The Diary of a Bookseller

FRIDAY, 10 OCTOBER

Online orders: 3

Books found: 2

The missing book from today’s orders was yet another one that we had failed to delist before sending our old warehouse stock to Ian.

At 11 a.m. a customer came to the counter with some maps of Ireland, demanding to know the year in which each was published. He then started the dreaded ‘Let me tell you why I am looking for old maps and books about this area, it’s because I am doing family history research and my great-grandfather …’ for about five minutes before I could explain that the maps were undated, but probably from around 1910.

I am going to get a mask and paint ‘I DON’T CARE’ on the forehead and put it on when such occasions arise in the future.

Someone in the planning department came to inspect the book spirals. It appears that a complaint has been made about them, so now I have to get planning permission. She was remarkably decent about it all and said that if it were up to her she would just ignore the fact that I hadn’t applied for permission for them, but because there has been a formal complaint and the shop is a listed building, they have no choice but to go through the process.

The Guardian published ‘Weird and wonderful bookshops worldwide’; we are number 3 again. I’m not sure if these things go in cycles, or whether bookshops are suddenly becoming fashionable places. Perhaps it is the hipster movement driving the trend to be seen with vinyl and real books instead of iPods and Kindles.

Till total £133

15 customers