About Walnut Street Paper

Walnut Street Paper is a small, family-owned business based out of Kutztown, PA. Co-owners Alexis and George Sirrakos have been selling collectible books, ephemera, photographs, and manuscripts since 2018 and are proud to be members of the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA). We are now an exclusively online retailer, having recently closed our brick-and-mortar shop. We carry a diverse inventory and tend to gravitate toward material that is illustrated, decorative, or otherwise visually appealing, across a range of genres, including 20th century children’s literature, classic literature, African Americana, natural history, poetry, and pop culture. Our material ranges from the early 1800s all the way to modern first editions. Additionally, we have a heightened interest in books and ephemera related to American social movements including the civil rights movement, women’s rights and liberation, LGBTQ rights, and environmental preservation. We purchase a range of materials in our areas of interest, whether individual items or entire collections.

 

Our company is named after the street where we bought our first home, where our family grew, and where the idea to go on this crazy journey of becoming rare and antiquarian book and ephemera dealers began. The inspiration for our logo comes from the beautiful red maple tree in our backyard. This enchanting tree symbolizes all of the possibilities that we hoped for when first purchasing our home. Little did we know just how important it would become in our lives over the years; whether providing gorgeous red and orange leaves to jump into during the fall season, keeping everyone shaded during the hot summer months, providing generous (!) amounts of sticks for snow people/creatures, while also allowing our children to hone their climbing and tire swinging skills. For us, the tree in our logo is a symbol of our family’s bond.

 

Alexis Sirrakos has a background in Biology and Secondary Education, having spent several years as a middle school math and science teacher in New York City and in Dresden, Germany. A few years ago, Alexis had the opportunity to rediscover her career path while staying home and raising their two daughters. In July 2019, she attended the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar (CABS) and went on to be the 2019 recipient of the Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair (BABF) prize. In 2021, she was selected to participate by the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA) in their Women’s Initiative Mentorship Program. Her main areas of interest are fables, fairy tales, and folk tales from around the world. Over the years, Alexis has become increasingly interested in the ways that the themes embedded within these stories manifest, are visually portrayed, and get retold across cultures, regions, and even generations. Alexis is also interested in the continual reimagining of the stories and characters in the genres of fantasy and science fiction, particularly those written by female authors.

 

George Sirrakos also has a background in Biology and Secondary Education, having spent several years as a high school science teacher in New York City and in Dresden, Germany. In 2013, George earned his PhD in Education with a focus on urban education. Currently, George is a Professor in the Department of Secondary Education at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. His research interests include fostering equity in education, creating opportunities for students to inform the teaching and learning process, and cross-national studies of learning environments. Typically, George spends most of his time reading texts about education and studies published in academic journals. His immersion into the bookselling trade has greatly expanded his reading interests to include Beats poetry and literature and most things written in a Hunter S. Thompson-esque style.