Many booklovers mistakenly believe that Strand is the oldest bookstore in New York City, but Argosy has it beat by two years. Argosy is located at 116 East 59th Street, between Park and Lexington Avenues in Midtown Manhattan, it occupies an entire six-story townhouse with various sales floors specializing in first editions, Americana, leather bindings, antique maps and prints, and autographs. The store, also noted for a wide selection of bargain books, has its own framing and shipping departments and owns a large warehouse in Brooklyn.

The Argosy, known for its elegant old-world interior, has been used as a setting for movies and TV dramas, including The Front with Woody Allen, Law and Order, and Person of Interest.^[6] Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo also features a bookstore of the same name situated in San Francisco. It has also been used as a background for fashion shoots and television interviews. It was prominently featured in the 2018 movie Can You Ever Forgive Me? and is among the New York bookstores where the real-life Lee Israel had attempted to sell her forgeries. It was also featured in the 2019 movie The Goldfinch.

The store and its history are one of the subjects of the 2019 documentary The Booksellers. The Argosy was also the subject of an article by Janet Malcolm in The New Yorker.