Saturday, February 21, 2015

Yes, Book Catalogs Still Exist

Years ago, I used to get a lot of book catalogs (and I loved receiving them). That was before the days of online shopping. It was even before the days of big box book stores. And while the independent and chain book stores where I made most of my purchases were...not exactly abundant but easily accessible, the problem was that they weren't big enough to carry every book, and there were lots of books that I never would have even known about had it not been for book catalogs.
For the most part, I had forgotten about those catalogs until Christmas when I received a Bas Bleu mailer (I think I may have posted about it). If you haven't looked at their catalog, I encourage you to do so. They have some wonderful and interesting titles, as well as other book-related products.

Then today I received a catalog from a company I was unfamiliar with although it's probably been around for awhile (maybe a long time. I don't know). Here's the link to Daedalus Books.

That sent me scurrying to find more book catalogs, and right off the bat I realized that I had forgotten about Hamilton Books. How could I have forgotten? I used to savor those catalogs, and I ordered quite a few reference books from them back in the day.
Hamilton Book Catalog

Dover Books also seems to still offer paper catalogs (such fun and interesting titles).

I'm sure there are more out there, and...while I totally understand the reason for having fewer book catalogs than in the past, I do miss settling down with a great book catalog (I used to love the day the Barnes & Noble catalog arrived, but it has to be enormously expensive to mail catalogs out now and probably not all that productive).

Of course, all of these stores and many others offer online shopping as well, so we have options. 

Where do you obtain most of your books these days? Brick and mortar stores, online shops, the library, garage/rummage sales, trading among friends and family or some other method?  (I do love a good library).

Have a fantastic day!

Myrna




4 comments:

Laney4 said...

When I saw "book catalogs" in the title, I thought you were going to write about the library catalogs of books, where there were recipe cards in long drawers alphabetically by author and/or book titles. Whoops!
I remember buying from Scholastic Books when my kids were in school, ahem, 15-20 years ago.... Prices weren't too bad.
Where do I get books now? Hmm. I win a few, I buy some through Amazon and Book Depository, I've gone into Barnes & Noble (we don't have them in Canada, so I visit in their closest northern US store), and I buy the majority in our local stores.
Before I started to blog (in 2009), I bought in our local book store and charity yard sales. Now I buy based on the author's name, and they are easier to find online (if I can't find them locally). When I am finished a paperback (whether autographed or not), I pass it on to my girlfriend's mom 1.5 hours away, and she reads them and leaves them in her seniors' apartment building for others to enjoy.

Mary Preston said...

I tend to buy through The Book Depository the most. The prices are reasonable & you can't beat free shipping. There are a couple of book stores in town that I love to shop around in. Their prices are not reasonable, but I try to give them my custom when I can.

Myrna Mackenzie said...

Laney4, I loved Scholastic Books, both as a kid and as a parent. It was a great way to get children reading on a regular basis. I think I was as excited sending those orders in as a teacher as my students were (and they gave free books to classrooms, too. For every so many books ordered by the children, the teacher could choose one to add to the class library).

Myrna Mackenzie said...

Mary, I've heard great things about The Book Depository. Right now we have no bookstores in town. There used to be a small and rather dusty independent years ago, and then there was a Borders that, of course, is closed down, but next year we're getting an Anderson's. That's going to be interesting. They do a lot of book signings.