A Bel Air bookstore, lost in time

Hidden unassumingly in the Beverly Glen Center (2954 Beverly Glen Circle, Bel Air, CA 90077) next to a Starbucks and a Chinese restaurant, sits the kind of place you'd never expect to find in a strip mall--a lavishly decorated, uniquely--stocked rare books store.

On the densely packed shelves next to the wooden fireplace and old leather furniture, you'll find the kind of books that might be resting in your great aunt's garage. From the original British printings of Harry Potter to well out-of-print art books, Dragon Books offers a literary glimpse through time.

On display, you'll find an impressive array of first editions of some of the Western cannon's most celebrated works: Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, even F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night and H.G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon.

Of all the historic books contained inside, however, the first edition of Herman Melville's Moby Dick has to be the most breathtaking. Dating back to 1851, this nearly perfectly-preserved volume reminds us of the timeless nature of the human imagination (and how delicately books used to be made.)

Whether you're a collector looking to add to your stash or simply curious to see what a bookstore not named Borders or Barnes & Noble looks like, Dragon Books is an unexpected and inspirational experience.

Source: examiner.com