Skip to content

An interview with The Published Page

Biblio checks in with The Published Page 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?

I started selling part time in early 1997. I have always been a bibliophile, and initially bought and sold as a way of upgrading my own collection. I owned and operated a small business software development & consulting company at the time. In late 1997 I responded to an ad for "books for sale" from a shop in Stillwater, Okalahoma. One of my adult sons lived in Tulsa with his family, so Connye and I arranged to visit them and make a side trip to Stillwater. After visiting Larry Sauder at Land Run Books, we bought books, his entire inventory of around 17,000 titles, and we were in the bookselling business for good.


What drew you to bookselling?

As I mentioned above, I have always been a book lover. My personal library has numbered in the thousands for decades. When I've traveled bookshops have always been part of the journey. I've had several successful careers in my life, and I suppose bookselling was just a natural part of the progression.


Did you have any mentors in becoming a bookseller?

Not in the traditional sense of the word. I started out as an online seller, but one with decades of book collecting experience. Early on I joined IOBA, the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and made many valued contacts there. I especially enjoyed interacting with Pat & Allan Ahearn in the early days, and have great affection for Chris Volk, Shirley Bryant, Lee Kirk, Joyce Godsey and many others. I've learned that this is a huge field, and that you can never stop learning if you want to survive.


What are your specialties as a dealer?

Vintage Science Fiction, Texana, American History, Mystery & Suspense, and Geological Science & Exploration


What's the most amazing book you've ever sold?

The one I enjoyed the most was a first edition copy of Edgar Lawrence Smith's "Common Stocks as a Long Term Investment". I discovered this book in an uncatalogued box that had been thrown in as a valueless extra in a bulk purchase from another dealer. The book was published in 1924, and was the first scientific comparison of the difference in investing in equity instruments (stocks) versus debt instruments (bonds). It revolutionized investing around the world, and is generally considered to have been a major force behind five year bull market that culminated in the crash 0f 1929. Warren Buffett said he thought it was the most influential book published in the 20th century. The copy I found thrown in as part of a "worthless box of books" sold for $2500.00, and the buyer was delighted to find it.


What is your favorite part of being a bookseller?

There are several things that compete for this. I greatly enjoy researching a volume and discovering new or unknown provenance or associations. Reconnecting someone with a book they have treasured in the past, and then lost contact with is a joy. And, I just like being around books.


Do you have an open storefront or have you in the past?

I had an open shop for several years. In 2004 the mall in which it was located had deteriorated to the point customers told me they were scared to visit my shop after dark. We closed it, planning to open another store. The plans survived 13 years, while we operated as an online only shop. During this time we leased space from two different owners, increasing our warehouse space over the years. When a five year lease came up for renewal in the summer of 2017 we decided that if we were ever going to open a b&m retail shop again the time to do so was upon us. After a prolonged search we located a historic 14o year old building on the courthouse square of Cleburne, Texas. In July, 2017 we closed on the purchase of the building. Four months of repairs and renovation later, we opened our doors at 10 E Chamber St, Historic Downtown, Cleburne, Texas 76031.


If so, do/did you have any bookstore pets?

No, we love pets, but don't have them in the shop.


What is the funniest / strangest / scariest thing that ever happened in your store?

I have a fairly large stock of old maps, almanacs, etc. One evening a customer came in because he had seen our online listing for an old Rand McNally almanac. After he made his purchase he proceeded to regale me with stories,... and continued non-stop for more than two hours. I made several attempts to quench the flow of words, and finally just ignored him and went about my work. It finally ended when a regular customer who had been browsing in the back of the shop called out to me that he needed assistance. The talker started to follow, but the regular customer politely informed him that he need to have a private consultation with me. After the first man had left, my customer told me he had been in the shop for about 45 minutes when it dawned on him that the "conversation" at the front of the store was all flowing one direction. He had watched for a while, and decided intervention might be in order. I thanked him and gave him a substantial discount on his next purchase.


What is your favorite bookshop (other than your own)?

I always liked visiting McMurtry's store in Archer City, though I haven't visited since the "Last Book Sale" in 2012. I also like Recycled Books in Denton, and always visit The Book People when I'm in Austin.


What do you personally like to read? Collect?

I am an eclectic reader. My tastes range from 1960's science fiction to current day political discourses and treatises.


What's your favorite book you personally own? Would you sell it, if the price were right?

I suppose my own favorite book is a copy of Leaves of Grass my parents gave to me when I was in high school. No monetary value, but it introduced me to Whitman, and things changed. As for selling? Well, no one in his right mind would offer anything substantial for it, and I wouldn't sell.


What one book would you buy if price were no object?

What a question. I suppose if I had to make a choice and availability and cost were not objects, I would like to own first editions of the Thomas Jefferson manuscript collection.


If you were stranded on a desert island and could bring three books, what would they be?

I would start with O'Shei & Siebert's "How to Survive on a Deserted Island". Then, just for a cross reference, John Wiseman's "SAS Survival Handbook". My final choice would be Marcel Proust's "Remembrance of Things Past", because by the time I had finished it, I would have forgotten enough that reading it again would be a new experience.