Established 1993

    Lakin & Marley was launched in 1993 in the town of Mill Valley, California (just north of the Golden Gate Bridge) with a Catalogue One consisting of a mere 41 books, all Victorian literary rarities.  Seventeen years later, we still have less than 500 books in stock at any given time and each is hand-picked.  We take pride in staying small and enjoy a highly interactive and enthusiastic relationship with most of our clients, helping them grow their personal libraries to a gold standard.   To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, we’re really satisfied only with the best.  We seek and sell rarity and importance, condition and quality.  Twenty-eight deluxe deluxe catalogues have been fitfully issued over the years. We also regularly exhibit at Antiquarian Book Fairs worldwide.  

    Lakin & Marley Rare Books is owned and operated by Howard Lakin along with Marley, the rare book trade’s most notorious imaginary partner.  Howard is a graduate of Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, and he received his post-graduate degree in Film Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.  He is also a Life Member of the Writer’s Guild of America, having worked in the Entertainment industry for two decades and having earned 150+ writing and producing credits along the way.  Being a lifelong bibliophile, he eventually segued from Hollywood’s tedium into the far more compelling and glamorous lifestyle of an antiquarian bookseller.