About Us

Biblioctopus is womanned by Jen the Zen
Director Alex Hime
Text by Mark Hime
all members of the A.B.A.A. and I.L.A.B.

NOTA BENE

We take our work seriously, but we take ourselves lightly, so the books at Biblioctopus are always greater than the booksellers.  Nonetheless, since it is we who have deconstructed, and then reconstructed, with empathy for the reader, a new realm of cataloging, it is we who have invented the standards and rules therein, and you, as our accomplice, are obliged to adjust and conform to our style.  Abide willingly and you will discover innovation in which you, the delighted buyer, become a conspirator.

BASICS

All entries include the 6 bookselling necessities, author (or its equivalent on associated items), title (or its equivalent on associated items), place of publication (if available), date of publication (or circa), a bibliographical conclusion, and a physical description, typically in that order.  Practical limits in a commercial listing preclude a complete analysis but any aspect chosen as an aside, for any single entry, follows the evaluation of many relevant factors at once, their interdependence, their related importance, and their consequences.  We strive to weigh them fully, and then place them rhythmically in relation to one another, so that what gets written is not accidental, but rather the result of an encompassing view, that should have width, breadth and depth.  You can decide whether it has merit.

THIS WEBSITE

We built this website the same way the ancients built their cities, over time, with an altering plan, on top of ruins. So, books in the highlights section are subject to prior sale.

STICKER JOY

We price to challenge other equivalent items of like kind and quality, so everything is marked (or remarked) to market, by recent world wide survey, the aim being, that nobody is offering a finer example at our price, and nobody is offering an equal example for less.

PLAGIARISM

New words examine old perspectives and vice versa, so attributed quotations are in quotation marks, but because I am creatively inadequate, disparate pithy aphorisms, literary conceits, wry epigrams, coy similes, and dry metaphors, are stolen, kidnapped, plagiarized, embezzled, and pillaged from everywhere and everyone, then corrupted, inverted, fused, debauched, combined, and misemployedall for your breezy reading.

METHODOLOGY

In a stumble towards neo–scholarship we apply, for example, intellectual history (place within a body of work), iconography (symbols that point to meaning), iconology (social symbols), semiotics (signs), formalism (the subjective data), connoisseurship (comparisons within the corpus), and then, any other techniques that seem interesting, helpful, or appropriate, without the stifling limits usually imposed by academia.

JARGON

We never spin “fine” into a term that can safely be used for a book with faults, so we don’t use hypnotizing enhancements like fine plus, fine indeed, very fine, unusually fine, extremely fine, exceptionally fine, exceedingly fine, extraordinarily fine, awesomely fine, astonishingly fine, implausibly fine, unbelievably fine, or unimaginably fine.  We shun all rules linked to use of the comma, favoring tempo to grammar.  Restoration and repair are aesthetic, directed at soundness, and clearly noted, without the use of evasive terminology (argot).  “Contemporary” means parallel to publication day.  “Postmodern (as used here) means after W.W.II” no more, no less.  Items attributed as “Ex–somebody were once owned by that person. General book collecting maxims are followed by the notation “Book Code.” 

ILLUSTRATIONS

Photography is always accomplished with 50.3 megapixel full-frame camera to convey a straightforward and high quality view of the item.  Nothing has been intentionally positioned to hide its failings, the associated text candidly describes the item itself, not just the deficiencies peculiar to, and obvious in, the picture, and those items, or sides of items, that are not illustrated, have their flaws articulated with special clarity.

SHARED ESSENCE

While the dissimilarity of material may veil it, under the premise that unity in variety is the plan of the universe, the individual items that have been selected for inclusion in this website’s “highlights” boast a collective soul.

TIMELINESS

Logically, everything is subject to prior sale.

TAXES

California residents must be charged the current sales tax, but we automatically give homeboys an equal discount to even things out.

ECOLOGY

Biblioctopus is 100% green.  All items listed for sale have been recycled, almost all of them more than once, however (see “Delivery”) we do not use secondhand packing materials, so if consuming Fed–ex boxes to ship your books, causes the polar ice caps to melt, I’m sorry, surf’s up.

DELIVERY

Everything is sent fully insured via FedEx, UPS or USPS at our expense, but we may take a week to get it wrapped.

ASSURANCES

 Everything is guaranteed authentic, and way cool, regardless of its vintage, but all manuscripts created by the living are particularly burdened with, and isolated by, specific disclaimers of warranty.

INSUFFICIENT THRILLS

 Everything is deemed to be sold on approval, and may be returned, with notice, within 8 days, for any reason, for a full refund.  Everything remains the property of Biblioctopus until it is paid for in full.

GRATUITOUS ARMOR

Copyright, ©MMXXII, by Biblioctopus Nation.