More Books by the Foot

August 11, 2006

Remeber my post a while back about decorators selling books by the foot to furnish rooms, as an alternative to wallpaper, say? I spotted another book by the foot seller, and this one’s got some pretty remarkable prices. Here’s Wonder Book’s pitch:

BOOKS BY THE FOOT: With pricing starting at $6.00 per linear foot, we provide you with attractive “like new” hardback books. These books will display attractively and offer your clients great value. We can also quote you unit pricing should your specs require.

BOOKS BY COLOR: The same as above except the books will be unjacketed cloth spined hardbacks chosen to match your swatches or general color scheme.

INSTANT LIBRARIES: We create a very inexpensive yet impressive personal or professional library for your specs. This is ideal for senior living, retirement homes, new homes, corporate reading rooms, vacation homes, and even clients too busy to build their own libraries etc. Subjects can be general or specific (childrens, art, encyclopedias, coffee table, sales, motivational, Large Print, etc…).

My previous post on the topic referred to an article that profiled a “a California company that sells foreign books by the foot for the express purpose of looking at them rather than reading them. Danish books cost $100 a foot, German are $150 a foot and French are $200.” So this is quite a bargain… if you’re in the market for lots and lots of books that you have little or no interest in reading. Next time I go to the bookstore I’m going to bring a yardstick, and I’ll ask if they have any sort of “by the foot” pricing scheme.

created The Millions and is its publisher. He and his family live in New Jersey.