Written By JPV Oliver, Gent | Photos PROVIDED
Among Saratoga’s charms are the surprises it holds, even for longtime residents. For instance, there’s a direct link to the 19th Century Romantic Movement on Phila Street - and it’s likely you’ve visited it more than once.
It’s called the Lyrical Ballad Bookstore at Number 7 (“Fine Books & Old Prints”) and it’s long been one of the city’s most elegant and quirky gems.
In 1798, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge published a collection of their poems entitled Lyrical Ballads and it changed the course of English literature because their work in part gave new, vibrant voice to the poor who hitherto were ignored.
It’s a landmark in the canon and remains the first major element of the Romantic Movement in art, literature, music, and intellectual thought that swept Europe in the 1800s.
Exactly 173 years on, in 1971, Troy native John DeMarco, a newly minted college graduate, snagged 70 boxes of used books at an auction, but he had no place to put them. Being an enterprising sort, he rented what had been a tack shop on Phila and opened a bookshop.
A fan of Wordsworth and Coleridge, DeMarco chose an elegant name for the new business, Lyrical Ballads Bookshop. He hired a sign painter who’d done work at Cole’s Woodwind Shop just down the street and the gold leaf lettering was exactly what DeMarco had in mind for his front window. He gave the painter explicit instructions and motored off for an afternoon of errands.
On his return, John was aggrieved to discover the guy got it wrong – he left the “S” off Ballads and it would be another 50 bucks to correct the mistake. Thus it was that The Lyrical Ballad Bookshop was born.
It’s the very quintessence of what a perfect bookstore should be; there’s more than a little magic about the place.
It has more than 200,000 volumes of used and rare books, warrens of rooms – one more charming than the next - and, just when you think you’ve seen it all, you discover yet another hallway to wander down. Lyrical Ballad is the antithesis of the modern, antiseptic chain bookstore. To visit it is to delight the senses.
As you’d expect, such places are themselves on the endangered species list, so Lyrical Ballad has gained an international reputation for its size and collection. Even now, its social media footprint is slight, the owners preferring word-of-mouth and direct visits from their thousands of loyal customers.
John DeMarco owned and ran the shop for nearly 50 years along with his wife, Jan. When he died in 2019, Lyrical Ballad was at a crossroads. Was there somebody with the drive to keep this extraordinary enterprise a going concern, somebody who understood the magic?
Turns out there was.
Jason Zerrillo loves the idea of bookshops and always has. In fact, while still a student at Skidmore, he became the inventory manager at Borders in Saratoga, but ultimately found a home at the Lyrical Ballad, where he worked for 17 years before buying the place.
“Keeping the shop going is the best tribute we can possibly make to the memory of John DeMarco,” he says with evident affection.
Not surprisingly, he and co-owner, Charlie Israel, who works in his family's real estate and property restoration firm, are appropriately bookish. Israel joined Lyrical Ballad in 2021 and found the opportunity irresistible.
“I’ve just never encountered such a wonderful business anywhere in the world,” he says with a smile. “Saratoga is so very lucky to have such a perfect specialty shop.”
True, the emphasis at Lyrical Ballad is on used books, but there are rare ones too. They’re kept in a locked, vaulted room because many are fragile as well.
One of the store’s most exotic items isn’t even for sale - a signed copy of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. On learning this, the question naturally arises, “Is the shop haunted?” It isn’t, most likely.
The store’s connection to the arts isn’t limited to the written word.
They’ve sold several volumes to production companies, books which have appeared in TV shows such as Succession and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. It’s cheaper, easier, and quicker, Israel says, to buy old books to use as props than to reproduce them.
As you’d expect when it comes to books about horse racing, Lyrical Ballad does not disappoint. The selection is large, but one of the shop’s most popular volumes addresses the city’s extraordinary architectural history. “That book’s a consistent performer for us,” Zerrillo notes.
It may not be widely known, but Saratoga Springs has a vibrant literary scene, and the Lyrical Ballad is a vital part of it. “Our city has a strong literary itch,” Zerrillo says, “and we play a big role in that.” It’s key to the plans that he and Israel have for enhancements to their enterprise.
What comes across when you chat with Jason and Charlie is, of course, their evident love of old and rare books, but their affection for the clientele is greater still.
“That’s why our social media footprint is so limited,” Jason says. “We have a lot more fun meeting our customers in the store. They always have terrific stories to tell.”
JPV Oliver’s memoir, I Know This Looks Bad, is available in all the usual places and his writing is published at LoucheLife.substack.com.