No connection, but a lot of browsing. More and more disused telephone booths in Berlin are being turned into book exchanges.
Double recycling because times are changing. Ever since cell phones have been around, the number of phone booths has been declining. About 1000 pieces can still be found in the capital. At the same time, books are being discarded more and more often, and antiquarians hardly ever buy old books anymore. The market is simply flooded.
There are already almost 100 exchange cells in Berlin. Simple principle: If you post a book, you can take one with you. Experience has shown that real pearls can be found in the book boxes.
► In the “Stuttibox” on Stuttgarter Platz, for example, an edition of Bertolt Brecht’s “The Threepenny Romance”, printed in 1950, i.e. during the poet’s lifetime. New price as paperback: 14 euros!
► An edition by Ludwig Thoma from 1929 also catches the eye, with enchanting illustrations.
► A Dumont art travel guide to Brazil stood in a cell on Müllerstrasse in Wedding. Just 30 years ago it cost a small fortune, over 40 Deutschmarks.
► And in Lübars, where horses graze in the pastures all around, the reporters discovered the appropriate “What is what” volume “Horses”.
In every book box there are books whose total new price is far higher than the value of the telephone booth. Disused telephone booths cost around 500 euros if you buy them directly from Telekom in Michendorf near Potsdam (and transport them yourself).
Incidentally, the very first telephone booth was set up in Berlin, and the “telephone kiosk” opened in 1881 on Potsdamer Platz.