Books bought & sold

Bill’s sky-covered book shop in centre of Montpellier.
L'esplanade Charles-de-Gaulle. Open tomorrow.

I hope to be back on the esplanade tomorrow
with a fresh stock of great
paperbacks.

Who will buy my ‘An Unsuitable Boy’?
Some books don’t sell. That’s a sad inescapable fact for any book dealer, which means
some books must go. We are always culling. Loose binding or some other defect
may make the decision easy. But what about those books in near pristine condition.
They may even be first editions and regarded as modern classics. Books like my
copy of Vikram Seth’s ‘A Suitable Boy,’ whose 1349 pages weigh in at a little less than two kilograms.
This is essentially the problem, of course. Exorbitant postage costs mean that the book is unlikely to be sold online. And bibliophiles who encounter my copy (at a knock down price) on my stand at book markets are no more inclined to make a purchase. And this is because Seth’s great Indian literary saga is a veritable tome; a wrist ache if not read from a lectern. It may be a fine work of fiction but the copy I have is just about unsellable. What to do? I have no need of a door stop, or of a paper paper weight. I can’t keep taking it to markets. It takes up the space of three or four saleable books. I am thus reduced to having heretical thoughts like surreptitiously binning it or breaking the bindings and tearing whole chapters out, so as to read in comfort what the critics have compared to War and Peace. Making it into a serial novel, you might say.

Who will buy my ‘An Unsuitable Boy’?
Some books don’t sell. That’s a sad inescapable fact for any book dealer, which means
some books must go. We are always culling. Loose binding or some other defect
may make the decision easy. But what about those books in near pristine condition.
They may even be first editions and regarded as modern classics. Books like my
copy of Vikram Seth’s ‘A Suitable Boy,’ whose 1349 pages weigh in at a little less than two kilograms.
This is essentially the problem, of course. Exorbitant postage costs mean that the book is unlikely to be sold online. And bibliophiles who encounter my copy (at a knock down price) on my stand at book markets are no more inclined to make a purchase. And this is because Seth’s great Indian literary saga is a veritable tome; a wrist ache if not read from a lectern. It may be a fine work of fiction but the copy I have is just about unsellable. What to do? I have no need of a door stop, or of a paper paper weight. I can’t keep taking it to markets. It takes up the space of three or four saleable books. I am thus reduced to having heretical thoughts like surreptitiously binning it or breaking the bindings and tearing whole chapters out, so as to read in comfort what the critics have compared to War and Peace. Making it into a serial novel, you might say.

On Ping Pong and Other Addictions

On Ping Pong and Other Addictions

On Ping Pong and Other Addictions

On Ping Pong and Other Addictions now available in paperback.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ping-Pong-Other-Addictions/dp/1976955793

Best wishes,
Bill

On Ping Pong and Other Addictions

On Ping Pong and Other Addictions

On Ping Pong and Other Addictions This strange tale of sporting obsession is set in a Habit Hostel where addictions aren’t considered a vice. Provided you stick to the one to which you have been assigned. Which Mustard Wycombe Jones, middle aged narrator of On Ping Pong and Other Addictions, is patently struggling to do. F...

On Ping Pong and Other Addictions

Too cold to sell books outside.
So trying to sell my latest on line:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B078PL58KP

Happy New Year to one and all

On Ping Pong and Other Addictions This strange tale of sporting obsession is set in a Habit Hostel where addictions aren’t considered a vice. Provided you stick to the one to which you have been assigned. Which Mustard Wycombe Jones, middle aged narrator of On Ping Pong and Other Addictions, is patently struggling to do. F...

Tomorrow I won't be in Montpellier, I will be selling English books at a book fair in Saint Guilhem le Désert, a beautiful medieval village.

Tomorrow I won't be in Montpellier, I will be selling English books at a book fair in Saint Guilhem le Désert, a beautiful medieval village.

Tomorrow I won't be in Montpellier, I will be selling English books at a book fair in Saint Guilhem le Désert, a beautiful medieval village.

Tomorrow I won't be in Montpellier, I will be selling English books at a book fair in Saint Guilhem le Désert, a beautiful medieval village.

Tomorrow I won't be in Montpellier, I will be selling English books at a book fair in Saint Guilhem le Désert, a beautiful medieval village.

Tomorrow I won't be in Montpellier, I will be selling English books at a book fair in Saint Guilhem le Désert, a beautiful medieval village.

Too hot here. I’m heading for much cooler climes - North Wales.
Will be back selling books on the esplanade on the 26th August.

Books bought & sold updated their business hours.

Books bought & sold updated their business hours.

Books bought & sold updated their information in their About section.

Books bought & sold updated their information in their About section.

Timeline photos

We hardy bouquinistes will sell books in all temperatures – even 36 degrees Celsius.
Will be on the esplanade tomorrow in my old Legionnaire sun hat.

We hardy bouquinistes will sell books in all temperatures – even 36 degrees Celsius.
Will be on the esplanade tomorrow in my old Legionnaire sun hat.

Timeline photos

How many second-hand books in English can you fit in a Renault megane?
Come to the esplanade tomorrow and find out.

How many second-hand books in English can you fit in a Renault megane?
Come to the esplanade tomorrow and find out.

Thunderstorms forecast so I won’t be selling books
on the esplanade tomorrow.
My sky-covered shop
is somewhat vulnerable to rain.
☹️

Timeline photos

Loading up car (with new alternator ) for a big day in Montpellier selling second hand books.

Loading up car (with new alternator ) for a big day in Montpellier selling second hand books.

Sorry, I can’t make it tomorrow. Alternator in Mazda playing up.
J'espère que le soleil brille et qu'il y a beaucoup de livres vendus.

It’s likely to be a rainy Saturday in Montpellier so I won’t be on the esplanade tomorrow selling second hand books in English. Which means no blind dates with a book! Sorry.

It’s likely to be a rainy Saturday in Montpellier so I won’t be on the esplanade tomorrow selling second hand books in English. Which means no blind dates with a book! Sorry.

Very pleased to find an early edition of 'An Essay on Man,' a poem by Alexander Pope.
Less pleased to find that an insect had quite literally digested Pope’s words -
an intellectual book worm of the worst kind.

‘Learn from small People’s genius, policies
The Ant’s republic, and the realms of Bees.’

Yeah, yeah.

Books bought & sold updated their website address.

Books bought & sold updated their website address.