For us, the idea of selling books on eBay didn't just pop up out of the ground one day, though it should have long ago because books are piled up high enough around the house that some might find it distasteful. Yet, despite a literary addiction that goes back generations, the thought simply never registered in our obsessive, biblioholic minds that instead of accumulating every book in sight, we might actually sell some for profit, as well. Perhaps this dilemma explains in part why, after more than 30 years supporting bookish habits, our library long ago exceeded its capacity to remain organized in some comprehensible way.
It would be safe to say, with an exceptionally healthy conscience, that books control our lives, illuminate our days; that our home is a flourishing, literary landscape from which we seldom wish to leave. Unwary visitors who pride themselves on liberated open-mindedness might find it challenged, however, when instead of a guest bedroom, they discover a guest library; instead of a single-shelf headboard in our own chambers, Stephen King's robust catalogue is perched ominously close to the ceiling, three shelves high. Such is the nature of our own brand of unadulterated bibliomania.
Astonished family members sneer, openly refer to our excessive behavior as a sickness, and therefore, seldom visit. Little do they know that sometimes late at night, cast amid the eerie glow from our reading lights, we lay in bed, covers tucked chin high, eyeballing our way around the room and wonder also, how in the world did all these books get here and who on earth paid for them?
It gets demonstratively worse! WE LOVE ALL BOOKS not for just for the writing inside, but very often for how books look, feel, and resonate, too. Even size and weight count. What nature of small treasure exists in every volume? What manner of Holy Grail beckons from the most obscure title? Since we cannot tell offhand, we buy them all!
There is a full compliment of books in the kitchen, probably where pots and pans should be. We don't have a TV in the living room — better for additional book storage. Both bathrooms contain books and magazines, as does the office and garage where years have passed since our van called the place home. Every nook and cranny has printed material stashed — hard covers, mass market paperbacks, trades, magazines, pamphlets, brochures, journals, graphic novels, even books on tape, all waiting patiently for retrieval, to be inventoried and shelved in proper fashion. The only thing noticeably absent is space, long ago devoured by insatiable appetites.
Our first tentative book-selling experience on eBay was no less eventful in the bidding than it was by the ultimate dollar amount. A collector from San Francisco swooped down at the last second to outbid everyone else and win the prize; a rare Chagall edition with two original lithographs laid in for the amazing sum of $1100! This amount may not seem like much to an experienced antiquarian book dealer, but for the first time ever, a book was actually sold by us for more than we paid...much more. What a way to get the point!
Soon after, WE LOVE ALL BOOKS became the perfect trade name for an online used bookstore emporium, operated comfortably out of our home office, conveniently in touch with the world.
Will this obsession with books ever end? Will their sheer volume someday push us out of our house and into the street? The answer, of course, is never, now that we have discovered eBay and embraced bookselling.
Thanks for stopping by and best of luck with your bidding!
Deborah & Bruce Hall
weloveallbooks
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