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There
are few aesthetic and literary pleasures that compare to browsing in a
second-hand bookshop by Alexander Larman, The Spectator columnists & writers.
Photo: Spectator.co.uk
While it is more or less a given what books will be found in a new bookshop, one of the chief joys of going second hand is that it’s entirely unpredictable what you'll emerge with. Sometimes, the browser will leave empty-handed, but more often than not – and I speak from personal experience here – ‘a quick look’ will turn into the purchase of a dozen interesting volumes and a solid half an hour’s perusal.
Yet the industry, once so much part of every town and city, has been existentially threatened by the growth of the charity bookshop trade over the past two decades, not least the Oxfam bookshops. I would not seek to denigrate either these excellent shops – the Oxfam on St Giles in Oxford remains one of my favourite places to browse – or the intention behind them, but the advantages they face (free stock, volunteer staff, tax breaks from the government) means that many second-hand bookshop proprietors, their reluctant rivals, have either shut their bricks and mortar shops, or retired altogether...
Outstanding second-hand bookshops in the United Kingdom:
Source: Spectator.co.uk
