O'Gara & Wilson Booksellsers

A Brief History

O’Gara and Wilson, LTD, traces its lineage back to 1882, when Mr. Hewitt founded the original bookshop in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. Hewitt ran the store until the 1890’s, when it became Woodworth’s, a well-known establishment where generations of University of Chicago professors and students did their book buying. Woodworth's was eventually purchased by long-time Chicago bookseller Joseph O’Gara, who had served his apprenticeship with Jerry Nedwick. A true bookman, Mr. O’Gara, along with his pipe and his cat, Lady Jane Grey, and his apprentice Doug Wilson, made the store into what Saul Bellow once called the best bookstore in America. We are proud to be the current chapter of an ongoing story as we move the shop to Chesterton, Indiana, a small town near the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore with a long history of its own, including having been the home of an O'Gara & Wilson bookshop back in the 1990s.

From Book Scout to Book Selling

The current owner of the store, Doug Wilson began his career as a book scout, selling to Mr. O'Gara in order to fund his own book-buying "habit". O'Gara quickly recognized his eye for books, and Wilson soon rose from apprentice to an integral part of the store. Now he, along with his wife Jill, proudly carry on the grand tradition of used bookselling. “Our entire inventory depends on people like you. Every book we sell has passed through another set of hands, intersected with someone else’s history. We need your help continuing the succession,” Says Wilson.

Questions

Is your book collection getting too big (as if such a thing were possible)? Sell some good ones to us. Are you moving? Inherited a library or a collection? We welcome the chance to purchase quality material, and we pay fair and honest prices. Ask yourself – are these books that someone else would value? If the answer is yes, then it’s likely we would too. And if you come by, maybe you’ll find something to replace them with.

Used, rare, out of print, scholarly books, novels, children's books, and quality paperbacks.

Autographs, documents, artwork, photographs, and book-related collectibles and antiques.

Estates, institutional, private, and academic libraries are welcome.