James Ray

“I used to work in an antique book store on Lexington Avenue down in the 20s. I would buy stuff, price it, sell it and then buy more. I met a lot of people who were in book publishing and reviewed books and publications. I’ve known Fred Bass, who owns Strand book store, for like 50 years. We used to do a lot of business together. We would go to a lot of the same auctions and if we had extra books we would sell to each other. That’s how it worked. Since I know a lot of people in book stores, if they have extra books, they give them to me, and I donate them to various places. I like bringing them back to the NCS Residence. It’s wonderful when I see other residents taking them from the library here.”