The Bookseller Who Helped Transform Oxford, Mississippi

Richard Howorth is easy to talk to, even when he’s hard to hear.

“I was directionless,” Howorth, 71, said. “Luckily, my older brother always had these big ideas and schemes about what we ought to do, like joining the circus.”

David, that brainstorming big brother, had at least one slightly more realistic idea: all throughout their childhood, he had said that the town of Oxford really ought to have a bookstore, partly because of Faulkner and partly because of the university, but mostly because any town worth living in needed to have a place to buy books.

“David’s bookstore” became Square Books, in 1979.

It was his wife Lisa’s salary as a librarian at the University of Mississippi that kept their lights on during the first few years. By 1986, the store had outgrown its second-floor space and moved across the square into the stuccoed brick building it still calls home.

For the fortieth anniversary of Square Books, the Howorths opened Rare Square Books - in the same second-story space as their original store.

Whether it was the Eli Effect or the Howorth Effect, real estate was more expensive than ever: that building ended up costing Howorth over fifteen times more than 160 Courthouse Square.

At: https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-south/the-bookseller-who-helped-transform-oxford-mississippi

Famed Oxford, Mississippi, bookseller Richard Howorth puts finishing touches on the window display at Square Books - which he founded with his wife, Lisa, in 1979, and has since become a landmark among readers from the state and beyond.

Howorth attributes some of his success to his “kill'em with kindness” customer service ethos.

“You could get a cappuccino in Oxford when it was hard to find one in some major cities,” author William Ferris noted.