Dear Friends,
We eagerly seek a buyer interested in living in a 19th century farmhouse with several outbuildings on 100 acres on a dirt road in idyllic Washington County, New York and running a long-established rare and used book business.
Around 1960, Barbara Probst, who ran a book and gift shop at Skidmore College, bought an old house in Greenwich, New York, started a chicken farm, selling books in a small outbuilding, then evicted the chickens and expanded the bookstore into the chicken barn.
Around 1980, she sold it all to Hank Howard and Edie Brown, who have operated Owl Pen Books since. Over the decades the store became a regular destination for other booksellers replenishing their stock, summer visitors to the area, and generations of local collectors and readers. Articles about the shop have appeared in the Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and Saratoga Living.
Hank and Edie made regular excursions to homes in the area to buy books. There’s over 35,000 books, from fine, old, rare, collectible books to inexpensive used books for readers and children.
Hank died a year ago, and Edie would like to sell the business and property to someone who will continue operating it. The land is now conserved; the house has been repaired and cleaned and painted; the shop is open.
For more information, contact Virginia Tremblay, Barkley Real Estate, 518-692-2328, vtremblayrealtor@gmail.com
owlpenbooks 