Books by the meter - Another income line?

[Hopscotch]

'Look how well-read I am!' How 'books by the metre' add the final touch to your home - or your image
Guardian   22 Jul 2025

"In an age of constant scrolling, there is social capital to be gained by simply looking as if you are a cultured person who listens to music on vinyl and reads lots of books....creating an aesthetically pleasing bookshelf is now easier than ever, thanks to an increase in booksellers who trade in 'books by the metre'....If you're willing to pay a bit more, sellers will offer a more bespoke service [of]...a metre of assorted vintage books that all have orange covers....Buying books by length allows people to create a kind of 'knock-off' version of a richly filled bookshelf put together over years of reading for people who 'can?t be bothered to choose the books and read them,'...Though it's obviously frustrating for true bibliophiles when someone has bought a random selection of books in bulk to decorate their home, the fact there are books in their home at all is a good thing...the opportunity to read one is there...."

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jul/22/look-how-well-read-i-am-how-books-by-the-metre-add-final-touch-to-home-or-image?CMP=share_btn_url

[Jeff Tanyard]

I guess it's better than throwing old books away.   

I still don't like it, though.  Reminds me of the Eloi and their books.

[Bill Hiatt]

Or perhaps Jay Gatsby's library in The Great Gatsby, stocked with all the finest books, but the pages haven't been cut. (In the old days of hardcover publishing, books were printed in a way that required a letter opener or similar to open a book and read it. So uncut pages meant an unread book.)

[elleoco]

I thought buying books by the foot to impress was a thing back to the Nineteenth Century at least.

[Vijaya]

My husband has a metre of beer from Belgium from when we lived there 30 yrs ago

[LilyBLily]

The books bought to impress were also bound to match each other. Thus one could tell at a glance if the contents of a rich person's fancy library were simply decor accessories. On the other hand, it's my understanding that in France, and maybe elsewhere, paperback books originated as editions meant to be bound to the owner's taste. Thus they might have read those books after choosing them specifically.

Interior designers still use books as decoration, by the way, and the books tend to be really bizarre choices since they are bought by the box or yard or color or whatever. Looking for an obscure hardcover book from the 20th century? Try a design showroom.