About

Johnnycake Books is an internet and storefront bookseller of rare and collectible books. Johnnycake was one of the first several hundred booksellers to put its  collections on-line in the mid-1990s. Dan Dwyer, who owns and operates Johnnycake,  opened the shop in August 2000. It's located in the small town of Salisbury in northwest Connecticut, in the foothills of the Berkshires.  The bookshop is housed in a 19th-century farmer’s cottage. Johnnycake Books is a place for relaxation,  perusal, and acquisition of the personally curated volumes in its versatile collection.

what’s a johnnycake?

It’s a simple corncake that harkens back to old New England Yankee kitchens and, in very crude form, a staple of seafarers' diets. 

why johnnycake books?

There are two reasons, one personal, the other literary. There is a Johnnycake Hill that overlooks the harbor in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where the store’s owner Dan Dwyer grew up;  Johnnycake Hill is also the place in Herman Melville’s  "Moby Dick" - arguably the greatest American novel -  where Ishmael finds lodging, worships, and from which he embarks to Nantucket to go a-whalin’.

johnnycake’s owner

Dan Dwyer brings a varied background to rare-book selling. After graduating from Georgetown University in 1974, he worked on Capitol Hill and Jimmy Carter’s 1976 campaign. He then served at the White House, traveling worldwide with the press corps. Next, he worked for CBS both in Washington and New York. When he moved to Salisbury, he sold real estate and ran for public office before discovering the happy pursuit of rare books.  Johnnycake Books is a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA); Dan is a member of The Grolier Club. 

He has served on the Planning & Zoning Board of the Town of Salisbury, and as well as on boards of many community-based organizations including Salisbury Family Services and the Northwest CT Community Foundation.  He currently serves as Vice Chair of LJMN Media, a non-profit news organization that publishes The Lakeville Journal (CT), one of New England's oldest weekly newspapers, and The Millerton News (NY). 

memberships