Biography

Biblioctopus was conceived in the mid 1970s by Mark J. Hime, they published their first Catalog (Biblioasis One) on May 1, 1980, exhibited at their first bookfair in 1981, and continue to do both to this day.

The back story is dull but here is a terse recounting.  Mark was born in Los Angeles (1944), was always immature compared to his peers, graduated high school in 1961, attended Santa Monica City College and U.C.L.A. and after 2 years of playing hard and studying little drifted into his father’s fine jewelry business (Marvin Hime & Co., Beverly Hills) where he worked (again off and on, and without aims) throughout the 1960s.  As the ‘60s disintegrated he circled southern California with his girlfriend of the moment (Melissa Montgomery, 1948–) looking for a place to live where they could try to grow up, away from the turmoil that had fallen upon their generation.  By 1972 they had settled in Idyllwild, California, a small forest town of 2,000, surrounded by National and State Park land, half way up Mt. San Jacinto (10,834 feet at the peak).  They married in 1973, made babies in 1974 (Jennefer) and 1976 (Adam) and recognized that sleepy Idyllwild would not supply a reasonable source of income, so they would have to find some way to support themselves with money made in the wider world.  A simple (purely practical) search began for the most expensive thing per pound that was traditionally sold by catalog, and delivered through the mail.  They compromised their criteria by adding to their initial principles, that their product be something they liked and respected, and for which, perhaps, they would be liked and respected, and thus was conceived, Biblioctopus and its 1st editions of the classics of fiction.  By 1984 they were book–world famous (something like being the prettiest girl in Antarctica), in 1987 they had a third child (Alexandre), in 1991 they opened a new location (Beverly Hills) so as to be more accessible to collectors, divorced in 2001, and under the leadership of Jennefer and the directorship of Alexandre (carrying the now aging and increasingly quirky Mark), settled in their current location (Century City) in 2012. Mark continues to write the catalogs and shows up at an occasional book fair, but Jen and Alex now pilot Biblioctopus.

So what of the future?

We have got,

Alex and Jen,
And they have not.