Investor Spotlight: Splendor Solis Books
Meet Dianne and Kevin Germain, the owners of Splendor Solis Books! Their shop, housed in the former Gabriel Books space on Market Street, was born of a long love of finding obscure and esoteric titles. After first launching as an online shop, Splendor Solis opened their brick-and-mortar location in 2023, and quickly became a local favorite, not only as a gathering spot for rare book enthusiasts, but also as a home for a small music ensemble, classes on witchcraft, and more! The Germains also partnered with Familiars Coffee & Tea to create Market Street Market: A Curiosities Fair, which will return this October. Learn more about Dianne and Kevin’s story below, or catch up with them at the shop soon!
Dianne and Kevin Germain
What’s the Splendor Solis origin story? How many years have you been in business? Kevin and I have been book collectors for most our adult lives together. Back in the late 80s and early 90s we would go on book dates to many local used bookshops in Boston with Avenue Victor Hugo on Newbury Street being one of our favorite haunts for finding obscure titles. However, it wasn’t until 2018 or so that we realized that our favorite pastime for book scavenging and reading could be a career that we could manage together. So in 2019, Splendor Solis Books was birthed into an online shop. We grew a large following and customer base on Instagram and soon thereafter built a website. In late 2022 an opportunity arose for us to buy the former Gabriel Books on Market Street. After very little deliberation and contemplation we realized opening a brick ’n mortar was the next obvious step for Splendor Solis Books. So in January of 2023 we opened our doors to the neighborhood and were pleasantly surprised by the support we received from so many readers and collectors including all the folks who had supported us online.
Tell us a bit about what you do — what services you provide, or what a typical day in your business might look like. The books in our shop highlight the odd and unusual with such esoteric ideas that include the occult, witchcraft, divination, astrology, paranormal, new age, mysticism, philosophy, ad nauseam. Esoteric ideas, however, aren’t limited to any one shelf—they are also present on history, literature, mythology, poetry, science and even music shelves. We like to think that arcane writings, in all their manifestations, explore the unknown and can be portals to other dimensions, time and ideas when approached with a curious mind. Coming into Splendor Solis is like a walk into a treasure trove of new, used and rare books that may be difficult to find anywhere else out in the wild.
Though we are a bookshop that resides on the other side of the tracks in Northampton we also like to think that we provide a place for our community and neighbors. While we are often pricing, cataloguing and shelving books we also like to share dialogue with our customers - whether it’s about a philosophical notion, a favorite novel or a recommendation for a field guide for birds. It’s probably one of our favorite aspects of the job.
The other component that we feel is special and important about being a community bookshop are the different gatherings that we have at the shop. For almost two years now we have been offering a space to meet every other Saturday morning before the shop opens called The Esoteric Living Room. This was born out of the desire to hold space for anyone who wants to share and read about various mystical/magical topics such as Buddhism, Sufism, Alchemy. This is not your regular book group. We don’t just meet after we finish the whole book. Instead we read one chapter at a time, gather, meditate and then dive into conversation around the deep meaning of each topic that is introduced. Other offerings include a musical ensemble led by Kevin called Corps Exquisite. This is an open-ended, community small-instrument ensemble dedicated to experimental and minimalist music in a collective setting that practices at the shop and will take to playing in public places this summer. We also hold classes on witchcraft, alchemy, entomology, and writing. We have tarot readings on the last Saturday of every month with Dylan from Chapel Energy House. Please find more info on our website: https://www.splendorsolisbooks.com or email us at splendorsolisbooksellers@gmail.com.
What is one of your great success stories, or a recent project you're proud of? We are very proud of the fact that we co-created and organized, along with Familiar’s Coffee and Tea,The Market Street Market: A Curiosities Fair that was held last October. The fair ran from Bridge St. to Graves Ave. with vendors, musicians, local businesses and restaurants lining Market St selling their hand crafted oddities or oddly inspired tasty treats. It was such a success for the vendors, the Ward 3 district and downtown proper that we’ll be doing it again this year on Saturday, October 3rd along with support from the City of Northampton, The Chamber of Commerce, the DNA and local sponsors. We hope to expand this year’s offerings to include more entertainment and curiosities. For more information about the fair go to: https://marketstreetmarket-build.squarespace.com/
Any exciting plans for the future? We will continue to vend books at a variety of places around New England including the Brighton Bazaar, The Boston Open Market, and Northampton's Vintage Book Sale.
What else should we know about you or your business? Are there any fun facts about your business, or something that would surprise people about what you do? We were invited by Pam Grossman, author of Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power, to vend our books and serve as the primary bookseller for her then-new title, Magic Maker: The Enchanted Path to Creativity, at the Occult Humanities Symposium 2025 at New York University. Here we were fortunate to work alongside with and befriend both authors and publishers that we admire and stock our shelves with their books at our shop. They include Ooroboros Press, Brian Cotnoir from Khepri Press, Fiddler’s Green, Flaming Hand, and Inner Traditions. It was a tremendous honor and a meaningful step in establishing our presence within the broader occult community. We are looking forward to the next symposium in 2027.
We love sharing information about our investors with the community! Use our Investor Spotlight submission form to tell us your story, and you could be featured in an Investor Spotlight in our newsletter and social media feeds! Click here to tell us your story!