Tom Baldwin Sr., "who preserved the landmark used book store that bore his family name in an historic barn" just outside of West Chester, Pa., died June 8, the Daily Local News reported. He was 80. Baldwin's Book Barn "is a beloved institution that helped put the Brandywine Valley on the nation's map as a tourist destination."
His widow, Kathy Baldwin, described him "as an outgoing man who was generous to a fault with those he worked with, and who brought joy to book lovers and writers in the region. His love of Chester County history, and those who studied it, drew him to the books at Baldwin's Book Barn and the life that surrounded it."
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The barn, built in 1822 and largely unheated, "was crammed with memorabilia and maps; and was as likely to have just as many valuable first editions, of stories such as Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh, as the most recent bestselling potboilers," the Daily News Local wrote. The shop's biggest transaction came in the 1980s, when Baldwin brokered the sale of the National Audubon Society's Birds of North America for $3 million.
"Tom was a wonderful man, a kind man, a generous man," said historian, author and customer Gene Pisasale. "And the Book Barn is in my view the best bookstore in the United States. You get a sense of being at home with a good book when you are there. And Tom was a part of that.”
Although the Book Barn was briefly listed for sale a decade ago, Kathy Baldwin said that there are no current plans to sell: "We are still keeping hold of it," she noted, adding that the staff, "wonderful people who are so dedicated," have kept the business moving despite challenges. "We hope to keep it forever."
In a tribute published by the Chester County Press, Richard Gaw wrote: "Essentially, Baldwin was the keeper of the kingdom, the man with the keys that unlocked the doors to a five-floor, endless bounty of discovery.... Thomas Baldwin believed that books were meant to be the conduits to our life's compelling story, as companions to our restless desire to know more and accept more--and in that journey, he also believed that we need to take the time to browse about and treasure what we may find."