What's the real minority specialist-interest genre of books - the one that bookshops just can't shift? It's literary fiction, says Steerforth... As a bookseller, one of the first lessons I learned when running the fiction section was that the sales of the first volume of Proust's A La Recherche Du Temps ... Read More...
About Author Profile: Steerforth
Bookseller Steerforth recalls his battles with the bibliokepts - both oddball amateurs and professional book thieves... In his memoirs, Jeffrey Bernard used to talk about the distinct social groups that frequented his regular pub, the notorious Coach and Horses in Soho. Alongside the actors, stage hands, dancers and drunks, there were ... Read More...
Like all businesses, bookselling would be fine if it wasn't for the customers. Here Steerforth sets out his Browser's Charter for people who would presume to enter a bookshop... When booksellers get together what do we talk about? Books? Yes, sometimes - I remember waking up on someone's floor after a ... Read More...
Steerforth introduces the police photography of Arnold Odermatt, which elevates everyday mundanity to the level of art... One morning I told a colleague that I'd ordered a book of photographs of the Swiss police force. She looked at me as if I was mad and I could see her point. But perhaps ... Read More...
As everyone who has ever worked anywhere knows, the worst bit of any business is the customers. Here, Steerforth recalls the most absurd questions he was asked when working as a bookseller... The following is a real-life encounter I had with a customer when I was a fledgling bookseller: Customer - I ... Read More...
Bookseller Steerforth handles a great many old books in his line of work. Often he'll find old photos and albums amongst the piles of mildewed tomes: snapshots of lost worlds and forgotten lives. Continuing the series in which he shares some of the more interesting discoveries, here are more of the incredible ... Read More...
Bookseller Steerforth handles a great many old books in his line of work. Often he'll find old photos and albums amongst the piles of mildewed tomes: snapshots of lost worlds and forgotten lives. Continuing the series in which he shares some of the more interesting, surprising and moving discoveries, he finds some ... Read More...
Bookseller Steerforth handles a great many old books in his line of work. Often he'll find old photos amongst the piles of mildewed tomes, snapshots of lost worlds and forgotten lives. Continuing the series in which he shares some of the more interesting, surprising and moving discoveries, he finds a vivid ... Read More...
Bookseller Steerforth handles a great many old books in his line of work. Often he'll find old photos amongst the piles of mildewed tomes, snapshots of lost worlds and forgotten lives. In this new series he shares some of the more interesting, surprising and moving discoveries, beginning with an album ... Read More...
Steerforth discovers a once-popular but now largely forgotten thriller writer with a unique way with words... The truth is that even the most experienced and well-qualified second-hand booksellers know bugger all about most of the titles that we sell. Much of the time, we are not selling Eliot (George or T. ... Read More...
