An interview with Sojourner Books

Biblio checks in with Sojourner Books to learn more about their book business, collecting interests and more! To view and shop their inventory, click here.

When did you get started in bookselling?

As a child, I was always haunting garage sales to feed my voracious reading appetite. My first real find was a complete set of Kipling's works for $10. I was eight years old. I'm still thrilled by that purchase 40 years later. As well, I was always drawn to the unusual and unique books in my treasure hunting, even if it wasn't within my interests. One day, at Barber's Bookstore when I was 14, I was talking with the proprietor, Mr. Perkins, about some books I had found. He expressed an interest in looking at them. They were in my friend's car with whom I had ridden, after a day of hitting garage sales and small bookstores. I brought them in, and Mr. Perkins bought three of them and paid me $40 dollars. I was hooked.

What drew you to bookselling?

I love the written word in every form, and books have always had a magical place in my life as objects of knowledge, beauty, and enchanting escape. I cannot imagine my life without them in it. And being that I started selling books as a book scout at the age of 14, that 'treasure hunting' for books became a source of financial reward, as well.

Did you have any mentors in becoming a bookseller?

I did not, other than those bibliophiles who also put their love of books into word, and recorded this fancy for posterity. I'm pretty much an autodidactic bloke, anyway.