Globe Corner Bookstore
Encyclopedia
The Globe Corner Bookstore was one of the largest travel book and map retailers in North America
. It was located at 90 Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts
, near Harvard Square
. The store provided a full range of travel and outdoor recreation reference materials for a destination: guidebooks, maps, atlases, recreation guides, travel literature, nature guides, photography books, cookbooks, and language products.
The company's original store opened in 1982 in the historic Old Corner Bookstore
building in downtown Boston, a continuation of the Old Corner Bookstore
company, rebranded to focus on travel products. Reflecting the shifting dynamics of Boston's retail districts, the company opened its Harvard Square store in 1988 and a location in Boston's Back Bay in 1993. The combination of high rents and the declining fortunes of downtown Boston retail prompted the company to close the downtown branch in March 1997. The company sold its lease at 500 Boylston Street
in the Back Bay to Boston Private Bank in December 2000. In 2010, the store's owner put it up for sale citing the need to retire due to health concerns. After entertaining several bids, none were found to satisfactorily ensure continued operations of the store and its closing was announced. Globe Corner Bookstore served its last bricks-and-mortar customer on July 4, 2011. The store's website still operates, however.
The store launched its web site in the winter of 1995, the first comprehensive travel book site on the web. It now comprises over 40,000 web pages.
The Globe Corner Bookstore's Adventure Travel Lecture Series had hosted Jan Morris
, Bradford Washburn
, William Dalrymple, Bruce Chatwin
, Eric Newby
, Paul Theroux
, Roger Tory Peterson
, Rory Stewart
, and David Allen Sibley
, in addition to other well-known authors and travel writers.
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. It was located at 90 Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, near Harvard Square
Harvard Square
Harvard Square is a large triangular area in the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street. It is the historic center of Cambridge...
. The store provided a full range of travel and outdoor recreation reference materials for a destination: guidebooks, maps, atlases, recreation guides, travel literature, nature guides, photography books, cookbooks, and language products.
The company's original store opened in 1982 in the historic Old Corner Bookstore
Old Corner Bookstore
The Old Corner Bookstore is a historic building in the center of Boston, Massachusetts. It is located at the corner of Washington and School Streets, along the Freedom Trail of revolutionary and early American historic sites.-History:...
building in downtown Boston, a continuation of the Old Corner Bookstore
Old Corner Bookstore
The Old Corner Bookstore is a historic building in the center of Boston, Massachusetts. It is located at the corner of Washington and School Streets, along the Freedom Trail of revolutionary and early American historic sites.-History:...
company, rebranded to focus on travel products. Reflecting the shifting dynamics of Boston's retail districts, the company opened its Harvard Square store in 1988 and a location in Boston's Back Bay in 1993. The combination of high rents and the declining fortunes of downtown Boston retail prompted the company to close the downtown branch in March 1997. The company sold its lease at 500 Boylston Street
500 Boylston Street
500 Boylston Street is a Post-Modern building located in the Back Bay section of Boston and part of the city's High Spine, completed in 1985. It sits next to the landmark Trinity Church, Boston. It dominates the western half of the city block bounded by Boylston, Clarendon and Berkeley streets and...
in the Back Bay to Boston Private Bank in December 2000. In 2010, the store's owner put it up for sale citing the need to retire due to health concerns. After entertaining several bids, none were found to satisfactorily ensure continued operations of the store and its closing was announced. Globe Corner Bookstore served its last bricks-and-mortar customer on July 4, 2011. The store's website still operates, however.
The store launched its web site in the winter of 1995, the first comprehensive travel book site on the web. It now comprises over 40,000 web pages.
The Globe Corner Bookstore's Adventure Travel Lecture Series had hosted Jan Morris
Jan Morris
Jan Morris CBE is a Welsh nationalist, historian, author and travel writer. She is known particularly for the Pax Britannica trilogy, a history of the British Empire, and for portraits of cities, notably Oxford, Venice, Trieste, Hong Kong, and New York City.With an English mother and Welsh father,...
, Bradford Washburn
Bradford Washburn
Henry Bradford Washburn, Jr. was an American explorer, mountaineer, photographer, and cartographer. He established the Boston Museum of Science, served as its director from 1939–1980, and from 1985 until his death served as its Honorary Director .Washburn is especially noted for exploits in four...
, William Dalrymple, Bruce Chatwin
Bruce Chatwin
Charles Bruce Chatwin was an English novelist and travel writer. He won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel On the Black Hill...
, Eric Newby
Eric Newby
George Eric Newby CBE MC was an English travel author. Newby's best known works include A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, The Last Grain Race, and Round Ireland in Low Gear.-Life:...
, Paul Theroux
Paul Theroux
Paul Edward Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work of travel writing is perhaps The Great Railway Bazaar . He has also published numerous works of fiction, some of which were made into feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his...
, Roger Tory Peterson
Roger Tory Peterson
Roger Tory Peterson , was an American naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator, and held to be one of the founding inspirations for the 20th century environmental movement.-Background:...
, Rory Stewart
Rory Stewart
Roderick 'Rory' James Nugent Stewart OBE FRSL MP DUniv is a British academic, author, and Conservative politician. Since May 2010, he has been the Member of Parliament for Penrith and the Border, in the county of Cumbria, North West England.- Overview :Stewart was a senior coalition official in a...
, and David Allen Sibley
David Allen Sibley
David Allen Sibley is an American ornithologist. He is the author and illustrator of The Sibley Guide to Birds, considered by many to be the most comprehensive guide for North American field identification....
, in addition to other well-known authors and travel writers.