A book stand is a great gift idea for every true lover of books. Currently tendered designs vary from simple wire devices like the Fold’N'Stow that holds a book at adjustable angles on virtually any flat surface, to the elegantly conceived and executed LEVO Bookholder that retains your book in either a floor standing design or a clamp-on model that securely clamps to any table, desk, or counter top. Many book stand designs function well with hard cover books, but most also can function quite nicely with paperback books when they are mounted within book holders like an OpenPage.

The Fold’N'Stow is among the least expensive of book stands. It folds compactly and comes with it’s own plastic pouch designed for easy use in a three ring binder. It may be positioned on a counter top for recipe books, or the top of any desk, table, workstation, bench, etc. Wire arms with page holders swing from the back plane to secure the covers and open pages of your book, and, by adjusting how far apart the arms are, smaller and larger books are readily accommodated. The back of the stand also has horizontal pieces that can be moved to adjust the angle at which the book is held relative the substrate.

The most popular model of the LEVO book stand is the LEVO floor standing model, which includes a weighted base on casters for easy movement from chair side to bedside to desk side to beside the kitchen counter top. Wherever you position it, the LEVO will position in just about any position you can imagine. With a bookboard that can be moved into virtually any position, and combined with a book mounting system that will securely hold your book or other reading material, even in an inverted position, the LEVO makes reading truly hands-free just about anywhere.

The LEVO Clamp-on model is just as handy as its floor standing sibling, but provides a clamp that firmly holds just about any desk, table, counter top, work bench or other flat surface up to 2 inches thick, and offers the same movements as the floor stand model, without the range of telescoping movements vertically. By keeping your reading materials up off the surface to which it is attached, the clamp-on design saves the weight and expense of the weighted rolling floor base while still freeing up work space, since neither your book nor your book holder rest on the surface.

Even though there are other book stand designs now available, the Fold’N'Stow and LEVO designs have withstood the test of time and function well under long term use.