Larry Clifford doesn’t just read books. He harvests them.

Libraries, bibliophiles and book collectors all over New England know him as the “book guy,” and they keep him on a short list, calling him whenever there are boxes of old books that need to be hauled off.

Instead of organizing his titles alphabetically by author name, he sorts them by color, texture and pattern. Instead of cloth and thread, he makes “BiblioQuilts” out of covers, spines and pages.

A number of these quilts are on display in the Steir Family Gallery at Cape Elizabeth’s Thomas Memorial Library through October. He’s shown his work in commercial galleries and libraries in Maine, including the Bangor Public Library and the Belfast Free Library.

“It’s such a perfect library show,” said Rachel Davis, the director of Thomas Memorial Library.

Clifford, based in Hampden, has always been a collector, always admiring older books. In high school, he started frequenting book sales, auctions and estate sales. It eventually became an addiction.

“Over the years, I’ve accumulated a large number of old, moldy books that have been wallowing in our basement,” he said. Tens of thousands was his estimate.

His wife told him he needed to do something about it.

In 2020, Clifford, who has a background in fine art and medical illustration, realized there was probably an art project there. Though not a quilter, he admired the intricacies of the designs, and he researched traditional and contemporary American quilting.

“The audience I’m trying to reach is at the library,” he said. “People coming in the door appreciate books. Many of them appreciate art, and when they see the combination of them, they get excited.”

Many of the books Clifford uses were destined for the landfill. “It’s a rescue mission of sorts,” Clifford said. For a 2-by-2-foot piece, he uses parts from 72 different books.

“I always feel sad as a librarian when we have to discard books, but it’s just part of the work of a library,” Davis said. “It’s very cool to see the books being recreated into art in this way.”

It took Clifford a year or two to figure out his creative process, and it’s a tedious one. For each project, he searches through his inventory of old books to find the desired color or pattern. Armed with an X-Acto knife, he cuts the quilt pieces by hand. He used to use a laser cutter, but he switched back after the edges got singed a few times.

It typically takes him a month to complete a 4-by-4-foot piece.

When he’s working, he covers his giant work table with piles of different colors and textures.

“You could almost envision it as a traditional artist, a painter surrounded by little buckets of paint,” he said. “I’ll reach for a specific shade or pattern of blue.” On the most recent project, he had 36 to 48 piles on his table.

Though he cherry-picks the pieces to use in each quilt, Clifford holds onto all parts of the book. He’s currently looking into ways to recycle the brittle yellow pages into his own paper.

“My goal is to use every piece of every book and not throw anything away,” he said.

And he’s proud to be a hoarder.

“We live in a disposable society,” he said. “Whether it’s appliances or books, people are very quick to toss stuff out. To me, a lot of these things have character, and they should have an extended life.”

Even though he’s running out of room, Clifford is constantly growing his collection. He picked up a few boxes from the Blue Hill Public Library last week.

“I love the hunt. I love going out and talking with folks,” he said. “Clearly, they’ve got a love for books as well, and they appreciate what I’m doing with them.”

Sometimes, he makes commissioned pieces, often for people looking to remember someone through their ephemera. He’s working with a client who wants him to make two quilts out of her late father’s cherished car and driver magazines, one for her and one for her brother.

Shari Ellis commissioned a piece because she could not stop thinking about Clifford’s work. She’s an amateur quilter, and she was impressed by his ability to make geometric shapes out of books.

“The printed page is just so special,” she said.

Ellis visited a piece online at Clifford’s gallery website at least once a month after deciding not to purchase it. Her husband surprised her with a similar piece for her birthday. Now it hangs in the dining room in her house in Falmouth, “somewhere we can see it constantly,” she said.

Clifford charges $400 per square foot. “I’ll never get rich from it,” he said. At this point, he’s hoping to cover the money for gas to pick up books and a little bit of his time.