Bookseller’s $6M Boulder mansion topped region’s home sales in July

The founder of Books Are Fun is moving on to the next chapter.

Earl Kaplan and his wife Lily sold their Boulder home at 770 Circle Drive for $6.1 million last month, according to MLS, earning the top spot on BusinessDen’s July top home sales list.

Kaplan started Books Are Fun, which sells books and merchandise through temporary displays in schools and businesses, in his home in Iowa in 1990. In 1999, he sold the business to Reader’s Digest for $380 million, according to previous coverage.

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In 2005, when his non-compete from the sale ended, he started Louisville-based Imagine Nation Books, a wholesale distributor of books, periodicals and newspapers. Imagine Nation Books later purchased the assets of Books Are Fun from Reader’s Digest in 2008 for $17.5 million, according to previous coverage.

Kaplan purchased the 8,066-square-foot Boulder home on a 1.29-acre lot for $3.2 million in 2005, according to property records. The five-bedroom, six-bathroom residence is nestled against the Flatirons and features a rooftop deck, heated floors, a chef’s kitchen and outdoor water features, according to the listing.

“Dealing with the city of Boulder to try to replicate that size house in that area would be really difficult as far as city regulations go,” said listing agent Brian Delaney with Delaney Realty Group. “It’s for someone who was interested in that amount of square footage, but didn’t want to jump through all the hoops.”

A deed that would identify the buyer had not been recorded as of press time. Patrick Brown with Compass Boulder represented the buyer.