The Diary of a Bookseller

FRIDAY, 2 JANUARY

Online orders: 7

Books found: 4

Nicky turned up wearing her black ski suit.

One of the orders we found today was for a book called The Universal Singular. Nicky tidied it up before she sent it out because the top edge was slightly dusty.

Colwyn Bay Bookshop’s stock failed to meet the reserve on eBay. They have re-listed them at £14,500, with a note saying ‘THIS HAS TO BE THE FINAL REDUCTION’. I am quite sure they will not realise that figure. The mega-listers are paying public libraries a fraction of that, roughly 15p per kilogram. The Colwyn Bay collection is working out at roughly £1.20 per kilogram. None of the big dealers will touch it at that price.

Anna persuaded me to take her to Glasgow to see the film of her favourite book, Into the Woods, which has been turned into a Disney musical. This is my idea of hell: I dislike musicals and I’m no fan of Disney, so the combination of the two will unquestionably result in a film that is the cinematic equivalent of a week in the waterboarding wing of Guantánamo Bay. But we are going next Friday.

The young man with the beard who had been in on 3 November wanting to dispose of 2,000 books from a farmhouse near Newton Stewart came back in with his girlfriend and introduced himself as Ewan and his girlfriend as Sarah. He asked if I could look at the books tomorrow.

Nicky stayed the night and we drank a large scoop of beer between us.

Till total £145

15 customers