Bookseller Is Hoping Volume Will Give Him a World Record

With 36.5 miles of shelves and more than 1.1 million different books, John Zubal thinks his bookstore offers the largest collection of titles for sale in the world.

He hopes the Guinness Book of World Records will think so too.

Zubal, 49, says he’s writing to the editors of the Guinness Book once he has gathered supporting evidence. And there’s quite a bit of it.

Four warehouses packed with books from floor to ceiling house Zubal’s volumes, which are arranged alphabetically by categories. The complex is so large that, until recently, his 49-year-old wife, Marilyn, used roller skates to retrieve customer requests.

Guinness lists W. & G. Foyle Ltd. of London as the largest bookstore, with the most shelving at 30 miles, while Barnes & Noble Bookstore in New York City is listed as the largest book building, with 154,250 square feet of books, said Sheelagh Thomas, a deputy editor for Guinness in England.

Zubal said he has 78,000 square feet of books and more titles than any other store because he has few duplicate books, textbooks or remainders, such as those sold at Barnes & Noble and Foyle.

Bibliophiles from as far way as Japan visit his store regularly, he said.

But if you want to learn how to ski or groom your pet, don’t go to Zubal’s.

“We don’t have too many (books) for the casual reader,” Zubal said. “Mostly our books are for the scholar, and most are sold by mail order. We are not too concerned with what is being published now.”

Less than 2% of Zubal’s tomes were published after 1960, he said.

Some of the biggest categories are literary criticism, anthropology, philosophy, theology and history. Zubal estimated he has 250 books alone about Charles Dickens and 1,000 on Shakespeare.

“We do a lot of business in World War II books,” said Zubal. “We think there are about 6,000 books published on World War II, and we have 3,000.”

Zubal gets most of his books from contacts who tell him of literary estates or bookstores for sale.

“I used to hit the flea-market circuit, but now I let the younger guys do it,” said the bookseller, who goes to Europe several times a year to buy and sell.

Zubal also owns autographed editions by James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker.

While Zubal said all his books are for sale, “there are books I mark up to scare off the fainthearted.” He was not ready to dicker over an autographed edition of “Finnegan’s Wake” priced at $3,000.

“I’m in no hurry to sell it,” he said. “It’s money in the bank.”

Once Zubal submits his claim to Guinness, Thomas said, he will need to submit a color photograph and two forms from witnesses validating his claim.

Thomas said editors would have to determine if his claim to have the most individual titles would merit a separate record category.

“That is always a possibility, but we can’t make any promises,” she said.