The symbol of both the Moravian Book Shop and the Moravian Church.

The Moravian Book Shop has been in continuous operation since 1745 when it began importing books for the fledgling Moravian community in Bethlehem.

General Manager Dana DeVito with a selection of Moravian stars, a big seller at the Moravian Book Shop. They have become popular as a Christmas ornament as well as having become the symbol of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Book selections run the gamut from a popular book for visitors called “Guide to the Old Moravian Cemetery of Bethlehem, PA 1742-1897” a book describing the “God’s Acre” cemetery just a short walk from the bookshop, to the latest best sellers and children’s books.

Robbie Williamson offers roasted vegetable pizza at the deli in the Moravian Book Shop. Because of competition from chain stores and the internet, the bookshop has become a full service destination, even offering wi-fi service where you can scan the internet on your laptop while snacking quiche or roasted vegetable pizza and gourmet coffee in the world’s oldest bookshop.

Book buyer Mike Sawyer and clerk Jayne Trant browse book in the local history section of the Moravian Book Shop.

After over 250 years, the Moravian Book Shop discovers it is the world’s oldest bookshop.

Bethlehem

Four years ago, a snippet in USA Today lamented the anticipated loss of John Smith & Sons, a Glasgow, Scotland bookseller whose business dated back to 1751. The article cited competition from internet booksellers as forcing the oldest bookstore in the world out of business.

 “Isn’t that sad?” thought Dana DeVito, the current general manager of Bethlehem’s Moravian Book Shop and a book buyer at the time. “It was almost maddening. Here’s a store that has been operating since 1751 and has to close its doors.”

 “I guess I couldn’t see the forest from the trees,” DeVito thought after a co-worker said, “Look at the date – 1752. We go back to 1745. That makes us older than the world’s oldest!”

 DeVito tried contacting USA Today by sending emails and leaving phone messages. Two weeks passed with no response.

 Out of nowhere, an Associated Press team showed up and the story that ran touted the Moravian Book Shop as the world’s oldest.

 “We’ve asked if anyone would dispute it,” said DeVito. “We are certainly the oldest in America—that’s documented in the American Bookseller’s Association. We believe we are the oldest continuously operating bookseller in the world.”

 A Moravian Bookshop

The history of the Moravian Book Shop is closely interwoven with the Moravian Church—which has operated the bookshop through its 259-years. The mission statement of the bookshop is to provide financial support to the Pension Fund for Ministers of the Northern Province of the Moravian Church.

 The Moravians came to America from the regions of Bohemia and Moravia, which are now part of the Czech Republic. Originally organized in 1457 as the Unitas Fratum (Unity of Brethren,) they protested the positions of the Roman clergy. By 1517, they goal of better educating people was translated into purchasing presses and printing bibles in their native language.

 Under continuous persecution, in 1722 they fled Bohemia and Moravia, finding refuge at the estate of Count Nicholas Louis von Zinzendorf, in Saxony. Zinzendorf encouraged them to become missionaries and spread their message to the far corners of the world.

 In 1741, the Moravians purchased 500-acres in Pennsylvania to establish their first American settlement which they named Bethlehem. This became the Northern Province— a Southern Province was settled in Salem, now Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

 On November 17, 1745, Bishop Augustus Spangenberg, the leader of the Bethlehem Moravian Congregation, wanting a well-organized commerce in books for the new settlement, asked Samuel Powell, keeper of the Bethlehem Inn (later the Crown Inn) to import books and use the Inn as a book depository.

 By 1755, the business, operated as the Bethlehemer Bücher Shop, amassed an inventory of 5,000 books. The bookshop changed locations several times. In 1856, the stock was transferred to a store at 341 Arch Street in Philadelphia—with the intent of both selling and printing of books.

 Needing more space and finding Philadelphia more expensive to operate and expand their store, the bookshop and publishing business returned to Bethlehem, in 1858, at 37 Broad Street. Printing was done by outside jobbers and “fancy articles and homeopathic medicines were sold in addition to books.

 In 1867, the shop returned to printing in a shop at 4 Market Street. In 1868, space for the bookshop was rented at its current location, then the new YMCA building at 86 South Main Street. Over the years, the bookshop expanded to fill four properties to the south of the original store.

 Over the years, the printing business was discontinued and the new space was filled with a deli, collectable dolls, card shop, candy shop and gift shop.

 Moravian Book Shop Today

Today, the Moravian Book Shop is a marriage of its long traditions with the marketing demands of the twenty-first century.

 Their book selections run the gamut from a popular book for visitors called “Guide to the Old Moravian Cemetery of Bethlehem, PA 1742-1897” a book describing the “God’s Acre” cemetery just a short walk from the bookshop, to the latest best sellers and children’s books. A new café area offers wi-fi service where you can scan the internet on your laptop while snacking quiche or roasted vegetable pizza and gourmet coffee in the world’s oldest bookshop.

 The symbol of both the Moravians and the Moravian Book Shop is the 26-point three-dimensional Moravian Star. What has become the Star of Bethlehem and a popular Christmas ornament is a popular item at the bookshop.