About Us

Information about btc, our history, policies — all your questions answered.

The History of BTC

Between the Covers Rare Books, Inc.
112 Nicholson Rd
Gloucester City NJ 08030 USA

T: (856) 456-8008
F: (856) 456-1260

After Tom Congalton spent a considerable period as a collector and later a bookscout for other booksellers, Tom and his wife Heidi founded Between the Covers in 1985. For a brief period they operated from a small apartment in Old Bridge, New Jersey exhibiting at occasional book fairs. They soon moved to Collingswood, New Jersey, where they immediately began issuing catalogs. We formed our distinctive look in 1989 when we first asked cartoonist Tom Bloom to illustrate our catalog covers. Tom Bloom has since illustrated over 150 catalogs, as well as this website.

As soon as he was eligible, Tom Congalton became a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America, and he has since gone on to continuously serve the ABAA in various official capacities. He was President of the ABAA from 2000 to 2002, and currently serves as Vice President of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers.

Tom ran the business from their home for three years until Heidi got tired of seeing her house fill up with books, at which point they moved to an office and shop in Haddonfield, New Jersey. They remained in Haddonfield for eight years until they bought a Victorian house in Merchantville, New Jersey in 1996 that they used exclusively as an office for the business.

In 1999, inundated with inventory, they formed a separate company, Alottabooks, in order to sell books exclusively online. In 2000 Alottabooks moved to a 15,000 square foot former school building located in Gloucester City, New Jersey. Alottabooks currently has an independent inventory of over 140,000 books online. In January, 2008, Between the Covers moved its offices and inventory to the Gloucester City, New Jersey, where it shares the former school building with Alottabooks.

Today we offer an active inventory of over 100,000 items for sale on-line, all illustrated with photographs of the actual copy of the book, ranging from rare first editions worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to inexpensive reading copies. We serve book buyers and book collectors of all ages, means, and tastes.

Visiting Between the Covers
Although our website is designed to emulate an open shop, our building is really more like an antiquarian and used book warehouse. Most of our stock is not shelved or stored in a manner conducive to browsing (we actually use our own website to browse our inventory, just like you), and so we do not actively encourage visitors. But if you are traveling through the Philadelphia area and would like to stop by, please contact us (856-456-8008) to arrange a visit.

If you've read this much and still want to know more about who you're dealing with, then we invite you to Meet Our Staff.