In December Paul Dry Books had to move its offices to a building just around the corner from our old one. Our new office is clean and cheerful, more agreeable in every aspect. Driven by necessity, our move has been a success.

To me, the idea of "just around the corner" stands for what is physically or figuratively nearby but unknown or imprecisely appreciated. Because they fall outside of our customary experience, these people, books, ideas—as well as restaurants, schools, stores of all kinds—may remain under- or unappreciated. Yet learning more about them enlarges the ambit of our lives.

How does a person awaken to the value of things nearby but beyond everyday experience? We’ve thought about this at Paul Dry Books. Without necessity, two obvious obstacles stand in the way of enlarging the boundaries of experience: the limits on one’s time, and a tendency to protect oneself from overload.[cont. reading]

The Secret of Fame

Gabriel Zaid

Translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer

"Gabriel Zaid is a marvelously elegant and playful writer—a cosmopolitan critic with sound judgment and a light touch. He is a jewel of Latin American letters, which is no small thin . . . [read more]

The Logic of Desire

Peter Kalkavage

The best introduction for the general reader to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's great book, Phenomenology of Spirit.

"This book comes as close as I have seen to a guide to H . . . [read more]

The Einstein Theory of Relativity

Lillian Lieber

Foreword by David Derbes and Robert Jantzen

With characteristic charm, the Liebers present Einstein’s theory of relativity.

"A clear and vivid exposition of the essential ideas and methods of the theory of relativity…ca . . . [read more]

Infinity

Lillian Lieber

Introduction by Barry Mazur
Illustrations by Hugh Gray Lieber

Lillian and Hugh Lieber invite you to stretch your imagination "beyond the beyond."

Infinity. It sounds simple . . . but is it? This elegant, accessible, and playful book artfull . . . [read more]

Ransom for a Knight

Barbara Leonie Picard

In 14th-century England, Alys de Renneville sits alone in the loft of her manor house mourning her father and brother who are thought to have been killed in battle in Scotland. Late one evening, a . . . [read more]

The Chess Set in the Mirror

Massimo Bontempelli

Illustrations by STO
Translated by Estelle Gilson

Also see some images from the book.

Alone in a room with nothing but an old mirror and a chess set, a you . . . [read more]

Up In The Hills

Lord Dunsany

High spiritedness, Irish wit, and the claim of order collide in the wild hills of Ireland.

When the newly liberated (and fictitious) African country of Liberissima sends three &quo . . . [read more]

A Russian Schoolboy

Sergei Aksakov

A distant childhood—and uncannily familiar.

Eight-year-old Sergei lived an idyllic family life in the country, but in the winter of 1799, a terrible calamity occurred: Sergei . . . [read more]

Philadelphia Architecture

John Andrew Gallery

This updated, comprehensive guide to Philadelphia’s architecture will appeal to tourists and locals alike.

"The architectural heritage of over 300 years is visible on every st . . . [read more]

Sacred Sites of Center City

John Andrew Gallery

Photography by Tom Crane

Center City Philadelphia contains a concentration and diversity of religious places unmatched by any other area of similar size in the country. Sacred Sites of Center City describes the hi . . . [read more]

Feeling Our Feelings

Eva Brann

In Feeling Our Feelings, Eva Brann considers what the great philosophers on the passions and feelings have thought and written about them. She examines the relevant work of Plato, Aristotle, . . . [read more]

The Envisioned Life

Edited by Peter Kalkavage and Eric Salem

Also available in hardcover

To mark Eva Brann’s fiftieth year on the faculty of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, twenty-three of her colleagues, friends, and former students have contributed essays, poems, and art . . . [read more]

Literary Genius

Selected and edited by Joseph Epstein
Wood engravings by Barry Moser
Also available in hardcover.

Our finest essayists discuss six centuries of literary genius.

"Genius is one of those words upon which the world has agreed to form no clear consensus," Joseph Epstein t . . . [read more]

In Pursuit of the Good

Eric Salem

Where does happiness lie?

What is the best life?

Aristotle ponders these abiding questions in his Nicomachean Ethics—a work which has profoundly influenced Western thinking on . . . [read more]

Style: An Anti-Textbook

Richard A. Lanham

Why do so many writing courses, with their earnest handbooks and narrow focus on "clarity," bore students and fail to teach them how to write well? Richard Lanham provides answers, and a . . . [read more]

The Fiction Editor, the Novel, and the Novelist

Thomas McCormack

Drawing upon 28 years of experience as the CEO and Editorial Director of St. Martin's Press, Thomas McCormack gives practical guidance about how to plan, write, and revise a novel. A standard refer . . . [read more]

Author Spotlight:

Lillian Lieber was head of the Department of Mathematics at Long Island University. She wrote a series of lighthearted (and well-respected) math books in the 1940s, including The Education of T. C. MITS and Infinity.[read more]