Buying Books by the Foot
In the process of shedding items before the move, I ended up with many books that I needed to find a new home for. They ultimately ended up in the hands of a Harlem charity, but I considered selling them for a while to The Strand, a very popular New York bookstore. In my research, I ran into this disturbing book market: The Strand sells books by the foot.
They pitch the service for three scenarios:
- Decorating a room
- Building a library
- Designing a film set
The last one makes sense, but the first two frighten me. Do you want to look $350-per-foot Antique Leather smart or perhaps you can get away with $75-per-foot Leather Looking smart? Maybe you’re going for a Bohemian Art Book $250-a-foot look? They even quote Henry Ward Beecher, adding some unintentional humor to the page: “A home without books is like a room without windows.”
Hopefully, there’s a very small market for this false literacy and most people build a library the old fashioned way: one book at a time.
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Perhaps you’re unaware, but this *is* the traditional way of building a library. You just have to go back a few centuries.
And yes, you typically *would* have specified how expensive you wanted the binding to be, even if you were only buying one copy.
Being specific about binding as well as form factor is actually something I’m very concerned with when I pick up a book, at least as far as my ability to stuff it in a bag, read it on the subway or, now that I’ve moved to Seattle, enjoy it on the monorail.
As for building a library by buying it in bulk, I wasn’t aware of an historical precedent here. Do you have some links you could add to bring some context to this process? Regardless, it seems strange in context of today’s book market.
On a personal note, I actually don’t have much of a library anymore. After a number of moves over the years, I seem to have passed on most of those that I did have. Only those with the most sentimental attachment remain.
“Do you have some links you could add to bring some context to this process?”
I tried a few quick searches with no success.
If my memory serves, it was practice (in elizabethan times for example) to present many books for sale unbound, so the purchaser could have them bound to match the rest of their collection, and books would often be ordered in bulk to fill a library in matching bindings.
The practice basically arose with movable type, which made books accessible to your ordinary run-of-the-mill nobles and merchants (as well as most everyone else). The nobles and merchants, of course, had to have more *expensive* books, that matched, to show they had money, taste, and learning (regardless of whether they ever intended to read them).
Of course, these days, having a library of books that all match would be a dead giveaway, so I suppose we can count ourselves as a /bit/ more sophisticated.
[...] teresting coverage. So to speak. The Strand Bookstore sells various types by the foot. A post at Obvious Diversion covering same has a respondent who points out that binding type and quantity is the [...]
was told by a furniture store that displays books in their bookcases for decorating purposes that I could buy the books in bulk - just old books w/half-way decent hardcovers for the purpose of decoration in my bookshelves at home
Are you kidding? False literacy…? I believe the words you are looking for a decorating with books. I enjoy the look of a library, but I don’t read that much. I read technical publications and that is about it. They are providing a service people like myself need.
Thanks for posting the link. I have been looking to buy books this way!
I’d just say get over yourself. Anyone who buys any library edition “Fine Bound Leather Gold Gilt Morocan Three Quarter BLAH BLAH BLAH” is obviously buying the thing for looks not just for content. The books we buy to actualy read are the paper backs that if they end up floating in the tub because we fell asleep are replacable for less than a weeks pay. There is nothing wrong with using books for decorating. If there was they wouldn’t make them so darn decorative!
Does anybody know of one of the sellers in Illinois? I would like to give them some of my old text books that nobody wants. I’m certain calculus and physics books would make somebody look impressive.
I am actually a bookseller with a large and growing business building customized book collections for clients. I spend a lot of time getting to know the clients, their interests, hobbies, decorating style, etc. and then I handpick every book for them, into the thousands of volumes. These are clients who know what they like, have beautiful homes, and appreciate the help of a specialist to fill their shelves with relevant books. I can find books that they did not know existed and truly constitute a collection when assembled together. Anything form antique leather books to new art books and everything in between. JuniperBooks.com is the business.
Thank goodness for being able to buy by the foot!! And what choices!!
You neglect to acknowledge that they research their clientel to find books for them that they might find of interest. Someone who isn’t particularly educated in literature might not have the time nor the knowledge to really find whats good in their different topics of interest. Having someone who does, help you build your library beneficiary.
Neglect:
A very good point indeed! Yet another reason buying books by the foot is not the sin some people make it oout to be.
I have a small, used bookstore in St. Louis and have had several clients who are only buying books for show. One wanted books without dustjackets where the spine was sufficiently faded so that no one could read the title. He bought 1,500 books. Another, a woman - a real trophy wife - came with a three page list of books that friends told her would be great for the library her husband had built for her. I had serious doubts the woman had ever read anything other than Danielle Steele. Recently, Extreme Makeover called and needed books with blue and/or green spines for a shoot. I don’t judge people or their reading (or decorating) interests.