About Us
Since 1937 the George S. MacManus Company has bought and sold rare books. Our clientele includes individual collectors as well as public and private institutions that span the globe. We are located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, and are easily accessible by car or train.
We are among the leading specialists in the field of Americana, and maintain a large inventory of over 45,000 books focusing primarily on 17th through 19th century American history, specializing in Colonial and Revolutionary War history, Voyages and Travels, Indian and Western history, Local history, Civil War, Southern history, African American history, as well as American and English literary first editions.
We issue catalogs and e-lists several times a year, and upon request we are able to generate smaller, more specific lists for any of our specialties. Please reach out if you are searching for a particular book as we are more than happy to closely work with customers to grow their collections. We are committed to maintaining our inventory, and are active and aggressive buyers. We are always interested in buying good individual books, or entire libraries. Please note that we do not perform appraisals for tax or gift purposes.
We are open by appointment or by chance. We are generally here during normal business hours (Monday to Friday, 9 to 5), but an appointment is strongly suggested. Contact us by phone or email to schedule an appointment. We also regularly exhibit our wares at rare book fairs in the United States, particularly those sponsored by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA).
Join our mailing list to receive updates about our catalogues, e-lists, and appearances at rare book fairs.
Terms of Sale
All material on our website is offered subject to prior sale and is shipped subject to approval. Notification of return must be made within seven days of receipt of package.
Our website accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express. We also accept check, wire transfer, or bank draft, and are happy to work with institutional billing practices; please contact us at books@macmanus-rarebooks.com to arrange this. New customers are asked to prepay, or supply ABAA/ILAB references. Our stock is also available on AbeBooks and BiblioDirect.
Postage rates for the continental United States begin at $5.30 for USPS media mail shipping of individual volumes. We also ship USPS priority or via UPS as requested. Multi-volume sets and oversize books are extra; we will let you know if this applies to your order. International customers should contact us for a shipping quote.
Staff
Clarence Wolf (owner), the proprietor of the bookshop for over fifty years, is a leading book dealer in the rare book community. He has been instrumental in helping collectors, both individual and institutional, build and maintain their libraries. Currently he serves on the boards of the Library Company of Philadelphia as well as the Clements Library. His former board affiliations include the Rosenbach Museum and Library and the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA). He is a member of the American Antiquarian Society as well as the ABAA and ILAB. His memoir of his years in the trade is available for sale. Clarence is our punster-in-chief and can always be relied upon for a fun fact about turtles.
Ben Sulaiman (manager), a recovering transit systems engineer, has worked at the shop on and off since he was a teenager. Once it transpired that he liked managing books better than managing trains (or people), he escaped corporate America to join forces with Clarence and has worked in the rare book trade full time since 2021. In addition to keeping our finances on track, he spends a lot of his time finding and purchasing the very best in rare Americana for the shop. Some notable recent purchases include the very first military manual of the American Revolution by Pickering (1775), a complete set of Archibald Loudon’s history of the Indian Wars (1808-1811), an unrecorded Antiguan printing from one of Benjamin Franklin’s journeymen (1749), and the Dresden printing of James Fennimore Cooper’s Water-Witch (1830). He has a keen interest in the French and Indian War and enjoys reading about early colonial influence on Native American tribes. He lives with his dog Rocco, a 100lb Rottweiler, who is the unofficial Head of Security for the MacManus Company (although, after years of practice, Rocco still can’t read). Ben is a member of the Philobiblon Club of Philadelphia.
Diana Myers (cataloger) joined the crew at the start of 2024 after several years in the world of archives and special collections, with an academic background in medieval history – fortunately she has come around to the idea that the 19th century also has plenty to offer. She catalogs new stock, with a particular interest in women writers and the history of the material text, and is also responsible for designing our print catalogues and e-lists. She collects books by and about the Mitford sisters and always wants to see a picture of your cat. Diana is a member of the Bibliographical Society of America and the Medieval Academy of America, and currently serves on the board of the Philobiblon Club of Philadelphia.
