The Wall Street Journal Magazine - 11.2019

68 WSJ. MAGAZINE

WHAT’S NEWS

Nancy Bass Wyden grew up around

books—lots of them. Her grandfather

Ben Bass founded the Strand Book

Store in New York in 1927, and today the

legendary independent shop boasts the

slogan “18 Miles of Books.” “I remember

going into the children’s section and

feeling like I was the princess of the

Strand because I could choose anything I

wanted,” says Bass Wyden, now 58

and the third-generation owner of the

store. In 1986, she launched the Strand’s

Books by the Foot service, which sells

and rents custom collections to individu-

als (including Tom Cruise and Denzel

Washington), TV and fi lm productions

(Saturday Night Live, You’ve Got Mail)

and many other clients (the Wing, the

Waldorf Astoria New York). As the Strand

nears a century in business, Bass Wyden

has her eyes on the future. She and

her husband, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon,

have three children who she hopes will

take over the family business someday.

“I would love to have a fourth generation

here,” she says. strandbooks.com

NANCY

BASS WYDEN

1. What’s your signature
   accessory?
   A gold medallion with the
   Rod of Asclepius sur-
   rounded by olive branches.


2. Where do you go for a
   real escape?
   I always explore new
   countries, the more remote,
   the better. I’d love to visit
   Papua New Guinea [shown].


3. What’s a recent invest-
   ment piece?
   I purchased an Ai Weiwei
   piece for my living room.
   I believe his work [like
   Zodiac (Rabbit), 2018,
   shown] will stand the test
   of time.


4. Who’s your favorite
   author?
   Tough question! My touch-
   stones include Donna
   Tartt, Vladimir Nabokov,
   Joan Didion [shown],
   George Bernard Shaw and
   Joseph Conrad.


5. What music do you
   listen to?
   Energetic, upbeat music,
   especially good old-
   fashioned rock ’n’ roll.


6. What book fi rst made
   you love reading?
   Roald Dahl’s James and the
   Giant Peach. I loved its fan-
   tastically magical world.


7. What’s your most
   prized rare book?
   Eleanor Roosevelt’s per-
   sonal copy of her memoir
   This I Remember, with a
   letter to her mother-in-law
   tucked inside.


8. What’s your most
   treasured possession?
   It’s not so much a posses-
   sion, but Strand Book Store,
   of course.


9. What museum do you
   most like to visit?
   The National Palace Mus-
   eum in Taipei, which
   houses the best collection
   of Chinese art.


10. What’s your essential
    grooming product?
    I use Round Barn
    Apothecary’s Luminous Oil
    every day.


11. What’s a favorite book
    you’ve read recently?
    Patti Smith’s Just Kids. Her
    writing is so unapologeti-
    cally genuine and poetic.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: JULIE ADAMS; MAJA HITIJ/GETTY,

ZODIAC (RABBIT)

, 2018; COURTESY OF VALE JEWELRY; ETHAN DANIELS/ALAMY; CBW/ALAMY; COURTESY OF ALFRED A. KNOPF;

COURTESY OF ECCO; COURTESY OF ROUND BARN APOTHECARY; JUI-CHI CHAN/ALAMY; COURTESY OF STRAND BOOK STORE; COURTESY OF NANCY BASS

WYDEN; CSU ARCHIVES/EVERETT COLLECTION