What is a Book Safe?
Whether its called a Book Safe, Book Box, Stash Book, Secret Hollow Book, or Secret Safe Book, a bookbox is a real book that has been hollowed out to create a hidden storage area inside. We didn’t invent the process – the idea of creating hidden storage inside an everyday object like a book has been around since bibles were printed! But we have perfected the process over 15 years of craftsmanship to create a bookbox that is sturdy and lasts indefinitely!
How to use book safe?
Give as a gift. Eco-friendly and unique, you can probably find a title here that is PERFECT for your hard-to-buy-for friend.
Use as a container for another special gift inside. An extra element of surprise and delight! Wrap up a special family recipe for your adult children and place inside a book on cooking… A handmade fly inside a book on fishing… you get the picture!
Conceal valuables on your bookshelf in plain sight
Hide things like passports and money while traveling
Hold that special folding saw that will get you out of prison just like in the movies…
Where do Book Boxes come from?
We head to the book sales! Especially The Rotary Club’s semi annual sale, a non-profit group who distribute the proceeds of their book sales to the local community. We purchase books at the regular price, and also take books they haven’t been able to sell and don’t have the ability to store. We bring in Antique books from re-sellers that are overstocked. In our local area only one company accepts hardcover books for recycling and they are located in a different town! More books end up in the landfill than we’d like to think about. Over the years thousands of books have been saved from the dump.
What’s acceptable for a used book to be a Book Box?
It’s a fine line to sell book boxes made from used books that don’t look too beaten up! Sometimes the best-loved books are the most tattered. We’d never refuse an old book on Shakespeare, but would think twice about a beaten up book on Microwave cooking from the 70’s! But even then, somebody wants an “ugly” book to stash valuables.
How to make a book safe?
We will make bookboxes from books that have:
Inscriptions written on the inside front pages
Minor wrinkling to the jacket
Library stamps and library cards, previous owner notes
Sun-faded covers – especially antiques
The occasional chocolate fingerprint (especially Harry Potter books)
We will not use books that have:
Any hint of mildew or odour
Rips on the jacket longer than 1/4″
Obvious stains and dirt on the pages or jacket.
And we’ll always let you know on the listing if there are marks that might be objectionable to some.
