Division Leap finds and preserves wide range of ephemera (photos)

He remembers the train cars, with rusting sides often covered in graffiti, passing through rural Oregon near his hometown of Lorane. Even as a kid, Adam Davis saw art in these scribbles and in their unconventional canvases telegraphing cultural codes from far-off corners of the county.

That fascination for hand-wrought, fleeting and non-conformist acts of expression is what you find at Division Leap, the bookstore that Davis runs with Kate Schaefer near St. Johns Bridge in North Portland.  

Billed on their website as the "hardest-to-find bookstore in North America," Division Leap's current location is at the end of a blind alley where abandoned railway tracks appear to vanish - a bit of poetry manifest.

Their business defies easy categorization – not unlike the objects of their interest. Essentially, they trade in printed materials of all sorts published outside the mainstream. They also buy collections.

"We take chaos, organize it and historically position it for potential buyers," says Davis. "Most of our dealings are with institutions and libraries." In addition numerous universities, they have worked with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the MoMA and some private collectors.

"I travel a lot to buy," Davis says. "We also have scouts that work for us." The process, listening to him describe it, sounds a bit like going on a scavenger hunt with characters out of Alice in Wonderland. Collectors of rare or obscure books, zines, posters, and art can be an eccentric bunch.

Davis tells of a recent out-of-state buying trip in which he met with a collector. They looked through various items together, but the collector would not tell Davis exactly which of them were for sale nor quote any prices. Davis identified pieces of interest for Division Leap, and the seller told him that he would think about it.

Davis returned to Oregon. Sometime later, a box arrived at Division Leap through the mail. It contained items that the seller evidently decided he could part with. At last check, Division Leap staff was still sorting through that surprise.

Division Leap is open by appointment, hosts local readings and answers any question on Tumbler.  
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