BY CLAUDIA CARLIN & FANG CUI

Feb. 8, 2002

On Sundays, at 10 a.m., nearly two dozen New Yorkers bolt through an iron grid
gate, race across a public school courtyard and scamper back to the books.

They head straight to the indoor area of the flea market where Jim Pine and Mike
Duke have just spread out, on top of a long table, that week’s harvest of used
and out-of-print books. "I call it the Sunday morning feeding frenzy,"
sighs one latecomer who edges into the fray 15 minutes later.

Cheerful greetings are exchanged by those who frequently visit the Green Flea Market at 77th Street and Columbus Avenue. Then collectors and resellers get down to the business of finding the object of their desire.

Manny Federbush hugs three hard-cover volumes, one a hefty, recently published Kissinger opus-"Years of Renewal," made more valuable by the author's signature. Pine asks for $30 and the buyer hands over the money without haggling. "He's a regular and a collector," says Pine in an aside.

Later in the day, readers and visitors wander by. Women, rare in the first wave of buyers, appear, no less intent on browsing. Denise Bethel, director of Photography at Sotheby’s in New York, says she searches for art books in Jim Pine’s corner on any Sunday that she’s in town. “My apartment has book furniture, we sit on them, dine off them,” she cracks.

As for women book peddlers, a number of them have moved from sidewalks to the virtual streets of buying and selling on the Internet. Some 9,000 independent book dealers, including out-of-print specialist Laura Festinger, trade at abebooks.com.

More and more, the Internet and the growth of national chains such as Barnes & Noble and Borders, are forcing independent bookstores out of business. However, the number of street peddlers have multiplied in the past 10 years, since they pay no rent, have no labor expenses and are able to acquire goods for free or at low cost. Many of them favor Manhattan's Upper West Side from Lincoln Center to Broadway around Columbia University. Others gather downtown in the vicinity of New York University.

Weekdays, Jim Pine, a family man living in North Westchester, scouts for used books at estate sales in the tri-state area. Thrift shops and lawn sales also turn up some good finds. Recently, he picked as part of a lot, a copy of retail magnate J.C. Penney's "Spiritual Autobiography," complete with a dedication in the author's handwriting. While far from a bestseller in the mold of Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca's life story, the book published in 1950 is labeled by Pine as an item of "Americana,” priced at $50.

In addition to his stock in trade, Pine will also scoop up serendipitous odds-and-ends during his upstate forays, such as vinyl records, out-of-fashion CDs, and even toys. Last Sunday, sixth-grader Alicia Barrera’s face lit up as she zeroed in on a large Mickey Mouse book and three hand puppets from Pine’s table.

Artist Tobi Kahn is among the regulars who stop by most Sundays. On a typical day, he quickly glances over the table, picks an art book, four antique hand puppets for his 4-year-old daughter's birthday and, for a friend, a tie-clip in the shape of a golf club. "I never walk into a department store and I only buy from people I like. I've been Jim's client for 25 years, bought countless art books from him, that should tell you something."

Next: Street Vendors - Different Breed, Same Product

Peddling Books in Green Flea Market

Street Vendors--Different Breed, Same Product

Learning the Ropes of Books Peddling

Price Comparison of Hardcover Books

PHOTOS BY CLAUDIA CARLIN

Alicia Barrera, 11, (top left) found a little girl's treasures at Jim Pine's (right) in the Green Flea Market.