Beyond the Page
Book Store
Overview
A sprawling bookshop devoted to stories born from experience, with shelves filled with travel journals, expedition records, histories, maps, sketches, folklore, and firsthand accounts from across Vaeria. The proprietor actively seeks stories from returning wanderers and is often willing to purchase particularly compelling journals or pay to have remarkable tales recorded for future generations.
Proprietor
Willem Barrow
Halfling – Proprietor
Willem is happiest sunk into a comfortable chair with a pipe, a good book, and rain tapping against the windows. His love of stories extends naturally to Remketh’s wanderers, and he’s notorious for pressing blank journals into departing hands, sometimes free of charge, with only one condition: bring them back filled.
Wares & Services
- Regional Guides
- Books covering the customs, geography, wildlife, hazards, food, laws, and peculiarities of specific regions and cities.
- Field Guides
- Illustrated references covering plants, animals, monsters, minerals, weather, navigation, and other subjects useful to travelers.
- Collected Histories
- Histories of nations, cities, wars, rulers, religions, organizations, and important events throughout Vaeria.
- Foreign Literature
- Novels, poetry, plays, philosophy, folklore, and other works brought home by Remketh’s wanderers.
- Rare & Unusual Books
- Old editions, limited printings, handwritten manuscripts, obscure scholarly works, and books originating from places where very few copies ever reach Remketh.
- Blank Journals
- From inexpensive travel notebooks to beautifully bound leather journals intended to survive years on the road.
- Research Assistance
- Tell Willem what you’re looking for and he’ll help search the collection. For particularly obscure subjects, this may take some time.
- Book Appraisal
- Willem identifies unusual books and manuscripts and estimates their age, origin, rarity, and value.
- Translation
- Willem can translate several languages himself and knows scholars around Remketh who can handle many he cannot.
- Copying & Transcription
- Books, journals, maps, letters, and manuscripts can be professionally copied.
- Book Restoration
- Damaged books and manuscripts can be cleaned, rebound, repaired, or stabilized.
- Acquisition Request
- Looking for a particular book? Willem records the request and spreads word among departing wanderers and traveling merchants. There is absolutely no guarantee when, or if, someone will eventually return with it.
- Research Dossier
- Give Willem a subject and enough time, and he’ll assemble relevant material from multiple books into a concise collection of notes and references.