Hard books, Musty books, Real books

.

“The idea of 'collections' of media has been central for as long as there have been books, films and music. But once data can be stored in the ‘cloud’ and accessed by your device whenever you need it, the idea of 'owning' something starts to seem strange.”

To be honest the above statement is the thing that seems strange.

I am always hearing of people who have ‘lost everything’ when their ‘device’ crashes!

.

.

I love books, especially old books, hard books, musty books, real books.

My belief is that if you can't read all your books, at any rate handle them, or as it were fondle them.

Peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that if you don’t know what is in them, you at least know where they are.

Let them be your friends, let them at any-rate be your acquaintances.

.

.

Just one of Bernard's libraries.

It has been estimated that 15 years ago, there were about 3,000 second-hand and antiquarian bookshops in Britain. By 2004, there were only about 1,500 left. Everyone in the trade knows someone who has had to close.

So what is happening to those wonderful old musty bookshops. Yes, many are going out of business.

In contrast, Oxfam opened its first bookshop in St Giles, Oxford, in 1987. Today, it has 130 outlets in Britain.

Last year, Oxfam made £19 million from selling books.

Its website boasts that it is selling around 11 million books a year. As a charity, it gets an 80 per cent reduction in business rates. It doesn't have to pay for stock and it attracts thousands of volunteers.

So we can pity these veterans of the trade, who say that they are struggling against the growing professionalism of charity bookshops like Oxfam (described by one disgruntled owner as the "Tesco of second-hand books"). Traditional booksellers have already faced many challenges: the explosion of online competition, increases in rent and rates, and the painstaking rise of the ‘Elf ‘n Safety culture, which has a deep-seated mistrust of the even the step-ladder.

Experience, atmosphere and dedication are all qualities that second-hand bookshops have in abundance, and which customers will continue to value. As long as second-hand bookshops can both adapt and hold on to their traditional strengths, I think customers will be found to keep them alive.

Just a thought.

"Here, in one of the world's most advanced societies, the level of illiteracy among schoolchildren is astonishing. This year, nearly a quarter of a million children left primary school unable to read, properly.”

.