The Pleasure of Old Bookstores...






The pleasure to be derived from poking about an old books shop is like drinking from a well whose waters are ever bubbling forth pure and cool. Every time one visits the place there is some fresh volume added, some new treasure to be examined, some interesting theme to talk about with the bookseller.  Even if there be no new books, are not the old ones like dear friends ever waiting to be looked at?  There is a delight in just being in the presence of old books; one feels at home in the best society; the smell of the old leather binding is good, the homely honest letterpress is better, but the carrying away in one’s pocket the volume as one’s own is best of all.  (R. M. Williamson, Bits from an Old Bookshop. John Menzies, Edinburgh, 1904) 

Found on page 67 of Remainders of the Day: A Bookshop Diary by Shaun Bythell. Boston: Godine, 2022. 

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