Interview by Aja Frost. Edited by Aliza Sir.
Lisa Hirsch and Bremond Lacombe have been best friends since seventh grade. They are not, by their own admission, natural-born salespeople. They have never worked in publishing. And yet a few years ago, they started Quite Literally Books — a small press dedicated to discovering and reissuing out-of-print books by female authors. They research forgotten titles, commission beautiful new editions (with spines that lay flat and paper chosen for how it smells), then wrap every single order themselves and mail it. You cannot buy their books on Amazon. You can write to them, and they will write back.
Lisa and Bremond sat down with us to talk about long friendships, the books they can’t stop rereading, and what they’ve learned about running a business together.
Bremond: I have stacks of books all over the house. I have books in the car. I read on the subway, bus, plane. One reason I hate showers is that you can’t read while you’re showering. Baths are great for reading!
Bremond: We joke that sometimes the books choose you. Books find their way to us at the New York Society Library, in the New York Times book review archives, in blogs and podcasts dedicated to forgotten books, and in used bookstores.
Lisa: After putting the books back out into the world, you have to actually sell them. Marketing a book that’s a hundred years old in a world built for the new and the algorithmically favored is not easy. Neither of us are natural-born salespeople, so this is a particular pain point. But it’s so much better that we’re figuring it out and suffering through it together.
Bremond: Please don’t make us choose just one. We tried a bunch of different trim sizes, and the one we landed on fits perfectly in your hand. We thought about the colors of the spines on the shelf. We thought about the paper — how it would smell and feel. Even the spines were designed to lay flat without breaking.
Lisa: The act of reading is an experience in your body. So we wanted to elevate the everyday reading experience. Remind people what a pleasure it can be.
Bremond: We’ve definitely encountered skepticism. Not overt, but sometimes “you’re so brave” can feel like a back-handed compliment. But overwhelmingly, people have been very kind and supportive.
Lisa: The people who know us well believe we can figure it out. As for others, I think maybe the way we’re trying to do things might give people pause. Honestly, it gives us pause sometimes. There’s a very ingrained approach in publishing — a “way things are done,” and that way is definitely not geared toward the success of small presses. Call it ignorance or wild optimism, but we’re trying to be more high-touch and people-first in a way that honors the things we care about, like bolstering neighborhood bookstores and fostering meaningful conversations. So you can’t find us on Amazon. We wrap every single book that’s ordered from us and post it ourselves. We love to hear from our readers and chat with them. But the jury is still out on whether or not our approach can be successful.
Lisa: Our books are from as far back as 1872, but it’s unnerving how relevant they remain. The hot topics of today — like division of household labor, race and racism, the rise of populism, societal expectations of women — are the very same ones our authors were grappling with over 100 years ago.
Lisa: Like you’ve eaten something yummy, satisfying, nourishing. Like waking up from a good nap without an alarm. Like you’re dying to talk to someone. Like you can’t wait for more.
Lisa: Progressive readers from Caddis — game-changing for multi-taskers. TWSBI fountain pens and Sailor ink. Our QLB tote bags, because they have three pockets, everything fits, and you can load ‘em up. Anything Olivia Dean sings and the latest Bruno Mars drop.
Bremond: Uggs. I finally broke down and bought some this year, and oh my goodness I’m a believer.
Lisa: Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh, Reading the Room by Paul Yamazaki, and poetry by Niki Giovanni and Mary Oliver. Rewatches are Enchanted April, A Room with a View, and episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Love Lucy, and the Great British Bake-off. Also, Pamela Adlon’s Better Things and Zoe Kravitz’s High Fidelity — it’s criminal that it only lasted one season.
Bremond: Where do I start? All Creatures Great And Small by James Herriot. Straight Man by Richard Russo. The Village by Margranita Lahski. Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (just like Lise). Excellent Women by Barbara Pym. It’s a pretty random assortment for which I have no explanation. Another thing that I can’t explain is why I re-watch The Big Bang Theory in times of stress. I missed it when it was actually in production, but I have watched it on Prime probably three times through in the past couple of years.
Lisa: I love short stories, cooking random things on the fly, and dogs. Bre doesn’t. She loves eating slices of cold butter, untangling necklaces, Taylor Swift, making pie crust from scratch, and cats. I don’t. Well, cats are okay, but dogs are better.
Bremond: Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados. I really liked it and Lisa couldn’t stand it.
Check out the Quite Literally Books catalog… and tell us, what have you read and loved recently? (Or a long time ago, but you can’t stop thinking about it!)
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