Book Runners: Craft Lake City Vintage Vendor
Art
Book Runners
facebook.com/usedbookhoarders
In my room, there are shelves upon shelves of books. My girlfriend says I’ll need a whole house just to fit them all. It’s not a problem or anything. I just have a lot—or at least I thought I did, until I met Stephanie and Nathan Briscoe, the wife-and-husband vintage-book-collecting and -selling duo, The Book Runners.
In their cozy home are clutter-free tables with rows of books stacked 10 deep by 10 high, bookshelves in every room and a basement with thousands of books simply waiting to be read or sold. Praise Oscar Wilde—if there is a book Heaven, this must be it.
The Book Runners began in 2014, thanks in part to a seed sown in Stephanie’s childhood: “Since I was a kid, I’ve always loved books,” she says. “My mom was a huge reader, and [she] would always read to me.” This passion, when paired with Nathan’s penchant for collecting, created a unique hobby for the couple. Initially aiming to build up their own library, they quickly moved on to buying, selling and donating books—with about half of their books going to the Boys & Girls Club.
When the Briscoes are away from their day jobs—Stephanie is a speech therapist and Nathan is a USU student and Boise National Forest employee—they are running to every yard sale, estate sale and thrift store that they can find for their next exhilarating score, hence their business’s title. “It is really about getting the books to people so they can realize that [these books] have value,” Nathan says. “A lot of books sit, hiding in people’s basements, and we bring them back to life.”
Preferring festivals over owning a storefront, The Book Runners have worked Salt Lake Comic Con, the Urban Flea Market and other events in the past, but this is their first year tabling Craft Lake City’s DIY Fest. Both express excitement about facing a large crowd and working alongside other local artisans. Armed with their signature “Book Snob” totes and books for collector and casual reader alike, they are well equipped for the DIY Fest adventure.
Find The Book Runners’ classic and rare titles at facebook.com/usedbookhoarders, on Instagram @thebookrunners and at the DIY Fest.
For more information about CLC DIY Festival programming, click here.