One of New York City’s best bookstores, St. Mark’s Bookshop is no longer on its namesake street but just around the corner on 3rd Avenue (31 3rd Ave., at Stuyvesant St., 212/260-7853). Open daily until midnight, the store has an especially fine selection of fiction and alternative publications.

In Greenwich Village, Three Lives & Co. (154 W. 10th St., between 6th and 7th Aves., 212/741-2069) is one of the city’s top literary bookstores and hosts frequent readings by well-known authors. Formerly the Biography Bookshop, Bookbook (266 Bleeker St., 212/807-8655), has an excellent selection of sale books and an extensive cookbook selection.

Shakespeare & Co. (716 Broadway, 212/529-1330) is a charming independent book store. East West Living (78 Fifth Ave., at 14th St., 212/243-5994), specializes in Eastern and New Age philosophy books

Two blocks south of Union Square is Strand Book Store (828 Broadway, at 12th St., 212/473-1452). By far the city’s largest secondhand bookstore, it claims to stock some two million books on eight miles of shelves. Some New Yorkers seem to spend their entire lives here, browsing, browsing, and browsing. The store is open until 10 p.m. every evening. Across the street is Forbidden Planet (840 Broadway, 212/473-1576), a gold mine for science fiction lovers, selling books, comic books, and games.

Manhattan’s oldest Barnes & Noble store (105 5th Ave., at 18th St., 212/807-0099), in operation decades before the current crop of megastores, houses a huge selection of used text books. The Barnes & Noble flagship (33 E. 17th St., between Broadway and Park Ave. S., 212/253-0810) borders Union Square. About a half-dozen megastores, complete with cafés and reading series, are scattered throughout the city.

Revolution Books (146 W. 26th St., between 6th and 7th Aves., 212/691-3345), the country’s largest radical bookstore, harks back to New York’s inflammatory Sacco-and-Vanzetti days. Books of Wonder (18 W. 18th St., 212/989-3270) is a great children’s bookstore.

Travel lovers should stop by the Complete Traveller Antiquarian Bookstore (199 Madison Ave., at 35th St., 212/685-9007) for beautiful antique and rare travel books and literature. Hagstrom Map and Travel Center (51 W. 43rd St., between 5th and 6th Aves., 212/398-1222) stocks an impossible number of maps.

The classy, wood-paneled Rizzoli (31 W. 57th St., 212/759-2424) stocks an especially fine collection of art and photography books. The Argosy (116 E. 59th St., between Park and Lexington Aves., 212/753-4455) carries an excellent selection of used books. In TriBeCa Mysterious Book Shop (58 Warren St., 212/587-1011) sells hardcover, paperback, new, and used books.

For posters, Chisholm Larsson Gallery (145 8th Ave., at 17th St., 212/741-1703) specializes in European travel and product posters. On the Upper West Side, La Belle Époque (280 Columbus Ave., near 73rd St., 212/362-1770) specializes in French posters of the 1890s and 1900s.

Kate’s Paperie (72 Spring St., and other locations, 212/941-9816) is an upscale stationery shop filled with handmade paper products. Jam Paper and Envelope (135 3rd Ave., near 14th St., 212/473-6666) stocks a wide array of budget-priced stationery. Ink Pad (22 8th Ave., near W. 12th St., 212/463-9876) is a dedicated rubber stamp shop. In a pen emergency, head to the Fountain Pen Hospital (10 Warren St., 212/964-0580). This one of a kind TriBeCa shop can also sell you a new pen if their services are unable to resuscitate.