According to one Mr. Tsai, an owner of a used book shop on Kuling Street which is still operating, the book business is said to have come to Kuling Street in 1945, when an out-of-work man named Fan began buying and selling books there.
據目前仍在牯嶺街銷售舊書的松林書局蔡老板表示，牯嶺街舊書攤崛起於民國 34 年，當時傳說是一位范先生因為經商失敗，跑到牯嶺街做起買賣舊書的生意。