; the presence you see in the park from 2023 onwards is the result of a government propaganda campaign to populate the park with “patriotic” vendors and performers


#8964
#香港人加油

“Don’t worry, honey. I’m only going to look. I won’t buy anything.” Two hours later . . . 👉🏼I promised myself I’d stop ...
06/02/2026

“Don’t worry, honey. I’m only going to look. I won’t buy anything.” Two hours later . . . 👉🏼

I promised myself I’d stop bringing in used books because I’m already backlogged with stuff that I’ve gotten from a few weeks ago. But it’s hard to turn down an invitation to visit someone’s home for books. Especially when that person makes a trip to your bookshop to scope you out first.

Highlights from today’s housecall include a signed Walt Kelly, a signed Frank O’Connor, a collection of Maurice Sendak prints and some rare comics, including a vintage reprint of X-Men No. 1 and vintage Prince Valiant titles (the first time I’ve come across those).

I am always grateful for the trust people place in me in having me in their homes to look at their books. I said as much today to my host as I was leaving her home, and she said, “I did my research. I know who you are.” As I drove away, I saw a “No Kings” sign on the front lawn of her home, which confirmed for me that my host did indeed do her research about yours truly.





May has been a month of firsts for us. First big acquisition of rare and used books. First collaboration with our awesom...
05/30/2026

May has been a month of firsts for us. First big acquisition of rare and used books. First collaboration with our awesome local school for an author visit. And today, our first completely packed, SRO author event with Rochester’s own Harry Bliss and Jackie E. Davis for Harry’s new graphic memoir, You Can Never Die.

The best part of the event for me was getting to meet some of Harry’s family members and friends from his days in Rochester. When it came time to sign his books, Harry got a big hug from a childhood friend of his who said, “I’m proud of you”. That totally made my day.

Thanks to Jackie for making the trek to our fair village of Honeoye Falls and for doing a kick ass job of being Harry’s intellectual sparring partner. Thanks to our dear Chuck for helping Harry with his slideshow. And thanks to everyone who attended the event, listened, asked questions and lingered afterwards. I bought refreshments for the event but with everything that was going on I forgot to set them out. For that, I apologize.

Last but not least, thanks to Harry Bliss for asking us to be a part of his journey. A true honor and a pleasure. Sitting here right now, writing this remembrance post after a long day’s work and successful event, is a good feeling. It almost makes me feel like I too can never die.

NB: After the event, I learned from one of our good friends that local luminary, John Kucko, who has a brief appearance in my intro for Jackie, was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. I wish him and his family strength and peace during this difficult time.

I spent the past few days putting together my intro for tomorrow’s event with Harry Bliss and Jackie Davis , and finis...
05/29/2026

I spent the past few days putting together my intro for tomorrow’s event with Harry Bliss and Jackie Davis , and finished it not too long ago. To keep the intro short, I omitted some stuff that I wanted to mention about Harry’s book.

Namely, this: During the month or so that I’ve had Harry’s book on display at the bookshop, the book has become a kind of vortex for all sorts of stories that I can’t remember experiencing with any other book we’ve ever had on display at the shop.

One day, I watched a young woman pick up You Can Never Die, open it to one of the first few pages and take a photo of something that sparked her interest. Nothing unusual there. It was what happened afterward that gave me goosebumps: our reader burst into tears. I asked her if she was okay, what was wrong, etc. And she replied that her dog recently died and seeing Harry’s book made her emotional. She apologized profusely for crying in the shop and I told her not to worry about it. We have all lost pets we’ve loved and cherished in our lives. Indeed, Harry’s written a whole book about that subject.

Then there was another reader who visited the shop and wanted to buy one of our Edward Gorey Gashlycrumbs Tinies posters. I told her we sold out of them but that we would be getting more (we have ‘em now, in fact). Through our conversation, I learned that she’s an artist. So I told her about Harry’s upcoming event. After I gave my spiel, she looked at me like she had just seen a ghost. She said, ‘my neighbor was a famous artist who was also named Harry Bliss, but he’s dead.’ After some quick Googling, we agreed that our Harry Bliss wasn’t the same person as her Harry Bliss. But it was definitely a weird coincidence.

Lastly, we had a visitor last week who told me that she used to work for Harry’s brother when he was an art teacher(?). That got us going about how artistically talented the entire Bliss family is. Thankfully, there wasn’t any mention of dead pets or dead neighbors

I imagine we’ll have many more stories like these during tomorrow’s event. I’ll be in early to finish setting up. So I’m clocking out now. See y’all tomorrow. I love my job.

Here’s a quick event reminder that tomorrow, Saturday, May 30, we will be hosting New Yorker cover artist and children’s...
05/29/2026

Here’s a quick event reminder that tomorrow, Saturday, May 30, we will be hosting New Yorker cover artist and children’s book illustrator, Harry Bliss at our bookshop, who will be joined by Rochester-based cartoonist, Jackie E. Davis of the popular online comic, Underpants and Overbites.

Harry and Jackie will be talking about Harry’s new graphic memoir, You Can Never Die.

Event starts at 3 pm. It’s free and you don’t need to RSVP. But seating is limited to what we can fit inside our small shop. So get here early if you want to snag a seat!

See y’all tomorrow!

Address

5 W. Main Street
Honeoye Falls, NY
14472

Opening Hours

Monday 12pm - 6pm
Wednesday 12pm - 6pm
Thursday 12pm - 6pm
Friday 11am - 6pm
Saturday 11am - 6pm
Sunday 12pm - 6pm

Telephone

+15855826366

Website

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