The Diary of a Bookseller
A well-produced book that demonstrates the very real pleasure of reading, writes
In Shaun Bythell’s second-hand bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland, there is a mounted trophy. The plaque reads ‘‘Amazon Kindle. Shot by Shaun Bythell. 22nd August 2014, Near Newton Stewart.’’ Above it, the e-reader has been blasted to shattered plastic.
The ‘‘hunting display’’ is entirely emblematic of Bythell’s sharp humour, drollery, and partisan point of view.
The Diary of a Bookseller is a very readable account of owning Scotland’s largest second-hand bookstore, The Bookshop, at a time when huge online businesses are taking over the trade.
Bythell retells the story that Jeff Bezos had registered the name ‘‘relentless.com’’ before being persuaded that it lacked the necessary touchy-feely component and opting for Amazon instead.
David Herkt.
Shaun Bythell Profile Books, $33
Owning a store is a precarious existence, even though Wigtown, a small remote town, has established an annual book week to bring visitors.
The Diary of a Bookseller gives an account of the social, cultural, and financial consequences, but it is in Bythell’s portraiture of the shop’s clientele that the memoir finds its heart.
One customer walks in the door and asks for an obscure volume published in 1834. When Bythell miraculously produces it from his stock, the customer promptly turns on his heels and leaves without another word.
Eccentrics swap hand-made walking sticks for bookshop credit, the deaf phone up with inquiries but can’t hear replies, and a customer wants to sell his copy of Biggles Takes It Rough.
When Bythell purchases a box of 1960s porn magazines (much sought after by collectors), the now-elderly seller puts one into his hands as she leaves. ‘‘See if you can spot me,’’ she says.
There is also his shop assistant, Nicky, who has tendencies to bring in food right on expiry date or ‘‘liberated’’ from supermarket skips to share with him.
As a character, Bythell’s grumpiness is endearing. His view of the secondhand trade is realistic and alert to the eccentricities of everyday life. He describes the serendipity of discovering a rare volume in an unexpected place, propping up a piece of furniture or covered in dust and cat-fur in a neglected house.
The weathers and landscapes of the western coast of Scotland are welldescribed as Bythell drives through sleet and snow with a van-load of books or hobby-fishes in the pools of an exclusive salmon river.
His report of the people and events of the Wigtown annual book fair as they celebrate a shared love for books and writers is a real appreciation of a unique world.
Ultimately, The Diary of a Bookseller is a well-produced memoir that transcends categories and amply demonstrates the very real pleasure of reading.