The Bookseller's Tale

The Bookseller's Tale
Martin Latham
RRP:
NZ$ 32.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 26.39
Paperback
h198 x 129mm - 320pg
7 Oct 2021 UK
International import eta 10-19 days
9780141991238
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
' The right book has a neverendingness, and so does the right bookshop. ' This is the curious story of our long love affair with books. Whether comfort reads or cult novels, we carry them with us, inhale the smell of their pages, scrawl in their margins, and protect them from book thieves and bathwater. Despite the many enemies of reading - from poverty to prejudice, from the Spanish Inquisition to Orwellian regimes - its power has endured across centuries. This is partly thanks to people like Martin Latham, the longest-serving Waterstones manager (' It' s not a career, it' s a philosophic path' ). In A Bookseller' s Tale, Martin uncovers the history of our collective book-obsession, and introduces us to the Canterbury bookshop that has been his working home for three decades, complete at various points with two rocking horses, a hammock for staff naps and an excavated Roman bath-house floor. Along the way, we encounter itinerant book pedlars, smugglers, obsessive collectors, librarians, miners, Rabelaisian monks and even the Rolling Stones. Part cultural history, part literary love letter and part reluctant memoir, this is the tale of one bookseller and many, many books.
The Bookseller' s Tale is a joy. I read the first chapters in a single binge-read, and each chapter instantly became my favourite . . . Individually, the paragraphs are threads of the very best trivia: collectively, they become a cultural history of the book. Memoir-flecked, magpie-minded, relentlessly engaging . . . I loved this gnarly old bookshop in nifty book form. -- David Mitchell, author of CLOUD ATLAS Martin Latham, who has sold [books] for more than 30 years, has done the tradition proud. His exploration of the history of books, and why we love them so much, is packed with touching stories and fascinating facts . . . Underpinning the whole narrative is that simple pleasure, the love of a good book. -- Mark Mason * Daily Mail * I loved this book, and I don' t think I' ve read a book which is more crammed full of fantastic stories, interesting ideas, great quotes, great insights. It' s not just on every page, it' s in every paragraph. -- Simon Mayo, Scala Radio For sheer enthusiasm, it will be hard to beat Martin Latham, bookseller at Waterstones Canterbury for three decades. His The Bookseller' s Tale is a collection of tales about famous writers and bibliophiles, but above all a love letter to pages between covers. -- Paul Laity and Justine Jordan * The Guardian * A celebration of reading and readers and all things bookish. Entertaining, erudite, eccentric - The Bookseller' s Tale is a delight. -- Alison Light, author of COMMON PEOPLE: THE HISTORY OF AN ENGLISH FAMILY Aside from being a history of books, this is a love letter, larded with charming anecdotes. There' s AS Byatt buying a Terry Pratchett Discworld novel and admitting she can' t be seen doing it in London, and another customer having a heart attack in his shop and saying it would be "a great place to go". * Evening Standard * A shared love of books creates a fellowship that transcends race, culture, gender, age and class. This book, written with wit, elegance and understanding, by one who knows what he is talking about, celebrates the abiding pleasure, nourishment and comradeship that books provide. -- Salley Vickers, author of THE LIBRARIAN Delightful . . . a love letter to publishing. -- Jack Blackburn * The Times *
Martin Latham has been a bookseller for thirty-five years. He has a PhD in Indian history, and taught at Hertfordshire University before turning to bookselling. He is proud to be responsible for the biggest petty-cash claim in Waterstones' history, when he paid for the excavation of a Roman bath-house floor under his bookshop. Martin' s other books include Kent' s Strangest Tales and Londonopolis.
Status: No local stock, title imported to order
ISBN-13: 9780141991238
Published: 7 Oct 2021
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Penguin Books
Publisher: Penguin Books
Format: Paperback
Height: 198mm
Width: 129mm
Spine: 15mm
Weight: 200g
Pages: 320

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