Is this a thing outside Seattle? These little bookcases can be found in the more pleasant neighbourhoods, where the...
Is this a thing outside Seattle? These little bookcases can be found in the more pleasant neighbourhoods, where the well-to-do-but-not-filthy-rich live, always on private residential property. One is enjoined to take a book or leave a book; I’ve never done either though occasionally on my walks I’ll stop and read a few pages of one.
The books themselves tend to be pretty much what you might find in a garage sale, or a bookseller leftover sale, though it’s variable, and I suspect the better selections involve a certain amount of curation by the owner. But the cases themselves are almost always in good condition. I’ve rarely seen one with glass broken or even the door left open.
I’m thinking they act partly of a display of upper-middle class “books & education” values, and partly as a signal of neighbourhood gentility. One can imagine that such street furniture, barely more protected than house furniture, would not last long in a “bad” neighbourhood, but here their good condition lends cosy reassurance.
I saw these in Seattle, in Colorado, and in Minnesota. I think it’s a lovely idea.
We have these here. I picked up a book on Russian morphology from one.
I’ve never seen one of these in my life (here in the UK).
I’ve seen a few in London. Not outside, but there’s one in Conway Hall and one in Oval tube station.
they were called “Little Free Library”s, but then the founding org trademarked the term and has been trying to enforce it to control the bottleneck to generate funding and I don’t know what the generic will be
There’s one of these 3 blocks from my house. There’s also a table in the building’s laundry room, where people leave leftover books. The local coffee place has an entire wall of bookcases, about half books-by-the-yard, and half books people have left for trade. to be fair, I’m about 30 miles out of Seattle, but I’d hardly call this neighborhood “upper middle-class”. This is just the thing you do with books you’re done with.
This stuff was popular among the twee Portland detached-house professional class and the book tables in bars etc. was popular among the earthy Portland apartment working class when I showed up in 2011 but it feels like it’s been declining on both fronts
