Butler’s Books

The former Butler & Sons Books has returned to downtown Rosenberg as Butler’s Books, about a block away from its previous location. Google actually points you in the wrong direction, and when you do find the store, you’d only know it by the «Books» lettered in red on the front window. Upon entering, you’ll likely see Bill Butler, the proprietor, standing by the counter at the front of a sprawling store that must have been a former office building, with room after room opening up along labyrinthine hallways. They’ve got a room for rare books, another for «medium rare» as they say, an extensive collection of Texana, a room for coffee table books, fiction, just about anything you might be interested in.
It was actually an ad I saw in the Houston Press boasting a signed, first edition Hemingway that brought me to Butler’s in Rosenberg. There are just so few of the independent bookstores run by knowledgeable and passionate bibliophiles left. Bill Butler is one of those, and after I inquired after the Hemingway, we got to talking about our respective interests and collections, and he showed me some truly remarkable editions, signed, first, or simply rare. While I don’t have pockets deep enough for some of those specimens, he ended up giving me a deal on a collection of Hemingway’s short stories I had picked up, and I was glad to have made the drive out of town. If you’re a book lover, you’d do well to make the trip.