I’ve been receiving some great display ideas and images from bookstores lately. Like this one from The Book Table in Chicago, Illinois.

“33 1/3 is a book series that started 10 years ago,” says Javier Ramirez, manager of The Book Table. “Each book has a photo of an album cover on the front and is a music critique of that particular album.”

According to the Bloomsbury site:

“33 1/3 is a series of short books about popular music, focusing on individual albums by artists ranging from James Brown to the Beastie Boys and from Celine Dion to Neutral Milk Hotel. Authors in the series include Geeta Dayal, Jonathan Lethem, Erik Davis, Colin Meloy, Daphne Brooks, and Joe Pernice. Launched in 2003, the series now contains over 80 titles and has been widely acclaimed by fans, musicians and scholars alike.”

The series is now up to 105 titles. To celebrate the 10 year anniversary, the folks at The Book Table bought numbers 1 through 100 in the series and created signage and space for a display.

“Customers never need help when you ask them, but when we walk them over to the display, they’re seriously impressed,” says Ramirez. “It’s neat to see the nostalgic effect it has on people.”

The books are small. 4.7 x 6.4″–the perfect size to fit in your back pocket, according to Ramirez–and each title is $14.95. The Book Table contacted their Bloomsbury rep to work out a deal: Anybody who buys a book from the series receives a free tote bag.

Ramirez says the display only works well if they maintain it, replenishing the series as it sells. And he thinks it works because it’s a melding of books and audio. “It’s a throwback to the old Tower Record days, when books and music used to co-exist in a music space. That combination is often overlooked.”

To find out more about the series, visit the 333sound blog.