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A 'bananas' order for 5000 obscure book titles fuels suspicion

A ‘bananas’ order for 5,000 obscure titles from a bookshop in Galway fuels suspicion

irishtimes.com

August 10, 2026

4 min read

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49/100

Summary

Tomás Kenny of Kennys bookshop in Galway received an unusual online order for 5,000 books, featuring a mix of eclectic titles, including high-quality non-fiction and popular guides. Independent booksellers across Europe are expressing concern over the strange nature of large orders like this one.

Key Takeaways

Independent booksellers in Europe are experiencing unusual large orders for obscure titles, raising suspicions about their origins and purposes.
AI company Anthropic has been linked to a mass-order phenomenon, reportedly acquiring and scanning millions of books for training its AI models, leading to concerns about copyright violations.
German booksellers suspect that automated systems, potentially AI-driven bots, are responsible for placing these bulk orders, focusing on books with ISBN numbers.
European booksellers believe that the mass orders may be a strategy to collect books for shipment to the US, where copyright laws allow for scanning and destruction under "fair use" policies.

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Community Sentiment

Mixed

Positives

If they keep the scans or transcripts, that's likely an improvement on the status quo — more access to lost media could be a game changer.
Digitizing these books like Google Books could be an instant good move for companies, helping preserve knowledge in a digital age.
Retailers could thrive on this bulk order, even if some titles are outdated — it's a win for stock and sales.

Concerns

Forcing companies to destroy scans after training would be a disaster, leaving potential lost media in the dust.
There's a strong suspicion that these orders are part of a shady operation, especially since companies aren't compensating copyright owners.
German copyright law complicates everything — scanning books for AI use could land companies in hot water, raising ethical concerns.