At House of SpeakEasy we believe that book-ownership should be a right, not a privilege. In 2017, with the help of Billy and Kathy Rayner, we launched The SpeakEasy Bookmobile. We came up with the design logo – but – historically speaking – the idea was Aristotle’s. Owning a book is a unique form of wealth. What the SpeakEasy BookMobile is doing is enabling that wealth to be shared. The kings of Babylon built the first libraries. But they weren’t so interested in the sharing part. This is where Aristotle comes in. He amassed the largest private collection of books in the world, and let it circulate. But since not everyone could read, Aristotle also shared the knowledge they contained by giving free lectures throughout Athens. He turned himself into a bookmobile – on legs. Aristotle’s mission was the same as SpeakEasy’s today: to foster a sense of community, spread ideas, and educate young people. Libraries and mass literacy were among the first casualties from the Fall of Rome in the 5th century. Book ownership became the greatest privilege of all. Few people ever questioned why it should be this way until the rise of universal education in the 19th […]