The Diary of a Bookseller

APRIL

Our shop had an exceptionally interesting stock, yet I doubt whether ten per cent of our customers knew a good book from a bad one.

George Orwell, ‘Bookshop Memories’

Of course, one person’s good book is another person’s bad book; the matter is entirely subjective. One of my friends is a fine jewellery dealer in London. I once asked him how he decided what to buy and what not to buy when he was at auction. He explained that when he’d started out in the trade, he bought things that looked inoffensive and that – he considered – would have universal appeal. He quickly learned that these did not sell particularly well and rarely commanded a high price, so he changed his strategy – ‘Now, if I see something which evokes a strong reaction in me, I’ll buy it. Whether I absolutely adore it or utterly hate it, I can guarantee that I’ll get a good price for it.’

Plenty of booksellers specialise. I don’t. The shop has as wide a range of subjects and titles as I can cram into it. I hope that there’s something for everybody, but even with 100,000 titles in stock many people still leave empty-handed. Whether someone buys a Mills and Boon for £2.50 or a bashed paperback copy of Spinoza’s Ethics for £2.50 is irrelevant. Each will, I hope, derive equal pleasure from the experience of reading.