NYC booksellers band together to hold resale of Tom Verlaine's collection of 50,000 books

24 August 2023, 13:50 | Written by Tyler Damara Kelly

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(Television)

Better Read Than Dead and Capitol Hill book stores have banded together to re-dispense Tom Verlaine's book collection back to "the readers and dealers of his city".

Taking to their Instagram page, Better Read Than Dead book shop in Brooklyn have announced that they will be holding a garage sale in order to resell the collection of Television's Tom Verlaine, who died earlier this year, aged 73, following a long battle with prostate cancer.

"Like many NYC booksellers, we knew Tom from the dollar carts at the Strand — always courteous, friendly, and fastidious in his ritual book hunting. His taste and scope were all his own, and he would gladly hand over titles he thought others could use, just as he would graciously accept finds that other eyes scouted for him," their statement began.

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They've called it a "distinct pleasure" to announce a garage sale, which will take place monthly, in order to shift some of his huge 50,000 strong book collection. To accommodate the volume of the task, they have doubled their hours, staffing, and space for the occasion, teaming up on the whole affair with Capitol Hill books, and renting their neighbouring garage space.

"Prices will be LOW and discounts HEAVY for those looking to wheel away books by the box. There will be much more of this collection to follow, and hopefully Tom’s books will populate many of our fellow bookstore’s shelves as well as ours soon," the statement continued, asking those interested to stay tuned as they tackle the "mountainous" collection.

For more information, visit betterreadthandeadbooks.com.