Reading and good secondhand bookshops

[presta]

When it comes to second hand books, my father's collection here on the shelves would keep me going a lifetime, even after giving away enough football & cricket books to fill the boot of my Carlton. We used to have a pleasant little independent bookshop here, but Amazon saw it off eventually. They tried to hang on with just the stationery & art side of the business for a while, but it didn't work.

Try eBay. Some of the secondhand books are in mint condition.

I have a few used books off Amazon in mint condition, although one was withdrawn from the University of Surrey library without ever being borrowed - because 33 pages had been bound upside down.

It would be a fun book to sit and read on the train.

I have a complete aversion to High Street shopping

I don't mind as long as it's the sort of shop where you can go in, browse, and walk out unnoticed.

Another bookshop that's a shadow of its former self is Chaters Motoring Bookshop

Back in the 1970/80s, Chelmsford technical library used to stock the workshop manuals published by the manufacturers, they were much more comprehensive, about three times larger, and more reliable than the Haynes ones. I used the Ford one to correct all the torque figures in my Haynes manual.

 

[All uphill]

Not much use to anyone here, but interesting, I think.

Last summer I was in Groningen in the Netherlands, heard about a book event and went along.

There was a huge selection and all books were €2.50 per kilogramme! I got two books of Seamus Heaney's poems for €3 and had to carry them round on my bike for the next five days.

It made the point to me that books rapidly lose market value.

 

[Time Waster]

Current scrap price of brass is £2.00-3.50 per kg I saw on a dealer's site. So books in Netherlands are about as valuable as brass! Interesting!

 

[Profpointy]

Isn't Foyles a chain?

Charing Cross Road has "the" Foyles with a couple of much smaller branches in a couple of places, so only a chain in a very pedantic sense

Sadly I don't think Foyles has the shambolic charm, nor the range it once did. it's much better organised, but the heaps of random and often damaged books had a certain something, and I don't think they carry anything like as much obscure dead stock as they did

 

[Reynard]

Charing Cross Road has "the" Foyles with a couple of much smaller branches in a couple of places, so only a chain in a very pedantic sense

Sadly I don't think Foyles has the shambolic charm, nor the range it once did. it's much better organised, but the heaps of random and often damaged books had a certain something, and I don't think they carry anything like as much obscure dead stock as they did

Only new stock now, in a much smaller shop. Looks swanky, but now no different to any other large bookshop. And most other book shops have a much better selection of motoring and sci-fi stuff than Foyles.

 

[Reynard]

It made the point to me that books rapidly lose market value.

It depends. Most mass-market books do, and it's always worth waiting a few months after something you want to read comes out and then pick it up on a boot sale or in a charity shop for a fraction of the cover price.

Other volumes, usually specialist with a limited print run, will hold their value and / or increase in value. It's all down to demand. And, sadly due to fashion and changes in trends in what collectors actually want.

Being friends with a book dealer of 40 years' experience is certainly an eye-opener in this respect.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Close to you…Morecambe. I usually come away with something from there.

Do you mean the Old Pier Bookshop??
I was in it early last year, whilst we stayed at the Midand Hotel

Re; BarterBooks, in Alnwick (Northumberland)
It's not the entire station though, a plant hire company uses the other end
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/a/alnwick/index.shtml

 

[mistyoptic]

There’s a good second hand bookshop in Pickering, opposite the NYM station. Disorganised but good value.

Also a good one in Ironbridge. Well organised but not cheap

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

For anything motoring, motorsport and transport-related (including cycling), I highly recommend Simon Lewis Transport Books

Simon has singlehanded (almost!) in recent years, conspired to make me run out of shelf space...

There's still 'Vintage Motorshop' in Batley (between Dewsbury & Bradford, in West Yorkshire)
https://www.vintagemotorshop.co.uk/
I've used it a few times, & p/x'd a few books there myself

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I was in Sedbergh and there's books being sold all over the place. Craft shop there's books in the corner, clothing store has a room of books, another had books on travel/hiking/climbing. Then there's Westwood Books, 70,000 books new to very old. I came out with a Loeb classical library book, well when you see them it's rude not to!

We'll be staying not too far away in June, so Sedbergh's on the visiting list (it's probably 30 years since I've been)
Granted, it's not far in a straight-line, but it means a trip over 'Fleet Moss', into Hawes, along the A684, to Garsdale, then a few miles further

 

[Reynard]

There's still 'Vintage Motorshop' in Batley (between Dewsbury & Bradford, in West Yorkshire)
https://www.vintagemotorshop.co.uk/
I've used it a few times, & p/x'd a few books there myself

Ah, I've bought some bits from their shop on the Bay of E of a time or two.

 

[alicat]

Can't believe we've got to three pages without someone mentioning Scarthin Books in Cromford. Mix of new and secondhand, lovely atmosphere and café - knocks Barter Books into a cocked hat.

 

[Salad Dodger]

For anyone visiting the Kent coast, I commend to you:
The Chapel in Broadstairs. A second hand bookshop packed with all kinds of books, which is also a micro pub, selling an ever changing range of beers and ciders.
And
The Old Bank Bookshop in Margate. Run by Pilgrims Hospice, it claims to hold 3,000 books in stock. It's very close to the seafront, and only a couple of hundred yards from the Turner art gallery. (Caution: I believe the Turner still closes on Mondays).

 

[stephec]

There's still 'Vintage Motorshop' in Batley (between Dewsbury & Bradford, in West Yorkshire)
https://www.vintagemotorshop.co.uk/
I've used it a few times, & p/x'd a few books there myself

Is that still open, I used to go to Fox's for work so past it regularly, but even ten years ago it always looked shut?

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Is that still open, I used to go to Fox's for work so past it regularly, but even ten years ago it always looked shut?

Open by appointment
It seems that most of its business is mail order nowadays