MANY BOOKSTORES throughout the state have a Southwest section. But Books of the Southwest, in the original Las Vegas, is completely devoted to the special category of used and rare regional literature. “If I was going to continue to buy books, I needed to sell books in order to create space,” says owner Dennis Ditmanson, whose shop is located inside Rough Rider Antiques in the Railroad Avenue Historic District.
Each carefully labeled nonfiction section speaks of the Southwest’s checkered past: outlaws and lawmen, explorers and trails, cowboys and ranching, ghost towns. The fiction section highlights literary luminaries: Rudolfo Anaya, Tony Hillerman, Michael McGarrity, Frank Waters. A couple of cases hold first editions and rare books, which include signed copies from New Mexico authors like Max Evans (The Hi Lo Country) and Jack Schaefer (Shane).
Books of the Southwest in Las Vegas specializes exclusively in used and rare regional literature.
Rough Rider Antiques dealer Carol Clanton marvels at Ditmanson’s total recall of the 4,000-plus books for sale. “A customer will call us and say something vague about a book they saw somewhere on a shelf last time they were in. He’s able to locate the exact title for them,” she says. Ditmanson, who prowls estate, library, and yard sales, also helps track down rare books for customers.
One of his favorite shelves houses two San Miguel County authors: cowboy poet S. Omar Barker and his brother Elliott S. Barker, New Mexico’s legendary first game warden, who were raised in a log cabin near Beulah. “S. Omar Barker is one of the finest writers in New Mexico history,” says Ditmanson, who works twice a week at the store, dispensing recommendations upon request. “I’ve managed to acquire first editions of all his books, as well as a smattering of his poems.”
Read more: Anne Hillerman's "Lost Birds," the ninth in her series, weaves together the search for a missing Navajo woman and a Diné woman's quest for her roots.
Check out Books of the Southwest, inside Rough Rider Antiques, 501 Railroad Ave., Las Vegas, 505-454-8063.
