Every year, for the past 9 years, after graduation ceremonies, I take a short drive to Santa Monica and wait out rush hour by walking the Santa Monica Pier and hanging out on the Third Street promenade. Walking into the Thunderbolt bookstore I was astonished to find Jesus holding a bag imprinted with an album cover of the late 60’s, early 70’s band, It’s a Beautiful Day. Clicking the image will take you to a gallery of the Thunderbolt Bookstore photos I took that night.

It's a Beautiful Day bag

Little did I know that Truman Metzel would pass away less than a year after I posted just this past fall, on October 27, 2007, my memories of visits to Truman’s Great Expectations Bookstore in Evanston, Illinois. In that post I excerpted from and included links to web postings which contained the reminiscences of others who had the good fortune to have known Truman and his Great Expectations Bookstore. These links included the memories of Robert Birnbaum at Identity Theory (once on the page, search “Metzel”), a Daily Northwestern interview with Professor Jeff Rice who owned and managed Great Expectations after Truman retired, and an interview with writer and editor Joseph Epstein.

Jeff Rice emailed me yesterday with the news. Here is the Chicago Tribune announcement:

Truman Thwing Metzel Jr., 81, of Evanston, beloved husband, father, grandfather and long-time proprietor of Great Expectations Bookstore, passed away on June 6, 2008. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Anderson; his children, Truman III and Suzanne; and grandchildren Ava, Joanne, Jackson and Suzanne, and brother Jack. An Open House to celebrate his life will be held on June 15, 2008 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the home of Suzanne Metzel and Matthew Gehringer, 1733 Asbury Ave. Evanston, IL. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Illinois Spina Bifida Association or other cause of the donor’s choice. Funeral Info: Wm. H. Scott Funeral Home, 847-251-8200.

Truman Metzel and his Great Expectations Bookstore will be talked about and remembered for many years to come.

Now and then I find myself thinking back to the days, hours, years I spent browsing Great Expectations Bookstore located near the L tracks on Foster Street in Evanston, Illinois. I went there often in the late 1960’s, through the 1970’s, until June 1983 when I moved to California. It was nearly impossible to visit the store without somehow coming into contact with Truman Metzel, bookseller/owner, curmudgeon, friend, store guide, and host to hundreds of Northwestern faculty and students. He offered free coffee, an open table and chairs ready for whomever wanted to just hang out, sit and discuss. For ambience, he always had a radio playing near the coffee and table, usually tuned to WFMT, Chicago’s classical music station.

I will certainly never forget my first visit to the store one fall afternoon in 1968. I was a freshman at Northwestern. After a half hour or so of browsing, I walked over to Truman and asked where I might find Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature. Sitting at a desk messy with invoices, packing slips, book orders, he looked up at me over his half-rims and responded, simply, with his deep voice, unblinking eye-contact, and slow delivery, “Which edition, what publisher?”

His questions left me speechless—it would be years before I knew or cared about such things as editions and publishers.

[Note: Sadly Truman Metzel passed away June 6, 2008. The remainder of this post and the post noting his passing are dedicated to his memory and the memories so many have of his Great Expectations bookstore.]

Here are three other pieces I found on the web relating to Great Expectations Bookstore and its inimitable, unique owner and bookseller, Truman Metzel, including a 2001 Daily Northwestern article documenting the final closing of its doors. The article contains an interesting interview with Jeff Rice, the store’s last owner/manager.

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