Lynn Archives

Staff Picks: Summer 2023 Edition

Written by Lília In our summer edition of the ABC Staff Picks, the last of this season, Luke and Bella are back highlighting many different genres, including quite a few translated works. We also have crime, romance, horror, memoirs, fantasy, general fiction, art and more! Read on! Crime [...]

Lilia2023-07-07T12:36:26+02:00Tags: ABC, Art, Bella, Best of Lists, Bob, Crime Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Iris M., Jilles, Jonna, Lília, Luke, Lynn, Max W., Memoirs, Natalia, Romantic Fiction, Staff Picks, Sywert|

Moving Down the Kalverstraat, 1986

Written by Lynn One day in 1986, a man approached me at the cash desk and asked, “Wouldn’t you like to have a bigger store?” Well, yes. “The Mothercare company just down the street is pulling out,” he told me. “The man who agreed to take over the rent has backed [...]

Lilia2026-04-04T10:45:01+02:00Tags: ABC, ABC Birthday, ABC History, Giorgio, Lynn, Moving|

Amazing blast from our Past!

Written by Lynn and Steve Malenka Steve Malenka, who worked at ABC in the 1970s—first as fiction and gay book buyer, later as manager of the Book Bar, which sold Sammy’s Hotdogs as well as remainder books for one guilder a piece—has some wild memories to share. Here’s a photo of [...]

Lilia2026-04-04T10:38:54+02:00Tags: ABC Birthday, ABC History, Lynn|

ABC History – Freight and the Sunday New York Times

Written by Lynn Of course, we had no idea when opening an English language bookstore full of remainder books how vital freight services would become for our survival. (Just as most people didn’t think about logistics and supply chains until Covid hit.) At first, our books came from Baltimore on pallets [...]

Lilia2026-04-04T14:13:05+02:00Tags: ABC, ABC Birthday, ABC History, Freight, Lynn|

Signing the ABC papers over to us

written by Lynn Forty years ago this February, I landed at Baltimore airport in the worst snowstorm they’d had in 10 years. On the way to our host Larry Boltansky’s home, the freeway was closed and we had to shovel the station wagon out from under snow to get to a side [...]

Sophie2026-04-04T10:41:53+02:00Tags: ABC, ABC Birthday, American Book Center, Anecdotes, Lynn|

How we work

The book buyer: Lynn Kaplanian-Buller interviews Lília Visser Lilia is a seasoned ABC book buyer. Asked how she would define a good one, she says the most important characteristic for book buyers is listening to customers. Besides that, a book buyer must keep an eye on what sells, its [...]

Sophie2023-01-25T17:01:46+01:00Tags: Interviews, Lília, Lynn|

ABC Anecdotes: Postcards in Amsterdam

written by Lynn The ABC started in 1972 after Mitch Crossfield and Sam Boltansky, who knew each other from Baltimore, came to Amsterdam in 1971 and saw the lines of English-speaking tourists outside Madame Tussaud's on the Kalverstraat, then one of the busiest shopping streets in Europe. They went to the jewelry [...]

Sophie2026-04-04T10:41:53+02:00Tags: ABC Birthday, Anecdotes, Lynn, Postcards|

ABC Top 5: 2022 Edition

Here we go again with our 5(ish) favorite reads of 2022. We try very hard to keep to 5, but it’s not always possible. So, there may be 5 or 6, an A and a B list, memorable reads or just plain marvelous books. We hope you enjoy it and [...]

Sophie2024-11-29T15:14:53+01:00Tags: Bella, Best of Lists, Board Games, Bob, Crime Fiction, EmmaS, EmmaV, Fantasy, Fiction, Japanese Fiction, Jelle, Jitse, Jonna, Jouke, Klaartje, Lauren, Lília, Lynn, Maarten, MariaS, Martijn, Natalia, Nature, Non-Fiction, Our Top 5, Philosophy, Romantic Fiction, Science Fiction, Sigrid, Simone, Sol, Sophie, Steven, Sywert, Tiemen, Young Adult|

ABC Anecdotes: Holiday stories from the 1970s

ABC’s Christmas of 1973 was quite eventful. Mitch, who had co-founded ABC the year before, went back to Baltimore for the holidays and left me in charge while we were renovating. He and the landlord, Jacob Kroonenberg, had agreed to level out the ground floor, which had been split-level, and to [...]

Sophie2026-04-04T10:41:54+02:00Tags: ABC Birthday, Anecdotes, Christmas, Lynn, Nadine, Rachel Pollack|

Celebrating Thanksgiving Day at ABC since 1989

written by Lynn The wish to celebrate Thanksgiving with booklovers, staff and people homesick for that Thanksgiving experience springs from a homey image of people from sea to shining sea, from prison canteens to five-star hotels, all eating the same menu at the same time. There’s always room at the [...]

Sophie2026-04-04T10:41:55+02:00Tags: ABC Birthday, Anecdotes, Lynn, Thanksgiving|

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