{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "Is this a thing outside Seattle? These little bookcases can be found in the more pleasant neighbourhoods, where the...", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/173655942988/", "html": "

ironyoxide:

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kontextmaschine:

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reasonableapproximation:

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house-carpenter:

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yeli-renrong:

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mailadreapta:

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polyaletheia:

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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\u2019ve never done either though occasionally on my walks I\u2019ll stop and read a few pages of one.

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The books themselves tend to be pretty much what you might find in a garage sale, or a bookseller leftover sale, though it\u2019s 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\u2019ve rarely seen one with glass broken or even the door left open.

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I\u2019m thinking they act partly of a display of upper-middle class\u00a0\u201cbooks & education\u201d 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\u00a0\u201cbad\u201d neighbourhood, but here their good condition lends cosy reassurance.

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I saw these in Seattle, in Colorado, and in Minnesota. I think it\u2019s a lovely idea.

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We have these here. I picked up a book on Russian morphology from one.

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I\u2019ve never seen one of these in my life (here in the UK).

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I\u2019ve seen a few in London. Not outside, but there\u2019s one in Conway Hall and one in Oval tube station.

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they were called \u201cLittle Free Library\u201ds, 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\u2019t know what the generic will be

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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0There\u2019s one of these 3 blocks from my house. There\u2019s also a table in the building\u2019s laundry room, where people leave leftover books.\u00a0 The local coffee place has an entire wall of bookcases, about half books-by-the-yard, and half books people have left for trade.\u00a0 to be fair, I\u2019m about 30 miles out of Seattle, but I\u2019d hardly call this neighborhood\u00a0\u201cupper middle-class\u201d.\u00a0 This is just the thing you do with books you\u2019re done with.

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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\u2019s been declining on both fronts

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