The impending demise of Easton Press?

UPDATE - as has been pointed out to me, I wrote "Lincoln Library" (don't know where I got that from) in numerous places, where I meant to say "Franklin Library". I just went ahead and fixed the original post. - END UPDATE

Hello all, this is my first post on LT, and I apologize for the incendiary nature of my topic, but I believe it needs addressing. My thesis is that the publishing business for mass-market, new leather books will soon be essentially extinct due to what I perceive as the coming demise of Easton Press. I define "mass-market, new leather books" as high quality, somewhat reasonably priced books that you can buy new from a publisher. Let me first say, I do not want this terrible event to occur, and I am happy to be proven wrong, but allow me to state my case. Admittedly, I have much less knowledge on this topic than wailofatail, SilentInAWay, and many others here, and would appreciate correction. My main intent here is to generate discussion that will allow we collectors to form concrete action plans for our collecting endeavors, particularly where they pertain to Easton Press (whose books I love).

I start this postulation by traveling back to the dawn of time, the mid to late 20th century, when two great beasts strode the earth, Easton Press and the Franklin Library. As can be attested to by the second-hand marketplace, there were all manner of great leather books published by these two companies. As time went by, the Franklin Library began to lower the quality of their books in what was, presumably, an attempt to maintain their sales volume. They finally went out of business in 2000; the exact year of 2000 may have been predicated by the high tech stock market crash, but Franklin's decline was surely developing over many years prior. Why was volume shrinking? Some may blame the Internet and particularly ebay for an increased supply of pre-owned books available to collectors. This seems to me like as good an explanation as any, although I am perhaps not completely convinced.

Once Franklin Library stopped publication, the surviving market player, Easton Press, presumably reaped the rewards. After all, their major competitor had just gone belly up, so an influx of former Franklin customers could certainly be expected. I draw the parallel here to the sales boost that the Best Buy chain received when Circuit City went under. My theory is that Easton has likely had a temporary blip up in sales from 2000-2010, but within the context of an overall declining market, and I think this market's decline is accelerating. This, again, is much like Best Buy's situation. Admittedly, I am over-simplifying and ignoring many other leather book publishers when I speak only of Franklin and Easton, but I do not believe any other publisher has significant leather book volume other than the Folio Society, which is more of a UK/European enterprise. And I suspect my comments concerning Easton's shrinking market apply equally to the Folio Society's market.

I theorize that the rise of the ebook is driving the final nail into the mass-market, new leather book market, primarily because younger people (and some older ones too) no longer even consider the purchase of "dead tree" products, and therefore the number of potential buyers is shrinking, and will continue to shrink. We have all seen the stories about how Amazon.com's ebooks are taking over. This article is just one of many on this topic: http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/19/that-was-fast-amazons-kindle-ebook-sales-surpas....

Now, let's talk about Easton Press in particular. From the outside, they seem to have been chugging merrily along during this time, but I believe some external cracks are beginning to appear. First, I note this LT thread, which remarks upon the cancellation of the signed first editions of science fiction: http://www.librarything.com/topic/95187. Post #26 seems to give confirmation. In post #2, SilentInAWay opines that Easton is publishing more coffee table books, which fits my conjecture that Easton is partially surviving off the dregs of the old Franklin Library customers. Next, I draw your attention to the Easton Press Masterpieces of Science Fiction page, located here: http://www.eastonpressbooks.com/leather/product.asp?code=0067. As of the date of this writing, and I believe this has been true for several months, the page states, in red, "Sorry, this item is currently out of stock." Will stock be returning, or is this the end of the sci fi books? If the sci fi books disappear, what other collection is next?

In conclusion, I love Easton Press books; there is almost nothing I enjoy more than feeling the book's sumptuous leather in my hands, and knowing the literary joys that lie between its covers. That sounds almost dirty, doesn't it? So people, please prove wrong everything I said above. But in the meantime, should I be snapping up every Masterpiece of Science Fiction book I can find? And most importantly, will Easton Press soon follow Franklin Library into oblivion?

I'm not remotely familiar with Lincoln Library. Do you mean Franklin Library?

Noone can tell you what will happen with the Masterpieces of Science Fiction...

Series get canceled. New series get started. At this point EP is doing anything they can to survive - they got into the LE market (with mixed results), they publish popular books that should help their bottom line.

Will they survive? Who knows - they may close tomorrow or they can suddenly start publishing a book a day.

I don't think EP will fold any time soon. I believe the worst that can happen is that they'll be pushed as more of a niche publisher than mass market leather binding publisher, though one could probably define that as a niche rather than mass market. Failure to accept its role as a large niche publisher would lead to its demise.

They shouldn't disappear anytime soon me thinks. As a subscriber of several years to EP, I can say that quality and service has taken a slight downward trend in the past year or so presumably due to the tough economic environment but they have always made right by me eventually so I remain a dedicated subscriber. The rise of the dreaded coffee table book is becoming much more prevalent with them with new volumes on everything from baseball to Obama that include the photo inserts on the covers (a feature I will not pay for btw on any leather bound book, worst idea in publishing ever IMHO). For comparison, I have been a subscriber to many "book clubs" over the years and EP takes their subscribers much more seriously than any of the others I have belonged to. I am hopeful that once the US economy strengthens EP will rebound too.

As for ebooks being a prime factor...to some extent sure, as many readers will use that approach for their "junk reading" as I do. I classify anything I don't plan to keep on a shelf at home as junk reading. I now use my Nook for novels and magazine subscriptions and a variety of free books but find myself using it less and less as time goes on. There is simply no substitute for a beautiful and weighty tome in your hands. I believe EP would suffer less economically if they fell back to their original charter and avoided the coffee table and current events volumes they have been publishing of late. The current events items are well covered by the internet and e-reader devices and are of a fleeting nature that does not represent well only a few months down the road in a leather bound version. These current event volumes are done in a very contemporary television media style that devalues them from outset. I much prefer the more scholarly reference materials and classic literature EP produces so well.

There are plenty of small press publishers out there. There will always be a niche market for fine books. Easton is a niche publisher. They will publish to the demand. If it shrinks, they will shrink. They've already begun a new business model where they are selling more expensive limited books to fewer people. As much as I love their books I wouldn't lose sleep if they went under. They've produced enough books already to keep me reading the rest of my life.

Regarding the MoSF series, I subscribed in October 2010 and my credit card was charged last week for my latest volume. So while the seires is not accepting new subscribers, my subscription is still active. However, it appears to me that E/P is moving away from a subscription series model to an À la carte model. If I recall correctly a number of titles in discontinued subscription series have shown up in recent catalogs.

>5 BluesMtn:
".....that include the photo inserts on the covers (a feature I will not pay for btw on any leather bound book, worst idea in publishing ever IMHO)."
I had the same opinion about illustrations on the leather cover, before I got Elie Wiesel's "Night". This book looks great imho with David Olère's drawing on the cover.

Whoops, I did mean to say Franklin instead of Lincoln. I just fixed the original post. Thanks to everyone for pointing that out.

Something I forgot to mention, although it's probably pretty obvious, is that even if, or especially if, Easton were to go under, I believe Easton books would become even more valuable, since there would no longer be any new supply coming on the market.

>5 BluesMtn:
I have no problems with Easton's quality, and I don't mean to cast any aspersions on the company. I think they are caught in a shifting marketplace that isn't their fault; it's due to technology. I'm not so convinced that the overall trend is caused by the weak economy either, although I'm sure the weak economy is exacerbating the problem. One thing I've seen with large companies is they don't often succeed in shrinking to the size of a shrinking marketplace. Franklin is a good example of this; they could have shrunk themselves and survived, but their management was unable to pull it off, if they even tried.

One of the reasons I decided to write this post was to see if I could convince myself of my theory. I must have succeeded because I bought 2 more Eastons today.

>7 LucasTrask:
Interesting info. I really wish they would reopen the sci fi subscription though. I'm pretty bummed out about that one. Hopefully they plan to replenish their stock soon and start 'er back up.

Disagree with most in #1. I have been getting EP since the 1980's....they have always cancelled series, had stuff out of stock for a while, and have always, always put out coffee table books.

I think eBooks certainly are changing (and will essentially eliminate) the mass market physical book. But, at the same time, it will and is driving up the market for fine press books. You want to read a book laying on the beach? Kindle away. You want to have a nice edition of your favorite books -- your options are driving upstream, to at a minimum an Easton Type publication, up to Arion, Barbarian, etc. There will always be bibliophiles and collectors, and they will always want physical, not electronic, for their collection. Towards that end, I think Easton's biggest market challenge is not competing downstream with inexpensive drivel for people who just want to read, not collect, they will lose to ebooks on that. Their challenge is how to go upstream, how to attract collectors who otherwise are buying fine press books, be it older LEC's, Golden Cockerel's, etc., or current Arion, Barbarian, etc. That is why you are seeing EP (and FS) go hard after the LE market....that is where the future is for them.

Should have added, I think their various 'series' can still settle in for many collectors, including those who are starting into collecting. Often they may even be loss leaders. But, they need to get people in buying those to then ultimately upsell them to the much more profitable LE's.

> 4
>I don't think EP will fold any time soon. I believe the worst that can happen is that they'll be pushed as more of a niche publisher than mass >market leather binding publisher, >though one could probably define that as a niche rather than mass market. Failure to accept its role as a >large niche publisher would lead to its demise.

I can envision such a scenario. I only started collecting Easton Press books in 2008 and already I have noted a good decrease in selection (no Hemingway, no Dickens, no Bond, no updating of the 100 Greatest Books or same old 1940's cartoon illustrations, etc.) Perhaps it's just me, but when I want an Easton Press book, the first place I go is eBay and not the Easton Press website. Only because I find past titles much more desirable than anything currently available. -But again, that's just me.

I would like to see a 5 to 10 year comparative financial statement of Easton. I think that should say something. I don't think they're available though. Isn't Easton a privately held company?

Anyway, in the age of the electronic book, I also see Easton developing into a strongly niche market. An analogy might be the music industry in the age of downloads. I heard somewhere (don't know if it's true) that new music vinyl sales outsell new music CD sales. In other words, new vinyl (the premium 180 gram market) has a small dedicated following to a medium of the past while the balance of listeners are downloading from Amazon and Itunes.

I've noted that the rise of the internet and the ready availability of second-hand E/P books has had an impact on Easton Press, resulting in marked changes to their business model. As others have commented, Easton Press seems to have adopted several new strategies sharing a common theme -- limited production.

Heretofore, Easton Press's business model was to offer subscribers reservations to complete collections of series of books based on particular themes or focused interests. As LucasTrask noted, Easton Press does seem to be moving away from this model of open ended, theme-based, monthly subscription series to smaller sets and individual offerings. Already beloved series such as the 'Collector's Library of Famous Editions', the 'Library of Military History', 'Signed First Editions of Science Fiction', the 'Library of Great Lives', and the 'Library of American History' have been discontinued, to name a few. Whether the 'Masterpieces of Science Fiction' collection is destined to join them remains to be seen, though I wouldn't be surprised. Select titles from the 'Famous Editions' collection and the 'Library of Military History' collection have been made available for individual purchase, including some new titles for the 'Library of Military History' collection, so perhaps these collections aren't completely extinct. I anticipate that previously published titles may resurface over time under the new distribution model, though I am less optimistic we will see some of the more obscure titles, which Easton Press may be reluctant to re-issue without the commitment of advance reservations. Gone, or going, I believe, is the advance list of promised titles and the assurance of acquiring a specified collection over time. The new message is, "here they are now ... get them while they last!" This approach has its advantages to Easton Press: it allows E/P to more easily control inventory, and it prevents subscribers from picking away at the title lists of series before E/P has had the opportunity to sell them month-by-month. I can only imagine the nightmare of large quantities of books returned by subscribers who happened to have already picked up a second-hand copy without having bothered to inform Easton Press they had done so. Even if subscribers where diligent and courteous enough to bring it to E/P's attention, the logistics of keeping every subscriber's lists up-to-date would be time consuming at best.

E/P has also increased the selection of coffee-table style books, apparently with success as they continue to issue new titles at an increasing rate. This strategy benefits Easton Press two-fold. Clearly, it expands the list of previously unpublished Easton Press editions to tempt Easton Press 's existing customer base, those who likely began as stuffy lovers of great literature but morphed into collectors, enthusiast, and addicts. Added to that is the potential for Easton Press to expand sales to those who don't necessarily have a passion for literature or Easton Press. The biker dude is not likely to have a strong interest in leather-bound books or Walt Whitman, but his girlfriend may find the Complete Encyclopedia of the Harley Davidson the perfect gift to acknowledge his interest. The same would apply to John Deere Tractors for farmers, Barbie for doll collectors, The Pope for Catholics, Michael Jackson for M.J. fans, Medicine in Art for doctors, Spider-man for comic book collectors and the slough of other such books that would appeal to enthusiasts and collectors of other specific interests. The target market for each individual book is probably not very large, so it is safe to assume that most of these editions will be of limited availability, though E/P clearly has no compunctions against tapping the same audience more than once, as evidenced by Star Wars – Year By Year, Star Wars Character Encyclopedia, and Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary.

As well, Easton Press has ventured into the market of 'Deluxe Limited Editions'. I believe this maneuver is targeted specifically toward Easton Press's hard-core collector base who truly appreciate finely crafted books but likely already own an Easton Press edition of Gulliver's Travels, David Copperfield, or 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas. How might E/P get this segment of their target market to purchase the same title again, at ten times the cost no less? That's right. Make it 'Deluxe' and add the high-pressure sales tactic of 'Limited Availability'. The appeal of 'Deluxe' combined with the threat, (or promise, depending on your point of view,) of 'Limited' is likely to hold great sway over even those who have no qualms with the quality or opulence of their current standard fare E/P edition of the same title. Given the continuance and increasing rate of new 'Deluxe Limited Editions', I have to believe this new strategy is working very well for E/P too.

I say that Easton Press is on top of the challenges the world wide web has presented it and I predict they will continue to pursue the strategies developed to adapt to it: offering titles on a 'while supplies last' basis, offering a wider variety of subject matter to appeal to existing customers while expanding sales to a wider audience, and offering more 'Deluxe Limited Editions' that cater to their hard-core base of 'Fine Book' enthusiasts and result in, more-or-less, duplicate purchases.

Finally, I believe the threat of e-readers and internet availability of books in the public domain are over-rated. The television was considered a threat to the motion picture industry, as are libraries to the publishing industry. But both industries have managed to survive and thrive despite the other because each offers a different experience and serves different purposes. As we all know, there is no substitute for a book in the hand, yet alone a fine, leather-bound edition. But there is so much more to books generally than the stories themselves: moments of your life, emotions, reflections of your personality are all bound up in the books that you purchase, read, and with which you surround yourself. Certainly, as generations grow more accustomed to e-books and net-books the audience for certain types of printed material will wane and titles for which people are willing to pay may become more select. But I am confident that the appeal of books is deeply rooted somewhere in the essence of human nature and will persist as long as we.

On the other hand they actually publish a lot of books that are not considered Classics strictly speaking -- they just evolve slowly. I doubt that they will ever discontinue the 100 books series but I am glad that they publish other things.

>12 busywine: Good points

>14 Dill_the_Collector:
You make me realize that my original post has some assumptions built in, and they may or may not be true:
Assumption 1 - The overall market for leather books is decreasing. I don't really have any sources to point to on this.
Assumption 2 - Easton's sales are decreasing. Also might not be true; I agree it would be very interesting to see their sales figures.

> 15 wail, you should write a book on book collecting. I would buy it in a second.

And BTW, I agree with everyone who has made the point that there will always be buyers for fine books. I'm mostly concerned that Easton be able to manage their business through a declining market (if it really is a declining market).

>13 busywine:: ..."But, they need to get people in buying those to then ultimately upsell them to the MUCH MORE PROFITABLE LE's." (emphasis mine) -- Busy, are you sure the LEs make more money for EP than the titles included in various series or individually, on a dollar-for-dollar basis? After all, we're looking at sales of several hundred $$$ per LE title x whatever is the limited number of copies issued for that title, which total profit (or at least sales numbers) can be readily quantified, vs. (potentially) tens of thousands of copies of any given "100 Greatest" title @ $45. per copy (or, say, anything signed or otherwise falling within the $50.-$80. "price point").

"I doubt that they will ever discontinue the 100 books series but I am glad that they publish other things."

I would expect that that might indeed be an early casualty. I have no great fear that Easton will go away, but I think they are very sensitive to market tastes, and with a shift away from the reading the classics, which have been de-emphasized in many schools today, and the saturation of these books on the used book market (often pristine and unread, such as my Moby Dick for which I paid $5), I can see them dropping these books and going with more current and popular fare.

>18 iluvbeckett:, I am absolutely not sure! :-) Just my surmise. My guess is while overall revenue is higher with the zillion book sale books, I have to believe the margin on the LE's is much higher, which is why the focus for EP (and FS) seems to be moving more and more towards the LE's. Just a guess!

2010 was the best financial year for EP, ever, as I was told directly from them due to them venturing into the DLE market and by the discussion I had they seem to be taking an aggressive approach towards DLE, but they also emphasised that the 100 Greatest series is still strong and although some series get cancelled, it is mainly due to less interest from buyers and them experimenting on the market for some feedback and not an indication of their demise in general.

I think people are generally overreacting about the demise of books due to ebooks. The traditional book will never fade away, ebooks will never replace the traditional book. A 1000 books in your pocket. Did you remember the charger for your Kindle? Or oops I accidently stepped on your ebook screen? Go figure.

>21 ironjaw:, I agree that ebooks will never completely replace "real" books, and in fact I think ebooks will have absolutely no effect on Easton Press or Folio Society since we buy those for the beauty of the books as well as the pleasure of reading them. However, there are currently many non-fiction books that are great books specific to individual interests that will never be broadly popular enough for fine edition treatment, but are in any case great reads. I am afraid many of these types of books may someday go straight to ebook.

Ebooks kill retail booksellers, although Borders needed no help with their ridiculous pricing on other media. I love EP books but I'll take my kindle app on my 3 devices any day if I had to choose. As far as recharging goes, I have a portable solar panel for that.

>23 oneeyern:

I wonder if your 3 devices will work as well in 30 years as other readers' libraries of fine books? My 20 year-old computers are e-waste.

> 24

Well said!!! Amen!!!

>24 Django6924: I'm sure they won't, but since I'm not on welfare, I'll upgrade to other read devices as will the vast majority of other readers and transfer my libraries. I'm sure they will be legible long after my paper books have gone to dust.

>26 oneeyern: and yet I've got books in my library that are over 200 years old while I doubt I have anything still usable in digital form that is older than 10-20 years. Ridiculously, I still have some 8" and 5 1/4" floppy discs around with no way to read them. I do own a USB 3 1/2" floppy drive so I guess I can technically read some of the hundreds of old discs I own but I can't remember the last time I tried. I recently threw out my Iomega back-up cassettes. Nothing was saved when I went through three generations of PDAs which were replaced by iPods and smartphones. I'm in the process of ditching all of my VHS tapes yet I occasionally listen to some of my vinyl LPs. It was a pain to save my wine and book databases from older PCs running archaic databases (converted to spreadsheets and then the cloud). I don't feel a need to back-up my paper books yet I feel it is a necessity to have my electronic data backed up in at least three places (local machine, home network drive and cloud).

>26 oneeyern: "since I'm not on welfare, I'll upgrade to other read devices as will the vast majority of other readers and transfer my libraries"

One is tempted to quote "pride goeth before destruction;" there are today, and have always been, many on welfare who never thought they would ever be on welfare. Perhaps you'll forbear being offended by my quoting Robert Frost:

"...Too many fall from great and good
For you to doubt the likelihood."

At any rate, the prospect of a geometrically expanding mountain of e-waste is not a very pleasant thought. And, as kdweber points out, many of us own paper books which have outlived their original owners and are still very fit. The only paper books that are likely to turn to dust in any of our lifetimes are cheap books made from wood pulp--not the kind of books Easton Press makes.

I've been a customer of the Easton Press since 1977 and have continued to buy from them through the years, including a recent purchase a couple of weeks ago. They still offer complete collections/libraries...and not just "coffee table" books. Any change in the stock should be viewed as a good thing. In my view, it means that EP is keeping step with reader's changing tastes. Not to change at all would mean stagnation and lead to financial ruin. The way EP is doing things is a nice blend of the old e.g., The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written, Books That Changed The World, and the Harvard Classics to go with the "coffee table" books. Their diversity is what will keep them operating in the black.

The books I downloaded from my pda were in adobe format. They are still downloadable from the discs I saved them on. I agree that formats change and the electronically ignorant may end up with unuseable media. Those who stay in the loop will do just fine.

>28 Django6924: Saying I'm not on welfare doesnt say I'm prideful. It says I'm employable and willing to work. I'm sure my EP books will outlive me. My ebooks will be around until the end of time in some electronic format or other.

>30 oneeyern: So what is your argument exactly? That e-books will replace paper books? Maybe -- but if that happens, the publishers that will survive will the fine press and limited ones -- like Easton. Because the ebooks replace the non-special editions...

PDF is a nice format -- until it won't be. Technology evolves. Staying on top of technology sounds easy enough until you end up with thousands of files that need converting. And after the 3rd time, you realize that the book you had read 20 years ago is still on the shelf and you do not need to invest in new technology and time just so you can read it. I have a Kindle - it is great for throwaway books - the mmps that I want to read once. And it is a life-saver on long trips. But I also collect fine editions and buy regular books in paper.

Most of the books Easton Press (and Folio Society and most of the fine presses) publish can be found in cheaper editions. And that won't change - there are exclusive books published in limited editions but they get reprinted sooner or later. It is really a question of wanting a nice edition...

Earlier you said that EP had published enough books to keep you reading. So had LEC. That did not stop EP to republish the classics and add some more. Every generation needs its special press - to publish the books that the previous generation did not consider worthy, the ones written in the last decades and the ones that were simply overlooked. And while doing that, they will always tap at the classics -- everyone reads them, there will always be a market.

Don't know if you had ever done any research, but ebooks are really inconvenient about that - last time I was tracking down something I had 10 books and the laptop open (for the DNB). The only way you would be able to do that with ebooks is with the same number of devices or one that allows all of them to be open and visible. And technology is not there yet.

Guys, I don't look at either ebooks or physical books as mutually exclusive. I think that both physical books as well as their ebook counterpart have their place in today's society. Books that I believe I will just read once, I may now only buy in ebook form. Those books that I know I will read over and over again, I like to have in physical form. However, I find in some cases I like to have those same books in ebook format as well.

Recently, when reading through Dante's Inferno it was not practical to always have my DLE hoisted under my arm (and if you are like me, it never leaves your personal library), so I downloaded an ebook copy as well. It is more portable, more forgiving of slightly soiled fingertips, and if I wake up at 2 in the morning, I can read my ebook copy without disturbing my wife. Win/win.

I used to have the same arrangement with some of my paperbacks. I had my favorite hardbacks, but could always toss a paperback version in my luggage. This was especially the case with larger volumes like the Complete Works of Shakespeare. In addition, ebooks are also more compact than a paperback, so I can take a large portion of my library around with me wherever I go. Most of the classics are also available in scanned version for free, so this makes this arrangement possible with little financial outlay, which I couldn't do before.

I keep seeing references to a publisher abbreviated to FS. Which publisher is this please? Thank you.

>33 kenhood: Folio Society

Ten years later and, even during one of the worst economic crises in modern history, still going strong.

>35 B.R.Todd: haha, wow! Cool that you found this :)
Yup, the fact that physical book sales are up in fact, seems to be a thorn in the rear for many futurists who keep pondering why people are still purchasing books! I love it.

Since the time of the original post, I think their reinvention of themselves from a series-subscription-focused company, with many books per series, to a DLE-focused company, where one book defaults to 4-8 payments, is what kept them alive and interesting. I'm happy to see that they are starting to re-emphasize larger series again.

This period of rapid inflation with apparent staying power will make for an interesting test for EP.

The Franklin Library, a division of the former Franklin Mint has not issued a book in decades. Early Franklin Library books were very fine and bounce by Sloves. Franklin Mint developed and in many cases produced some very fine products. (I am not referencing modern reincarnations of the Franklin Mint that exist in name only) Historically FM would lose interest in product lines to find the next biggest thing. MBI (Danbury Mint, PCS, Easton Press) is the opposite. If it works they keep it. I believe Easton Press has offered more and better products in the recent decade than ever before. Back in the 80's and 90's EP only had some very traditional plain series though the leather quality was great. The deluxe and signed editions are a more recent development. MBI is a healthy company. Their PCS division has a First Day Cover series and a World of Stamps panel series that has been running since 1970 and 1974 respectively. That's some solid market to maintain a program for almost 50 years. And they haven't advertised for either in 20 years so they have some dedicated buyers. I LOVE those legacy programs as I am a very nostalgic person. So long story short, MBI is doing well with Easton Press, Danbury Mint, and PCS. Think how many large corps have come and gone in 50 years. Many! I also hate how modern house designs are pushing the open floor plan with walls. While I like a design where one can flow from Kitchen to dining room..to living room through wide openings. I like walls for books/art and cabinets for stuff. The same group that doesn't want us to drive cars also doesn't want us to buy and read books. Bet these books aren't discarded so no waste. Some cheap paperback of a new release might be better served in digital format though. As after one read, those are thrown out.