Second-Hand Books: A First-Hand View
Summary
In a quirky and engaging narrative, O. J. M. Davis delivers a highly personal overview of the second-hand book world born out of bitter-sweet experience. From posing the question 'What is a Book For?', he goes on to illuminate every corner of the business, from the obsessiveness of the collector to the hyperbole of catalogues, from manoeuvres at auction houses to tooth-and-nail battles in church halls. There are unexpected not only the stresses and strains of the life of a bookseller (complete with customer put-downs), but the afterlife as well; a discussion of desirable items, but also the undesirable; even a book's-eye view of the world. By turns discursive and anecdotal, it moves from 'faction' to fiction and back again, employing a variety of genres - essay, short story, fantasy, drama. In the final chapter the author goes further still, turning his jaded eye upon himself with a 'posthumous' attack on his own work.
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