McMurtry Closing Up Shop

As a bookseller, that is. I assume he intends to keep writing. Even though it won't take place until the end of the year, Larry McMurtry has announced that his massive used bookstore complex in Archer City, Texas, known as Booked Up will close for an indefinite period of time. Here's the story from the Dallas Morning News (and thanks to Jeff for the link).

My own experience with McMurtry's bookstore dates back more than fifteen years. I made one trip up to Archer City (about a two hour drive from where I live) to visit it soon after it opened, when it was still called the Blue Pig Bookshop and occupied only one building, a former car dealership showroom. A friend of mine who knew that I collected TEXAS RANGERS pulps had been in there and seen a stack of them. So naturally I had to go check it out. I made arrangements to meet my friend there and we spent a fine afternoon browsing through the place. I bought some Western history books for research purposes, and I picked up that stack of pulps, too. (I had worried that somebody would beat me to them. Not likely that anybody would just wander in there and want them, but you know how collectors can obsess about such things.) I probably spent too much money, but I still have the books and the pulps and very good memories of the day. Now that the store is much larger and will be closing down, I'll have to see if I can find the time to pay it a visit again before it's too late.