About Us
What can you tell me about Read’Em Again Books?
Read’Em Again Books is actually just me (I'm the big guy in the photo; the little one is one of my granddaughters, who wanted to help me catalog after I got home from work one afternoon), and my name is Kurt Sanftleben.
I first started buying and selling collectible books in 1992 as a hobby. At the time I was on active duty, serving as an Army officer at the joint command located in Norfolk, Virginia. Although I'm now twice retired, once from active duty in 1994 and again in 2012 as a Vice-President of the Marine Corps University . . . I'm still selling books.
After I jumped on the eBay bandwagon in 1999, my book sales increased considerably, and I decided to open an on-line store and start selling at regional book fairs and antique shows. I now do about fifteen fairs or shows each year, primarily within the Atlantic Coast region, and I am an eBay Top-Rated Seller. I don’t have an open store, but can certainly set up an appointment to meet if you are going to be in the area.
I am a member of the Independent On-Line Booksellers Association (IOBA), Virginia Antiquarian Booksellers Association (VABA), Washington Antiquarian Booksellers Association (WABA), the Moveable Book Society, the American Philatelic Society (APS), the Ephemera Society of America (ESA), and the Brewery Collectors Club of America (BCCA).
I often get asked if Read’Em Again Books has a "specialty." The truth is that there really isn’t one. I buy and sell things I like. Generally that includes hard-to-find titles in children’s series, photoplays, fairy tales, illustrated books, pop-ups and moveable books, scouting items, and unusual or hard to find non-fiction, especially baseball and other sports, cooking, military, and Americana. I also have trade cards, postcards, stereoviews, billheads, advertising covers, maps, prints, and other assorted ephemera available for sale. Additionally, I buy and sell some other collectibles--primarily antique children's toys and games, breweriana, and tobacciana.
I welcome telephone calls, but you’ll probably get to me faster by sending an email message to info@read-em-again.com or kurt@sanftleben.com. I used to have a separate business phone number, but that got to be more trouble than it was worth since 99% of the calls went straight to voicemail. Now I use my regular home phone (just ask for Kurt), and only about 50% of the calls go into voicemail.
One last thing: I grew up in St. Louis and have been a Cardinals fan my entire life. For reading this “About Us” page, you can get a 5% discount on any on-line order by entering either of the following coupon codes(“gocardinals” or “cubssuck”) during checkout.