I was warned there'd be a 'lot of lugging books about', but hey, this 'old man' isn't quite so feeble (yet) as to not be able to manage that. Most of the lifting involves setting up outside, of course. Individual shelves filled with books have to be stacked either side of the door and the kids books dragged out in their crates. I curse them the most, usually - 'Bloody kids!', but in truth, they sell well.
Mind you, some kids books are simply priced way beyond what people are willing to pay. Such as Mr Impossible (ironically). As I was tidying up outside on Thursday, I overheard a woman say to her partner when he asked how much it was: "One-fifty. I think that's quite a lot." People funny, for sure.
On the subject of pricing, I'm amazed how many people (some every day) don't 'get' what a second-hand book really is, so they enquire about the price. Er..."The price is written on the inside front cover" I say, always politely, of course. I've also had a classic question which I didn't think I'd ever hear again since selling second-hand books on the market in the early-90s. Back then a woman couldn't believe I wanted £2.50 for a book clearly priced at 75p in the 70s. "It says seventy-five pee on the back!" Ha-ha. So, last week a young girl flips the books over and points to its original price (something like 75p again). "Is that the price?" She asks. I smile, shaking my head. "No, the price is written inside the cover."
I never judge these people harshly. I am, after all, an old hand at used book-buying, whereas to some it's a new, novel (geddit?) experience. Thanks god for such people since they still help sales, despite their ignorance.
A girl in her twenties reveals an interest in novels set at sea. She hasn't read many and wants a suggestion. I immediately think of Joseph Conrad, who she's never read and take her to where a few of his books reside, pulling out The Nigger of the Narcissus. It is, after all, "the very finest and strongest fiction of the sea and sea-life that our language possesses", as Henry James once said and I read it last year. I can't agree with James, sea-faring novels not being something I've read many of. Moby-Dick is the only other one, actually, but surely that would be a big challenge to throw at the girl. She's visibly shocked by the title.
"Can I be seen reading that in public?" She asks with a smile.
"Don't be put off by the title," I reply and leave her to read the back.
She didn't buy the book. Perhaps she couldn't allow herself to be seen reading it after all. I pity the young, who feel they must buckle under the peer pressure of not being able to touch anything which might be consider politically incorrect, if only by the title.
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