WHITING — An antiquarian bookstore from Chicago plans to open in a historic bank building in Whiting.
Kurt Gippert Bookseller has been renovating the former Chase branch at 1449 119th St. in downtown Whiting. Gippert plans to maintain a Chicago location while moving the base of his operations to the historic building with a classical facade flanked by towering Greek pillars.
It will be open strictly by appointment.
A member of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, Gippert has been buying and selling rare and collectible books in all fields since 1990. He stocks more than 100,000 antiquarian books, out-of-print titles, historic photographs, autographed books, manuscripts, pre-1850 maps and assorted ephemera.
He specializes in Americana, North American Indians, world expeditions, travel, natural history, architecture, interior design and the decorative arts.
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The opening date is not set.
“It’s been hard to catch up on all the deferred maintenance,” Gippert said. “I’m still waiting on an order of windows 11 months later. I plan to see people by appointment but am so far behind with the building.”
Gippert is based out of Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood where he has a customer base, but he also buys and sells books around the world, doing many sales online. He specializes in rare, sought-after items, including letters handwritten by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph Conrad short story manuscripts, books owned by the signers of the Declaration of Independence or special editions of Harry Potter signed by the author.
“You’re never done with your job,” he said. “It’s different every day, so it’s always interesting. I’m very good at researching, so it comes easy to me. You have to figure out if a book is worth your time and make sure of the provenance of the book or the autograph. You have to know who got it signed and compare the autograph to the signatures of known examples of alive or recently deceased people, making sure it’s the right ink. You can’t get wrapped up in buying bad material.”
He said he pursues the profession honorably, not seeking to snatch up unrecognized treasures on the cheap at estate sales or garage sales.
“It’s enjoyable, but it’s just a job,” he said. “I have to pay the bills.”
After his rent in Chicago tripled, he started to look around for a new location and fell in love with the historic bank building in Whiting, which dates back to 1915 and which Chase closed a few years ago.
“I knew within 10 seconds I wanted to buy the building,” he said. “It’s in great shape. There’s a lot of marble, beautiful wood, mahogany, plaster and brickwork. It’s a beautiful building. I fell in love. Most importantly, the roof is intact. It would cost a million to replace the roof on such a historic building, which can’t be bought and renovated on a small budget like a bookstore’s. Maybe you could do it if you were a wealthy corporation or had a lot of grants.”
He’s been working to restore it to its past glory.
“I’m totally transforming it,” he said. “It’s my butterfly emerging from the chrysalis.”
Gippert plans to store 100,000 books there, safeguarding rare materials in the vaults. It will be appointment-only since it’s a low-volume business, much of which takes place online amid a rarefied world of serious collectors.
“My product sells itself,” he said. “You just need a quality description.”
He plans to split his time between Northwest Indiana and Chicago, where he will continue to…
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