Griffin Rare Books

The story of Griffin Rare Books spans four generations and two continents. It begins in the small city of Jassy, Romania. My great-grandfather s bookstore provided books for the Romanian royal family, in particular the queen, when the family fled to Jassy from Bucharest during World War I. After the war, the queen sent the royal painter to do a portrait of my great-grandfather, Israel Kupperman, which was later hung in the Royal Academy in Bucharest. When my family moved from Romania to New York City, my grandfather, Alfred Fox, pursued a mix of occupations, including bookselling. Family legend has it that he invented the concept of the paperback book. Unfortunately, he was a better visionary than he was a businessman, and he died penniless. My father, Leonard Fox, continued the family tradition. A brilliant linguist and translator, he held a number of jobs, including proprietor of the bookstore Orientalia, specializing in books on the religions and cultures of the Far East. When he was eventually forced to close down, he kept most of the books in his personal library. Over the ensuing decades, he dealt in rare and antiquarian volumes by mail-order under the trade name Griffin Books. After my father s death, my wife and I decided to honor his memory, and my family legacy, by continuing the tradition. Griffin Rare Books is now online, with a strong presence on AbeBooks. Feel free to contact us for specific requests, or with questions regarding any of the volumes highlighted on our blog.