Come, Visit a magical world....

Elder's Bookstore

In early 1930, a recent graduate of Vanderbilt University opened a small shop on Nashville's Fifth Avenue, where the L&C Tower would someday stand.  It was the beginning of the Great Depression and Charles Elder was taking a gamble.

But, he did know one thing.  He loved history and he loved books.

That small shop was the beginning of Elder's Bookstore, one of the landmarks of Tennessee and the South.  Today, in its 74th year, Elder's Bookstore is the oldest general bookstore in continuous operation in Nashville.

If you have not visited our store, we invite you to stop in while you are in Nashville and browse.  You may never want to leave our world of books.

Charles Elder was the dean of Nashville booksellers until his retirement at the age of 93.  He started our store in the depths of the Great Depression.  Nationally known as an expert on ephemera and manuscripts, he is also widely versed in maps and early Tennessee history.  He is a winner of the Frances Neel Cheney Award by the Tennessee Library Association and was honored by the Tennessee Booksellers Convention in 1990 for his lifetime of service to the industry.  Since his retirement, his son Randy Elder has become owner and operator of the business.

From his earliest days, Randy Elder has been around books, reading them, and then helping his father buy and sell them.  He started as a partner and sales manager and is now owner.  He has been responsible for the store's rise to the status of foremost re-publisher of early Tennessee and Nashville history books.  Under his direction, Elder's has become one of the premier dealers in 20th century literature - particularly Southern Literature - in the United States.

What our customers say:

"I don't know what I'd do without Elder's bookstore.  I've collected books most of my life and Elder's has as fine a selection as anyplace I know." 

 - James Crutchfield, author of The Harpeth River and other volumes.

"Just when you think you'll never find it, you wander into Elder's and there it is.  I don't know how they do it."

- Steve Eng, author of Porter Waggoner

"Many great treasures line the shelves in Elder's Bookstore, but the greatest and most irreplaceable is Charles Elder himself....we are all richer for it." 

- Active Lifestyles

"Elder's Bookstore is the last place of it's kind in Nashville - a place where you can go spend an afternoon with ideas and people you like."

- Jimmy Buffett, Musician