Tucson man lives for the love of selling and collecting books

There's a full fledged bibliophile living in Tucson, and he's making big money off of his addiction.

A bibliophile is a person who loves to read, admire and collect books. That's Mark Weber to a tee: books are his life and his livilihood.

Half of Weber's westside Tucson home is buried in books. He says he has well in excess of 10-thousand books and his collection is worth millions. But his books aren't for pleasure; they're for profit.

Weber, a former electrical engineer and computer guy, is now a fulltime book dealer. He collects and deals primarily in books written by or about Sir Winston Churchill.

Some of his books sell for under five dollars. Of course, he can't make much of a living selling paperbacks for a buck or two. Luckily for Weber, he makes big bread on some of the more rare pieces.

"I sold one of those a few years back for 75 thousand dollars and I could sell three more if I had them."

His infatuation with Churchill started with an interest in World War II. Weber says Churchill was a multi-talented leader, a controversial hero, and a wonderful writer.

"It was fascinating because he wrote in the first person. He was the great leader and the great author. A very unusual combination."

Churchill wrote more than 50 books, and Weber's read most of them. He says everything he owns is for sale, if the price is right. "The main collection is not for sale piece by piece. But if somebody with a big enough check book walks in, they can have the whole thing. I'm not that emotionally attached. Every book has another copy of it somewhere."

Books are organized on shelves, piled on floors and crammed into bathtubs. Weber loves them all, but he's not married to any of them. Books are his business and it's big money. His first year selling Churchill covers, Weber brought in 200 thousand dollars, and every year since has surpassed the year before.

Weber used to keep two homes, one in England and one here in Tucson. Now he lives full time in the Old Pueblo. He's living the dream.

"A lot of my customers earn 5-10 times more than I do and they all want to trade places with me. It's what they've always dreamed of. They're too busy to go hunting, [and] it's what I do for a living. 'The hunt' is the most interesting part, of course."

Books are Weber's life and his livilihood. Chances are he won't even see this story because he doesn't watch televison. Weber believes there's something special about books, something that can't be replaced by T.V. or the Internet.

"You can't read the Internet while your sitting on the toilet," Weber said with a slight grin.