According to the New York Times, the business of decorative, creative bookselling is seeing some recent growth. Creative entrepreneurs like Thatcher Wine are making a living selling custom book collections for buyers seeking literary sophistication through possession of lavish texts. Clients ask Wine to track down time-worn classics like rare vellum editions of Goethe, redesign jackets of books in order to make color-coordinated with a room, or even alter contemporary works such as Keith Richard’s autobiography with old-fashioned leather covers. People in Wine’s line of work provide books for set-designers, homebuilders, and hotel decorators, sometimes with orders by the thousands. When filling large orders, Wine charges from $80 to $350 per foot of books. Rare editions, like vellum classics, go for $750 a foot.

Chuck Roberts is the owner of Wonder Book, which collects, redesigns, and sells books through its 54,000 sq. ft. warehouse. “We’ve had a great year—it’s broken all records,” said Roberts. His books-by-the-foot business now accounts for twenty percent of Wonder Book’s sales.