A long time ago (16 – 18 years), in a galaxy far, far away (Cambridge) … lived a young man and woman. The proverbial poor students (as in, “not a lot of cash,” not “they struggled to get passing grades.” They did quite well in school, truth be told!), their dates consisted of walking or biking to Harvard Square, maybe getting an ice cream (or, more likely in the early 90s, a frozen yogurt), and browsing the many bookstores in the area.
The man and woman were, of course, younger versions of J and me. I was brought back to these earlier days when I was flipping 
through a book at home and a bookmark from WordsWorth Books fell out (isn’t it fun to find bookmarks – and boarding passes, receipts, etc. in your books, years later?).
WordsWorth’s tagline was “for the voracious reader.” Check out the logo of a book with a bite taken from it!
The store was in a great brick building with an angular facade on the corner of JFK and Brattle Street; there was one entrance on the corner, and another on Brattle Street. I remember always being confused by the interior stairs - I never seemed to end up where I expected to, which was a fun way to discover new parts of the store and treasures of books. That I got lost in a bookstore is no surprise to those of you who know my insanely bad sense of direction … others may think it was a ploy to spend more time browsing.
The last time I visited WordWorth was in the summer of 1993. We moved out of state, and I naively hoped (expected?) all the local treasures to remain unchanged. Of course, “progress” occurred in the form of new construction, gentrification, and the accompanying increased rents.
WordWorth closed in 2004, an early victim of the decline in the economy and the increase of online sales. A smaller children’s book and toy shop sits in the space on the corner of JFK and Brattle; Curious George & Friends pays homage to the former bookstore with a sign proclaiming “Curious George Visits WordsWorth.”
J and I visited WordWorth on our first date. It was one of four bookstores we went into that evening – we also visited Reading International (also RIP), Harvard Books (spotlighted here), and the Harvard Coop (the bookstore in the Coop is no longer independent; it is now run by Barnes & Noble, after a major physical renovation in 1998). Did I know that night that I’d marry the guy who was happy to spend the night roaming from bookstore to bookstore? No, but I did know it was the start of something great!
Do you remember WordWorth? Any stories or photos to share?
Oh,I loved Wordsworth. It was one of my favorite late-night book-browsing places, a store that could supply books on every interest I had- history, crafts, cooking, plain old fiction- and come up with things I never expected to find, along with the stuff I was looking for. Their fiction section was particularly strong on British and other European stuff that was harder to find in mainstream stores. Wordsworth was one of the things that made Harvard Square the intellectual marketplace it used to be.
What a wonderful memory. How’s this for a coincidence my husband and I wondered a bookstore on our first date. I knew it was something special. How nice it must have been to find the bookmark. Now, that’s a keepsake.
This is a wonderful spotlight! I love that you went into 4 bookstores on your first date: that sounds like a relationship made in heaven!
I miss Wordsworth! My husband and I have very similar beginnings, used to spend hours there. I do love Curious George, but Cambridge is just not the same without Wordsworth.
Oh, how sad that such a wonderful store had to close. I’ve taken some photos at my local indie but haven’t had a chance to write up a post yet.