American Toolbox

Brickbat Book’s Benches

Posted on March 17, 2014

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.” – Cicero

PAT GRAHAM loves books. He collected them from childhood. By the time he was in Art School, his 10,000+ volume collection had becoming cumbersome. The logical solution? Open a shop.

First, with a partner, came Big Jar Books on North 2nd Street, Old City, Philadelphia. Big Jar eventually sold; Pat then opened Brickbat Books on South 4th as a solo-owned boutique collection for the more esoteric among the literaria.

Unto this sparse establishment was lent a collection of wooden benches, platforms, and tables, all carved from lengths of 12″ x 12″ solid oak and poplar. The story, not independently verified, is that a local plumber found a pile of giant landscape ties discarded by a century-old insurance firm in West Philadelphia. Inspired hours with chainsaw, belt sander, and angle-grinder transformed some of the wood into the pictured objets d’art.

The collection has become famous although the identity of the artist remains shrouded in mystery.