idea corner: rare book cafe

I had a good conversation about rare and antique books a year or so ago, mostly around the question why are they so expensive? One example: $5k for a copy of the Fountainhead (!)

I see the whole point (well, a whole lot more of it anyhow) of truly unique and limited objects now - especially those with long and fancy provenances - but I sure don't care very much for it.

What if there were a nice cafe where you could go and read these books? It could charge $20 for a cup of coffee, with a big burly bouncer at the door to make sure no rogues or roustabouts nick a book.  Pastries would be $30.

You wouldn't have to buy anything there, of course, but the cafe's librarian would give you the equivalent of a "shh!" to spend a few bucks if you made a habit of not spending money and mooching all the love off the books*.

(i don't know what this equivalent would be, any thoughts?)

This idea might be part 1 in a series of posts on places to go if you love to be around people, but don't like boozing it up, dancing around others, etc.

* off the books = (1) the spiritual quality of love taken off margin notes, torn pages, etc. (2) off the accts receivable books

^^^ this happened naturally, zut alors