The Salamanca neighborhood hides a meeting place for fans of fantasy and horror literature. Works by Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, Sarah Wilkinson, Robert W. Chambers and many other geniuses of the story coexist on the second floor of a sophisticated building a few meters from the Plaza de Felipe II.
Passing by number 94 Alcalá Street, just above a modest little telephone, one reads “Librería Opar, 2º Izquierda” in black letters on a golden plaque. When you call, there is immediately an answer. Alfredo Lara, founder and owner of the small business, waits a few flights of stairs up. The chessboard-like black and white doorway is the first indication that there is nothing conventional about the bookstore we are about to enter.
Already on the second floor, Alfredo welcomes us with a shy smile. An inveterate reader and regular customer of Madrid bookstores, he explains to Madrid Secreto that having his own store is “the only thing he had left to do”. Before opening Opar almost twenty years ago, he had been an assistant at a stand on the Cuesta de Moyano specializing in science fiction. He had also collaborated in the Book Fair, representing the Valdemar publishing house.
Valdemar is an independent publishing house specializing in fantasy and horror fiction, which makes up sixty percent of its production. Since the Ministry of Culture awarded it the prize for Best Publishing Work in 2000, it has been recognizedboth inside and outside Spain.
At the Book Fair I realized that people were asking for a place to buy Valdemar copies at any time of the year,” saysAlfredo, “and that’s how the idea of opening Opar came about. I proposed to the publisher to set up a small bookstore where their readers could find all their collections at a good price.
Opar started out at street level, in Duque de Sesto. However, the cost of the premises was too high considering the number of sales. That’s why they decided to move the business to the property where it is now located. “It’s almost like a cultural association. I spend most of my time commenting on books,” says the owner.
The treasures of Opar
The bookstore’s star collection is Gothic literature, a mythical selection of terrifying works devised by Valdemar in the 1990s. “The Draculaedition stands out , which is absolutely spectacular. Also the complete narrative of H.P. Lovecraft and the Anthology of stories about vampire women,” says Alfredo.
As if this were not an attractive enough stop for book collectors, Opar has copies from small publishers (Biblioteca del Laberinto, among others) and from authors whose work is difficult to find (such as Alberto López Aroca).
“Being a very personal bookstore, there is another series of publications that I simply like: detective novels by John Connolly, comics by contemporary authors or second-hand copies – out of print – that I collect myself. For example, issues of Rojinegro magazine, which was published in the thirties and forties,” says the owner as he gazes spellbound at his beautiful shelves, some decorated with Tintin figures and western characters.