Insider's Las Vegas: Best Bets: Bookie’s Pick

Of all the paths to a quickened pulse in Las Vegas, leafing through the pages of a book is not the most obvious. But in the cool quiet of the Shoppes at the Palazzo, Bauman Rare Books lets bibliophiles indulge their passion. The store recalls the private-library atmosphere of the antiquarian bookseller’s Philadelphia and Manhattan locations, and has an inventory to match. Recent finds at the Vegas branch include a 1776 printing of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense ($62,000), which helped spark the American Revolution, and a rare first edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby ($168,000)—fitting reading in a town known for profligacy and fleeting wealth. Here, in Bauman’s westernmost store, you might also consider a first edition of the definitive 1814 account of Lewis and Clark’s expedition ($225,000), one of just 1,417 copies printed. Whatever your decision, you can take your time browsing the shelves: In a nod to the late-night nature of Las Vegas, Bauman is open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and until 11 pm the rest of the week.