contact us: if you have any inquiries or questions about your order please get in touch with us, and we’ll try and answer you right away:

  • email:  jacob@bookjournals.com
  • phone: (360) 350-2927
  • post/retail storefront/ world HQ
  •  Ex Libris Anonymous
    Jacob Storm Deatherage
    1220 4th avenue east  
  • Olympia, Wa 98506

frequently asked questions about ex libris and our journals:

do you guys do custom orders?

We just LOVE doing custom orders as it saves the trouble of finding the book/s. (( Which is considerably more challenging that you might imagine. )) Please send any book that you'd like journal-ized to us at the address above with a whopping $15 per book. (( Please send well concealed CASH.)) We'll do all the rest. We typically include (( and recommend you do, too. )) The first few pages of text (( including frontispiece, dedications, title pages )) The last few pages of book text and two or three short sections from the middle of the book. Please mark the three sections (( two or three sheets each )) that you'd like included from the middle of the book with post it notes or dog-ears. Easy-peasy.

can I get your journals at wholesale prices?

Are you the proud owner of a brick and mortar store located anywhere within the confines of planet earth? Yes, yes you may. It's easy, actually. Minimum order is 30 pieces. You may choose the books that you want RIGHT NOW, directly from the site. (( Choose "pay by check" option during check-out. Ignore pricing generated by website. )) I'll pull the stock, make the journals and send them to your store. Your clients will love you/ the journals that you picked out for them. Drop a line or call for pricing information. Jacob (360) 350-2927 jacob@bookjournals.com

what if I never get my journals?

That's a big (( but pretty unusual! )) problem. Drop us a line and we'll sort it out. Tracking is NOT available, alas, on media mail but we can always find some solution that will work out. Promise.

where do you guys get your books?

This task is so time consuming and exhausting that it almost defies description. We source our books from a wide variety of places including thrift stores, garage sales, book stores, library sales, municipal sources, private collections and school districts far and wide. I see places that would erode even the most stalwart book lovers sentimentality in my travels and always emerge pleased to save some small percentage of books from their fate.

Why are SOME of the books on the site photographed spiral bound while the majority are not?

It's a logistics problem, honestly, having to do with the small space that we work out of. It's pretty impressive what we manage to do in just 600 square feet. (( Come see for yourself: 4185 SE Division street. Portland, Or 97202 )) ALL of the book covers that you see on the site are one-of-a-kind and available for purchase, whether they're photographed as bound or not. We aim to provide overwhelming selection and variety...but we simply don't have room to shelve 1000 journal-ized books at our tiny retail/studio/factory. So we scan the covers and then store them until someone is kind enough to purchase one. Does that make sense? I like you. Jacob Deatherage, proprietor.

What's for sale on this website? What is the cost?

ALL books are merely $15 dollars, delivered, free of charge, to any door in America. It's not obvious and I apologize that you need an answer to this question.
Here's the deal: ALL of the books that you see on the website are one of a kind, and, if you see the book, are available for purchase at this very moment. (( Come back in an hour? That specific book might have been sold to some other lucky person. )) Some books are pre-bound, most are not, though. It's just a question of physically storing all of the material that we have for sale in our tiny retail store/ workshop. Anyway, that's the answer.

Have a question? Text me! (360) 350-2927

Maybe you want to know the dimensions of a specific book? Or whether I'm at the studio/shop? WHATEVER. You can text me ANY question, right this instant, and I will respond to you personally, instantly. Walmart this is NOT. You are dealing with a person doing a thing that he likes doing for money and you're supporting me personally. I will personally assist you in any way that you want. You can ask me to go lie down in the grass behind the studio and text you a picture of the trees and I will do that. Text me if you want to. Or call. (( though nobody does that anymore so I don't know why I even bother suggesting it )) Love, Jacob