Tattered Cover Book Store (History Press) “Tattered Cover Book Store,” by Mark A. Barnhouse (History Press) Denver’s Tattered Cover has sold millions of books in its 50 years of operation. It’s about time it got a book of its own. Urban historian Mark A. Barnhouse gives an upbeat history of the famed bookshop and one-time owner Joyce Meskis, who ran it for 40 years. Meskis designed the Tattered with nooks and overstuffed chairs, a look later copied by chains.