Booksellers
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Booksellers are very popular not only in the city, where I estimate there to be about one hundred and fifty booksellers, but also in the country towns where there are close to three hundred booksellers. Despite the number of shops, books are in high demand as the educated public are reading more and more for leisure. Mr. Dunton, who owns a bookshop in Little Britain, receives several letters a day from country gentlemen requesting particular books as he comes across them. The booksellers are busy men, however. They are not only the publishers, but they employ the printers and commission the authors. I visit Mr. Dunton when I can, and inside his shop, as in most other booksellers, goods lay about unbound and pinned up in loose sheets throughout the store. If a customer likes the look of these, he may sit in the shop and read right there on the stools that Mr. Dunton and the other owners have available for that purpose. The customer may also buy the loose sheets and have them bound privately, or he can order a book from the bookseller to be bound for him. Often times, title pages are stuck up on the walls as advertisements until they are given out to passers by. Unsuccessful sheets are sold off to grocers for use as wrapping paper or to cookshops to make pie-cases. {24} |
If you are interested in a book, you do not need to necessarily go to Mr. Dunton's and stores like his. We have a flourishing second-hand book trade here in London. These dealers also encourage customers to browse or read books in the store and they may even put half-read books aside until next time. Many of these dealers sell other things besides books, including almanacs and magazines. {25}
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