As part of our 20th Anniversary celebrations, we want to take the time to point the spotlight at the core of our business model: the independent booksellers who bring their expertise, enthusiasm, and professionalism to the used and rare book trade.
How did we get here? The beginning of Biblio:
This year, 2023, BIBLIO is celebrating its 20th anniversary. While today we are the largest independent marketplace for books, hosting over 7,500 booksellers and 111 million books, it took us a while to get here. We started as a price comparison engine called SearchBiblio.com in the autumn of 2000, famous for several years as the fastest metasearch site for new and used books. In the summer of 2003, we retired that project to focus all our attention on Biblio.com. Built around our painstakingly crafted search engine, we recruited a few booksellers to trust us with their inventory and launched the marketplace in February 2003 amidst a dozen small other marketplace sites.
What makes the difference? Biblio’s service:
Just like when we started, we remain an independent, employee-owned business. We love books and are committed to helping our booksellers get their incredible inventory to other passionate bibliophiles around the world. We still have a committed team that helps by email or phone – an actual person with a trusted voice, since most of us have been here a while!
Where are we headed? Our commitment to innovation in Bookselling:
Knowing that we always need to set ourselves apart and stay ahead of the curve to remain relevant, we continue to value innovation in the trade. This past year we launched two new initiatives – Biblio.es, our first Spanish-language site, and Biblio.live, a platform for virtual book fairs that includes exciting new listings and chat capabilities.
Our reach has never been better, and we remain the largest independent book marketplace in the world. While our home base is in Asheville, North Carolina in the US, our sellers are around the world and steadily growing. We are now in 70 countries around the globe.
What makes the difference? Biblio’s Booksellers:
It is our booksellers and their books that make the Biblio difference. We wouldn’t be here without them! There are over 200 sellers that we started with in 2003 who are still with us twenty years later. What a testament to the longevity of the book trade, even during a time when the world feared ebooks would make print books obsolete!
We want to highlight some of the successful sellers who have listed their excellent inventories with us since the beginning. Shopping at Biblio helps support all of our affiliated independent bookstore partners and their employees.
Fine Print Books began as a second-hand bookshop in Newtown, Sydney in 1993, and has been selling online since 1998. Based in Erskineville, New South Wales, Australia, they specialize in Australian History, Australiana, Modern Fiction, Philosophy, and Religion. Find out more here: https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/fine-print-books-erskineville
Books in Bulgaria, located in the Blagoevgrad Region of Bulgaria, is the largest English-language, second-hand bookshop in the Balkans. The bookseller specializes in Childrens books, Ladybird books, Science Fiction, and Fantasy. Their inventory is available here: https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/books-in-bulgaria-blagoevgrad-region
John Thompson, located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, specializes in Scholarly & Academic texts, Science Fiction, Unusual Non-Fiction, and Vintage Paperbacks. Search his online inventory here: https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/john-thompson-winnipeg
B-Line Books in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada, was founded by a retired English teacher with a lifetime’s worth of gathered books. Selling on Biblio for over twenty years, B-Line currently lists over 28,000 titles in categories including Astronomy, Birds, Classics, First Editions, History, Music, Philosophy, and Religion. Search for more here: https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/b-line-books-amherst
Carmarthenshire Rare Books, located in Carmarthenshire, United Kingdom, specializes in Art, History, Literature, Theology, and books dealing with Wales. Although visits to their location are by appointment only, you can view their inventory of over 22,000 titles anytime here: https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/carmarthenshire-rare-books-carmarthenshire
Fireside Bookshop in Stroud, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, has been dealing in books since 1980. They specialize in American History, Architecture, Art, History, Humanities, Mathematics, Medicine, Natural History, and Science. Search for titles here: https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/fireside-bookshop-stroud
Persephone’s Books in Gastonia, North Carolina, USA, specializes in American and British Detective Fiction, Classical Languages and Literature, Modern First Editions, and Asian Literature. Search their inventory here: https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/persephones-books-gastonia
Wonder Book in Frederick, Maryland, USA, has the largest selection of books in the DC Metropolitan area. They have been in business since 1980 and online since 1997. With all kinds of books in stock, their inventory contains more than a million items: https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/wonder-book-frederick
Easy Chair Books, in Lexington, Missouri, USA, specializes in out-of-print books and has over 30,000 books listed. They have been in the book business and listing on Biblio for more than 20 years. https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/easy-chair-books-lexington
Cozy Book Cellar in Bellingham, Massachusetts, USA, specializes in Cozy Mysteries, Fantasy, Female Sleuth Mysteries, Historical Romances, Paranormal Romances, and Sci-Fi. They also stock used books in about every other category. Visit their Biblio shop here: https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/cozy-book-cellar-bellingham
Amber is the marketing coordinator at Biblio. A lifelong love of the written word brought her to Biblio and she happily spends her days talking about books and delving into the wide world of antiquarian books.
Great information and amazingly easy access to different catalogs from various types of Booksellers
I was a writer back then but it wasn’t my own creative thinking it was about i movie but I gave up
I am a book collector. I have collected many books. But some books I would like to sell through BIBLIO. Please guide me the procedure.
I am residing in Mumbai (Bombay), India.
If you want to become a Biblio bookseller, please follow this link: https://www.biblio.com/app/sell/
Biblio, IMNSHO, is the last true independent bookselling platform. Happy Anniversary! Hope it’s a fabulous year!
Biblio is awesome. They can find difficult-to-locate books, their prices are good, and delivery is fast. Full points!
Ergodebooks provide great service and good prices. Thank-you!