About


Robert & Sharon Shulman

When the passion for collecting literature & the history of ideas becomes a passion for selling literature and the history of ideas, you awake to the possibility that you are facing a career change & have entered the rarefied realm of the professional 'bouquiniste'. 20 or 40 years later, you might have gained enough knowledge & experience to hold your own & actually make a living doing what you love to do. When [Sharon & Robert Shulman] began this excursion in 1975 or thereabouts, by the turn of the century [imagine this statement], they had handled thousands of volumes & bought & sold some absolutely amazing titles. Their penchant for presentation copies that they loved to salt away so much as collectors has stood them in good stead & their efforts to uncover superb copies of sought after books in remarkable condition always gives them a bit of a rush when they landed a gem. About 20 years ago TBCL started making custom clamshell cases for our collectors. We design these to include embossed 'sculpted' covers inspired by book wrappers & cover illustrations. TBCL also accept custom box making assignments, both traditional & modern.

What we love most about this business is shipping books around this ever shrinking planet. When books go to Tokyo or Moscow or Beijing or Moosejaw, there's always a story, a new contact, possibly a new friend; fodder for an as yet unwritten bookselling memoir that we are always threatening to publish, laden with delicious true adventures. Any blue-blooded bibliophile would certainly enjoy the read. This is a very fun business.