An Invitation to Wi4's Opening Reception

Tony Weller extends a personal invitation to an opening reception at Sam Weller's Books for booksellers participating in next week's Winter Institute. The bookstore is within walking distance of the hotel, and walking maps will be available at ABA's Welcome Desk.

Dear Winter Institute Booksellers:

Sam Weller's Books is most happy to welcome you to Salt Lake City with an opening reception at the store on Thursday, January 29, at 7:00 p.m. Our bookstore was founded in 1929, and Catherine and I are the third generation of our family in the book trade. We sell new, used, and rare books on all topics, on three floors in a 100-year-old building in downtown Salt Lake City.

We have planned a few fun activities to provide a diversity of ways for us to enjoy one another in the course of the reception. On our main floor, we will provide food and drinks and an area for conversation.

After ABA staff welcomes you, we are going to have rotational readings on our mezzanine. In order for us to exchange our love of and taste in books, we are asking you to consider a short piece of writing you really adore and to take a turn reading it to your colleagues. Our events coordinator, Shari Zollinger, will run this activity. Readings can be very short or as long as seven minutes. If you plan what you'd like to share before coming to Salt Lake, you might consider bringing the book or text with you, just in case it isn't in our inventory. But our staff will assist you in finding whatever books from which you might choose to read. I can hardly wait to hear these snippets of great literature from some of our nation's most qualified readers. If you'd like to schedule your reading in advance, please contact Shari at shari@samwellers.com.

At about 8:30, we are going to reactivate the old dance floor on our lower level, which housed dance clubs as recently as the early 1980s. We have recruited an amateur DJ and are working on lighting and decorations to create just the right atmosphere.

Though ABA previously announced that the reception would end at 9:00, we are prepared to stay until 11:00 so that you will have time to enjoy conversation, readings, dancing and, of course, our bookstore. We will remain open for business until 9:00 and hope you will find time to explore all of our nooks and crannies and our rare book department. While you are here, you will be able to enjoy our current art show featuring art inspired by books. We'll also have a few examples of fine hand bindings performed by the binders at the Scrub Oak Bindery, which operates on the floor above us.

I'm very excited by the prospect of seeing you all here in my hometown, and in this old bookstore. Please join us. Bring something to read and your dancing shoes, and let's have as much fun as possible in this most challenging of times.

Sincerely yours in bibliophilic fervor,

Tony Weller
Sam Weller's Books