Confessions of a Book Seller
by Shaun Bythell
Allen & Unwin
Shaun Bythell owns the Book Shop in the small Scottish town of Wigtown in Galloway. Despite the decline in bookshops worldwide, he continues to buy second-hand books, light the wood fires and field the most incredibly inane questions thrown at him by customers.
This is the sequel to his best-selling The Diary of a Bookseller (2017) which has been translated into twenty languages. He shares his diary where he lists the paltry takings of his shop as well as the continual requests for discounts – from people who would not dream of haggling at supermarkets owner by successful companies, but feel justified in limiting profits of his struggling business.
There is a continual parade of people in the shop, using the upstairs room for gatherings from belly dancing to book clubs and staying at his place. Meet his Jehovah’s Witness assistant Nicky, who shelves Darwin’s books as works of fiction, the neurotic Italian help who works in the shop in exchange for board and lodgings and Flo, the petulant student who occasionally helps out. Then there is Captain, the overweight cat who leaves dead birds around the shop.
Reading Bythell’s musings about the daily challenges of running his bookshop is fascinating and almost as good as being there. He seems to be continually battling on-line book selling platforms and technology in general, the postage system, his staff and the plethora on inane questions fielded at him such as – “Do you have a list of your books, or do I just have to stare at them?”
Despite all the struggles, Bythell comes across as passionate about books and his bookshop. He also cares about his community and helps organise the Wigtown Festival. He acknowledges it is not a business that will generate a great financial reward bit it is interesting that a piece of paper found in a 120 year old book can sell for more than the book itself.
If you day-dream about running your own bookshop, his parents run The Open Book in the middle of Wigtown. It is run as an AirBnB and you can rent the experience or running the bookshop for a week. It attracts people from all over the world and is booked out for the next three years.
“Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy books (which is basically the same thing).” You might not be able to get over to Galloway to experience the dubious joys of running a bookshop, but you can share a year of Shaun Bythell’s life.
Lezly Herbert
