In the six years since Barbara Poleo and Rodney Dillon Jr. began selling a wide range of antiquarian and rare books online through their company Past Perfect Florida History, they've added distribution, copublishing and consulting to their business mix. And Poleo and Dillon will soon expand the title base of the store beyond Floridiana as they get ready to open in a new location.
"Because we're so focused, we've had to be very versatile," said Poleo. "Everything we do is connected." After operating strictly as an online antiquarian store for three years (www.past-perfect-florida-history-books.com), Past Perfect added new books to its title base when the duo opened a bookstore in Boynton Beach in 2003. With new books came new customers, like Florida historian Arva Moore Parks, founder of Centennial Press in Miami and author, most recently, of George Merrick's Coral Gables: "Where Your 'Castles in Spain' Are Made Real!" Parks asked if Past Perfect, which has a 3,000-sq.-ft. warehouse to handle its online business, would be willing to help her with fulfillment, which soon turned into the company's first distribution contract. The Forgotten Frontier: Florida Through the Lens of Ralph Middeton Munroe (Centennial, 2004), Parks's Florida history illustrated with photographs from the 1880s, continues to be Past Perfect's bestselling distribution title. Now Past Perfect handles exclusive distribution for 12 clients and shares distribution for others, such as Robert W. Ganger, whose book on the Vanderbilt dynasty, Lila Vanderbilt Webb's Miradero: Window on an Era (Historical Society of Palm Beach), received a 2006 Independent Publisher's Award for Best Regional Nonfiction. Past Perfect fulfills orders nationally and this fall began reaching out to distribution and consumer customers through shows like SIBA and the Miami International Book Fair. Poleo said they will add new distribution clients only if their lists focus on American history.
The company's copublishing business began in 2005, when the Florida Historical Society Press turned to Past Perfect for help with a facsimile edition of William Darby's 1821 guidebook Memoir on the Geography, and Natural and Civil History of Florida. Poleo said Past Perfect is looking to do more publishing and has spoken with several potential publishing partners. "But it has to be the right time and the right project," she said.
Last August, Past Perfect closed the 1,000-sq.-ft. Boynton Beach store, which it had long since outgrown. While Poleo and Dillon are once again concentrating on selling books online and through catalogues, they are in the planning stages for a new bookstore in central Florida, where Poleo hopes to relocate later this year. Dillon will stay in North Palm and oversee the warehouse there.
"When we open the store, we plan to branch out into American history," said Poleo, noting that Dillon is a Civil War historian. As for the name, that, too, will change to reflect the new focus, she says, adding that Past Perfect History Books is too long to fit on checks. And Poleo's husband, a restaurant designer, would like to see the new store make some changes to the physical space, like adding a wine bar and coffee shop.
