For nearly 20 years, Wordsworth Classics
has partnered with Wordsworth Editions as the sole distributer of their classic
books in North America. The vision for Wordsworth began over twenty-five years
ago in England when they decided to create a line of great literature,
available at a price that all could afford. The continuing success of
Wordsworth is built on that one simple principle: to produce the best quality
books, at the lowest possible price. Wordsworth now offers over 400 titles of
beautiful books at the most competitive price point on the market and can be
found on every continent!
The Wordsworth Classics office and
warehouse are located in Knoxville, Tennessee. We are part of L.B May &
Associates, a family owned business that has been, in one way or another, working
in the book business for more than 30 years. We bring our stock of Wordsworth
titles over from England by the container load several times a year to supply
our warehouse, where we pick, pull and ship the orders we receive to our
customers every day.
Larry and his wife Valerie started their
business in 1991. It stemmed from being part of the National Book Warehouse
chain, one of the first series of stores that solely carried discounted books.
This eventually lead Larry to establish his own company which was initially
built to exclusively sell aftermarket books to a co-op of books sellers, called
the Affiliated Value Booksellers. Although the Co-Op disbanded in the Mid
Nineties several positive aspects emerged and our family business became what
it is today. For instance, The Affiliated Value Booksellers transformed into a
public trade show called The Spring Book Show, later called GABBS, which grew
into the second largest bargain book show in the nation before we retired it in
2017. We also developed a newsletter with 20,000 subscribers called Bargain
Book News, and of course, along the way, developed our relationship with
Wordsworth Editions in England.
Through all of these experiences, we found
that there was a desperate need for better shipping rates to these small,
independent bookstores. We took that knowledge and entered into the Third Party
Logistics (3PL) industry, developing Freight Management Systems, a service
centered shipping company. Today FMS is the largest company in the L.B. May
family and we now ship everything from books to CAT scan machines.
On a personal level, Larry is originally
from Newark Ohio and is a graduate of the Ohio State University, where he
pitched baseball (at the Newark branch). He moved to Knoxville in the late
70’s, originally working for NPOs like the March of Dimes and the United Way
before entering the book industry. He also attended the MPA Program at the
University of Tennessee. He remains an active Rotarian, where he has served as
President of two different clubs. He has been very involved in our community throughout
the years, everything from to coaching hundreds of kids in baseball to hosting
and fundraising with Young Life, a youth organization and The Christian
Hospitality Network. Today he uses our conference center on Sunday’s to host a
church, which he speaks at regularly. Although he is still very busy at work,
as one always is when they own their own business, these days he is more
mindful about spending time doing the things he loves, like sneaking away to
play golf, where he finds himself at the top of his game, and going on
playdates with his grand-daughter.
Valerie, who has done everything from route
freight to accounting during the early years of the business, was the sole
person behind any and all of our marketing efforts for years, until her
daughters graduated from college. She, along with all three of her children, is
a graduate of the University of Tennessee. She is now fully retired and taking
care of her only grandchild (and is very much enjoying the bliss of being a
“GV”).
Larry and Valerie have been married for
over 35 years and have three children, Tiffany, Travis, and Tori, who have all
worked at the family business in many forms and for many years.
Tiffany, their eldest daughter, is
currently heading up the Wordsworth division, although Tommy Wilhoit, an
employee of LB May for over 20 years (and an un-related nephew to Larry) is
still an integral part of the Wordsworth team.
