Staff, friends and patrons of Germ Books mourn our beloved founder, Jennifer Yael Bates, who died on May 17, 2007, after a 20-month struggle with leukemia.

Ms. Bates’ passing eerily coincided with the Fishtown bookstore’s long-planned relocation from 308 East Girard Avenue to 2005 Frankford Avenue.  Though smaller than its counterpart on Frankford Avenue, the Girard Avenue location drew much of its charm and charisma from the raven-haired beauty who awaited patrons across the twenty feet of faux black marble from store entrance to cashier counter.  Once there, pilgrims could present her with the most absurd and intriguing esoteric questions; she would comment knowledgably—and always with the utmost respect—then direct them to an essential tome forgotten by the rest of culture yet comfortably resting on a shelf amid other remnants of our stolen future.  To admirers of Aleister Crowley, Nikola Tesla, Philip K. Dick and Robert Anton Wilson, Germ rightfully earned the frequent exclamation of “Wow, this is the best bookstore in the world!”  (It sounds like hyperbole, but we truly hear these words at least once a month, if not once a week.)

But like the Sumerians, Atlanteans and Neueschwabenlanders before her, Jennifer Bates has passed into history.  Germ will continue her legacy and vision at a new location with our own variation on the ubiquitous bumpersticker: “WWJD?”

Be certain that you will continue to hear from us, and that with every event, with every art show, with every hidden truth revealed in every obscure book we sell—her spirit will live on.

Goodbye, our one true and enduring Ipsissimus.