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Stein-Shatz Books
Stacy Feldman
(June 19, 2000) I expected to find sushi and miso soup at this little caf� on Jordan's Red Sea shore, down the coast from Eilat. Admittedly, it would be a peculiar setting for such fare, but not completely outlandish - an industrial plant owned by Japan's Nippon conglomerate is right down the road.
From the outside, Stein-Shatz looks like any other second-hand bookstore - a cluttered mess, with two-for-$1 paperbacks spill-ing out of plastic crates onto the sidewalk. But the proprietors of the downtown Jerusalem emporium say that they can obtain just about any existing book, in any language - and that the 30,000-plus books on their shelves include many antique rarities, among them a 1655 Talmudic encyclopedia (priced at $1,000) and a copy of Kant�s "Metaphysics" in German, published in Riga in 1789.
Recognized by all as Jerusalem�s largest second-hand bookstore, Stein-Shatz moved to its present location seven months ago; it�s now run by Moshe Bar and David Yehezkeli, a grandson of founder Herbert Stein, whose first stocks were the books he brought with him when he arrived from Germany before World War II.
In addition to its collections - in languages ranging from Hebrew and English to German, Italian, French, Spanish, Russian, Yiddish, Hungarian and Polish - the most striking thing about Stein-Shatz is the ambiance. Antique sofas, chairs and wooden tables adorned with frayed documents and aging photos are scattered helter-skelter about the place; soothing classical music plays over a vintage radio; brush-stroked original landscapes and portraits sit haphazardly on easels; and bottles of wine collect dust as they hold up stacks of books.
It may be cluttered, but Stein-Shatz is alluring, charming and perfectly in place.
Stein-Shatz Books 6 Shatz St., Jerusalem. Tel.: (02) 623-1087
Good Taste
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