Yeoman's In the Fork is a bookstore unlike any other. For it has books that date back decades to hundreds of years ago. I enjoyed the tour of the store as well as observing the merchandise on my own, as I realized a few different things. First off, books are special. Yep, it's not just text. It's a craft and it's a design. People collect them, give them, keep them, show them off, and even auction them for thousands of dollars. Why? Because up until recently, there was more to value about a book than what was inside. Book collectors look for intricate binding, rare materials, papers, and originality in the cover. Also, people who like history love having old books because some are like windows to the past that you can hold in your hand. Apparently there is something magical about reading a book that John Hancock read himself. Holding documentation signed by a famous historical figure, gives people a sense of personal connection to the impact that particular person had on the world. And in turn, makes a person feel like they have experienced that impact, in someway themselves. Many people collect old books because they like to have treasure. I would call the men who run the store, "treasure hunters" because thats exactly what they do....they hunt around the nation looking for printed value.
One of the books I found to be interesting, but was not worth a lot of money, was the Daniel Boon book. It's vintage quality on the cover and interesting material used for it's binding was fun to look at. I loved the designs on the front because you don't see much like that anymore. I guess that's why people collect books n the first place, because they are antiques, and hard to find these days.
