Happy Monday, my friends!
Today, I just want to give you a quick heads-up about an “event” here on Needle ‘n Thread this week. We’re going to have a Damaged Book Sale.
Here’s the gist!
If you’ve been following along here on Needle ‘n Thread for a while, you probably know that I’ve started offering a curated collection of embroidery books that are not typically available through the regular book shopping channels online. These are either self-published books from embroidery experts around that world or they come from small publishing houses. They aren’t listed on discount book mega-online-shopping-hubs.
Right now, the collection hails from Italy (with the beautiful books of Elisabetta Sforza and of Guiliana Buonpadre) and Australia (those gorgeous books published by the world-renowned Inspirations Studios and Alison Cole’s superior masterclass books). There are some interesting expansion plans in the works for the near future, too.
When bringing in products like books from overseas, most arrive intact. But sometimes, a shipment will contain one or two (or many) damaged books that I can’t sell at retail prices. Over time, these books build up on my Shelf of Damaged Books.
The strangest damage we’ve seen? A shipment of books arrived where one box – which was taped up fairly well, but obviously by someone en route – was filled with our books plus other parts of random retail goods that had nothing to do with books. There were clay face mask packages, other health and beauty goods, some random metal parts from who-knows-what, and some metal and porcelain beer bottle caps, which had embedded themselves in many of the book covers. There was a whole variety of other very odd items smashed in with the books, some inside the books, and the covers and books were obviously so damaged that most of them ended up a complete write-off. What a mess! It was funny, but only because it was so odd. I’m sure there was a packaging or shipping accident somewhere, in some warehouse or along some postal route.
The upshot is this, though: we have a Shelf of Damaged Books that are going nowhere and just taking up space. What to do? What to do?
Well, we’ve decided to have a Damaged Book Sale – or rather, an ongoing listing in the shop for damaged books.
The damage on the books can range from anything to a noticeably crushed corner or a slightly bent spine, but sometimes to more severe damage (mostly to the outside cover of the book) like a tear, a hole, or the like. The books will be priced accordingly, but they will all be deeply discounted compared to the retail prices.
Our goal is to free up shelf space, to avoid wasting the books by throwing them away, and hopefully to get them into the hands of folks who want them.
Damaged books are a great way to have a second copy of a book, too, in case you like to break a book down into transportable pages for specific projects. I’ll often photocopy the pages relevant to the project I’m working, so that the instructions are more transportable than a whole book would be. If you pick up a damaged book at the fraction of its normal cost, you can reasonably cut it up into its individual projects for ease of transport.
The listing will go up this week – starting probably Wednesday afternoon – in our shop here on Needle ‘n Thread. The listing will be under “Embroidery Books.”
There won’t be any other fanfare about it. We’ll just keep that listing running as long as there are books available, so that you can check it now and then to see if there’s anything you’d be interested in.
Yep! The organizing never ends! We’ll be working on shop infrastructure this week, freeing up space for new books and kits. We’re also stitching the next Stitch Snippet and photographing that project, and we’re working on goldwork this week, too!
I hope your week is off to a great start!
Sounds like someone emptied their trash. I admit I laughed because it is so appalling. Seriously, did they think that no one would notice. My worst shipping oops sits in my garage. I ordered oilcloth which came in a long wide tube. When I opened the tube and bent it over to release the oilcloth, a 6 foot long metal tool. I had not idea what it was. My grandson released the additional part inside the tube. No instructions or receipt. Searching the internet, I figured out it was some kind of poking stick big enough for Paul Bunyan and used by loggers. I found the company that made it but others distribute it so they had no idea its destination. The label just had my name. How did this tool make it to me instead of the oilcloth from a fabric store?
I had a door arrive on my front porch once. It was addressed to someone in Alabama. LOL!