“The Dean of the Clerks”

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If the Strand is a palace for books, then Ben McFall is king—of its fiction section, at least.

A New York Times profile of McFall discusses his history with, knowledge of, and love for the legendary bookstore:

“It seems like a feat, but if it were your house, you’d know where things are, too,” Mr. McFall said while pulling books off shelves, almost without looking at their titles, to fill a large order.

Lauren O'Neal is an editorial assistant at the Rumpus and an MFA student at San Francisco State University. Her writing has appeared in publications like Slate, The Hairpin, and Corium Magazine. You can follow her on Twitter at @laureneoneal. More from this author →