Jamie Lutton started selling used books out of a cart on Broadway. Thirty five years later, she’s in a brick and mortar building on Capitol Hill. Resident at 1833 Harvard Ave since 2008, Twice Sold Tales has survived every kind of change in the book.

“I used to be able to charge more because Amazon didn’t have penny and postage books…they took about 3/4 of my income. People like to sit quietly at home and get a box rather than venture out,” Lutton says, though she does sell on Amazon. “I joined the enemy.”

Her bookseller origin story starts in February 1988 when Lutton said she was scolded by a city official because she didn’t have a vendor’s license for her burgeoning book cart business. The rest is her story. Now, Twice Sold Tales is starting its 35 year on Capitol Hill.

Lutton remembers days when there were there many more used bookstores on the Hill. “There was one down Olive that just sold science fiction, besides Horizon, there was one down the street on 15th, there was me, and there was Colin’s Rare Books, that’s what I remember from the early ’90s.”

“Now they’re all gone”, Lutton said, “rents and internet, that’s my memory of the Hill, more bookstores, lower rents, happier people.”

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.

 

The latest changes have come as the pandemic has also hit the used book market. “We closed down for about six months and we got money from the government to reopen. Ben, my manager, saved the business,” Lutton said. Having had a kidney transplant, Lutton is taking masks seriously. “I’m having that sign up forever, I’m wearing a mask,” she said.

Lutton does appreciate customers who who don’t argue about the mask mandate, but isn’t afraid of making them leave. In addition to Amazon’s influence on book sales, a pandemic slow down, and mask mandates, Lutton also has to deal with people shoplifting in front of her. She gently requests that people leave their bags with her.

Despite the trials and tribulations that go with running a business, Lutton loves books, but not just being around them, she loves buying them and looking at them. “I keep hoping I’m going to get the books I’m looking for,” she said. Her ongoing obsessions, she says, are Tudor architecture and priest holes, so if you have anything on the topic you don’t want, Lutton is in the market. “The books exist, I just haven’t tracked them down yet.” They’re her “Holy Grail” she says.

You can stop into Twice Sold Tales to sell your books, buy some new ones, and pet one of the six cats that roam the shop. When asked about her favorite books, Lutton said it was like being asked to “pick her favorite cat.”

Having been in the business so long, Lutton knows the worth of a book, and suggests to customers they use the ISB number and not just the title when trying to locate a specific read,

“I tell people how to game the internet,” she says.

Lutton takes her role of being a book finder seriously. “My job is like being a reference librarian. If I don’t have it, I’ll find it for you.” Lutton isn’t all about the quick sale, she’s there looking out for the readers. If a customer comes in looking for an academic title, Lutton may send them to the library, “If someone wants to keep bees, they need to go to the library and do research. One book won’t do it, two books won’t do it. I like to tell people they don’t need me”.

Over her more than three decades in the business, Lutton has seen some very unique books come through her store. You never know what is going to stick with you. Lutton says a book on how to teach Anesthesiology using crude humor is her latest inspiration. “That was the most unique book I had this year,” she said.

If you don’t know what you want to read, Lutton can help you there, too. When pressed about what book she would suggest to the general public, without pause she says “Macbeth, it’s the most accessible Shakespeare… it’s really good reading and reads like a novel.” Lutton will attempt to draw you out of your science fiction “cubby hole” and have you read some history, but prides herself on her ability to suggest good reads. “Show me the person, I’ll show you the right book for them,” she said. “Well, I’ll try anyway.”

Twice Sold Tales is located at 1833 Harvard Ave. You can learn more at twicesoldtales.com.

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.