Category: News

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We Love Our Customers!

Selling vintage (books) is nothing like regular retail. Each product is more than a product; it has a history and a wealth of sentimental value. Often our books come with inscriptions, or we find precious clippings or photos inside that have been used as book marks. Our books may have been owned by one person all their lives, or could have known many. The cover, the markings, and the pages tell their own story, separate from the author’s tale. You see, vintage books are artefacts, soul food, and they tether us to our collective humanity.

When you buy a vintage book, you are purchasing both a memory and a relationship, as well as a gift of emotion and ideas. Sometimes, it’s hard for us (the go betweens!) to part with them. Yet it also brings us joy to know that another book lives on to create a unique experience with its new owner.

That’s why we love it when we hear back from our customers. Earlier this year, Kimberly bought a pocket-sized copy of Wuthering Heights, for Wuthering Heights Day. It was to complete her costume homage to the character of Catherine Earnshaw. She was after the perfect copy – not too big, plain covered, and classic.

We think she’s done an amazing job with her dress! And the book is equally superb. Do you agree?

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Find Livre Eclectica Online

In case you weren’t aware, LIVRE ECLECTICA BOOKSTORE also has a home on ETSY. The pricing on the Etsy store appears to be slightly different because all prices there include flat rate postage. Whereas, here on the website the postage is itemised separately on check out.

We try very hard to keep the inventory exactly the same but occasionally there is a short lag between uploading products between one and the other. So if you see a book on one platform and not the other, it will be available from both.

To keep up with new products you can also find us on Instagram and TikTok. We love our bookstagrammers and booktokers – who celebrate their love of books online.

Livre Eclectica Bookstore sells mainly pre-1970 hardcover fiction. It’s Marianne’s love, and the niche that she understands. However, if a paperback or non-fiction book catches our eye, then we will list them too. For example, we currently have some Robert Heinlein SF paperbacks about to list. And we love our copy of Apparitions and Haunted Houses – A Survey of Evidence by Sir Ernest Bennett, which was published by Faber in 1939. It’s a rare and seminal book in the supernatural field.

So, is there anything else you’d like to know abut us?

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Ordering Books from Livre Eclectica

Dear Customer and Fellow Book Lover,

Has your order been processed?

Our ordering form has one little quirk that can trip people up …

The field labelled Apartment needs to be filled in. So if you don’t live in an apartment, please just place a ‘0’ in the field. Otherwise, the order won’t process.

Please reach out through the contact form if you are having any problems, or visit our Etsy twin site to purchase throgh there.

Thank you for visiting our vintage and rare bookstore! Come again any time!

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Livre Eclectica – a little bit of our history

Livre Eclectica began as an Etsy store in 2021. I was living in Perth at the time and had a conversation with my brother about his years of collecting militaria, guitars, sheet music and other things. My brother was a very talented man, with a great sense of humour and a strong moral code. I was in trouble with him a fair bit growing up, as he took it upon himself to instil some values into me. At the time, I was resistant, but looking back on it now, he and my dad taught me a lot about kindness, respect, and doing the right thing by others-and myself. (Mum taught me about courage and creativity). My brother was in my corner, in the most tangible way. Always.

Anyway, at the time, he wasn’t well and was clearing out the farmhouse, trying to lessen the load for his children and wife. My brother, sister and I shared a love of history, and a belief in the significance of ancestral stories to the present. It was in one of those conversations, that I realised I wanted to spend more time with old books, and share that with others.

Livre Eclectica was born on Etsy with one (slightly torn) Phantom comic and a 1930s copy of Little Women from our family home. My best friend bought the Phantom comic, so that I had my first sale (thanks Isobelle!), and a book lover from Canada bought Little Women. It was like selling my first novel (did I mention that I’m a writer?) all over again.

Since then it’s been a big, fun learning. How Etsy works, packaging, postal, tax, photography etc. I’ve moved twice since I opened the store, so photography has been a work in progress.

The next step was to give Livre Eclectica a permanent home on the web, which is right here. The Etsy store is still operating and will for a while. If you notice a pricing difference between the two, it’s because postage is included on the Etsy price. Ultimately though, this is where I want to be based.

So welcome! Come in and have a browse. Books are separated into categories. While the store is still small there is no alphabetical listing, but eventually, I anticipate there will be. I only have a few non fiction books, as my passion area is fiction.

I’d love to hear from you if you have an enquiry, or just want to say hello. This is a place for people who love stories, want a fix of nostalgia, and have a curiosity and admiration what has gone before.

But for me, Livre Eclectica will always be about my beloved brother – Paul. RIP.