The Book House In Dinkytown
1316 4th St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414
New books are arriving every day and getting added to our catalog. You can search these listings using the search function on the left hand side of the page. However, many sections of the store are not cataloged (like our extensive paperback literature section), so if you are looking for a specific book and you don't see it online, please contact our store directly.
Our History:
It all started with Melvin McCosh. Melvin, pictured here, owned a book store in Dinkytown back in the days of the beatniks. Bob Dylan was almost a student at the University of Minnesota (1959-60) back in those days and played in a local coffee house. Many Book House customers still fondly remember McCosh as the grandfather of Minneapolis bookselling. He lived in Shorewood in an old mansion, once a retirement home for Swedish lodge members, nestled in the woods, McCosh filled the rooms and hallways with thousands of books on every subject.
When McCosh moved his store to a West Bank location in 1976 he helped Krisen-Eide Tollefson, James Cummings, and Rob Wasniak open The Book House. Some still argue that the new store moved into McCosh's old space but the smart money is that Melvin's store was across the street in the space now occupied by Hollywood Video's parking lot. The Book House borrowed fixtures from the recently closed Perine's Bookstore and The Dinkytown Dime and the Book House in Dinkytown was born. When Mel McCosh passed away some years later, his remaining inventory migrated to the Book House.
The current owner of The Book House in Dinkytown, Kristen Eide-Tollefson, pictured here with her husband, Ted Tollefson, has, for the past 30 some years, dedicated herself to buying libraries and stocking a vast quantity of scholarly titles. In the little magazine Gig, author Tiger Roholt interviewed Kristen in 1997. There Roholt commented, "Kristen has allowed the Book House to become more of a book archive than a book store. One reason for this is the changing role of libraries. Libraries are starting to evaluate their stock based on rate of use. And since certain books are only taken out once a decade or more, the libraries are starting to discard or destroy books which do not have a high rate of use, even though many of these books are classics."
More Business Info
With over 30,000 books in the store and over 30,000 in our warehouse, there's plenty to look at both in store and online.
- BBB Rating
- Hours
- Regular Hours
Mon - Sat: Sun: - Extra Phones
Phone: 612-331-4430
- Services/Products
- Science & Math
- We Buy
- Academic
- History
- Sell and Appraise
- Literature
- Rare Books
- Philosophy
- Textbooks
- Brands
- Child Support, Divorce, Estates, Injury, Trusts, Visitation, Wills
- Payment method
- all major credit cards, paypal
- Location
- Located near the East Bank of the U of M.
- Neighborhoods
- University, Dinkytown
- AKA
The Book House
Book House
Book House in Dinkytown
- Other Link
- Social Links
- Categories
- Comic Books, Book Stores, Internet Marketing & Advertising, Law Books, Music Stores, Musical Instruments, Sample Cards & Books, Used & Rare Books