NIGEL BEALE NOTA BENE BOOKS

Penelope

Livingston

at the Old Tampa

Book

Company has a  50% off  'section' sale once a month or so, rotating through those categories whose books are overflowing off the shelves. I was lucky enough to be in the store when she put art, poetry and lit crit on sale!

Lackington’s Temple of the Muses.

Here’s my latest piece at the Guardian on-line:

Now that the holly is finally decked out, many of you will doubtless be hustling to your favourite bookstores to pick up the latest books of the year. While some will make a point of patronising local independents – those charming ones with the unrivalled personal service – more of us will, with perhaps a twinge of guilt, leg our way through the crowded aisles of Waterstone’s …

 There was, of course, a time when these big, high street shops weren’t around – at least not where I live, in Canada. I well remember the day the first one came to Ottawa. They gutted an old Woolworths downtown, several blocks away from the Peace Tower, and when the Chapter’s store finally opened it wowed all who entered: deep, pillowy armchairs, gleaming hardwood floors, the scent and sound of Starbucks percolating up and down in the sleek adjoining coffee shop … and furlongs of multidimensional, multi-topical books lining the walls. It was a kind of mod-library where you could hang out, buy what you read, and make an afternoon of it.

Despite the collateral damage of some small publishers being screwed over, a narrowed selection of titles, and the eventual rationing of stuffed seats, this place, and others like it, revolutionised…

For the rest, please go here.

Charles Knight in Shadows of the Old Booksellers (published in 1865) tells us of a bookshop in Finsbury Square, Moorgate, named ‘The Dome of the Muses’ belonging to bookseller James Lackington:

"A dome rises from the centre, on top of which a flag is flying…Over the principal entrance is inscribed "Cheapest Booksellers in the World’…We enter the vast area, whose dimensions are to be measured by the assertion that a coach and six might be driven round it. In the centre is an enormous circular counter…We ascend a broad staircase, which leads to ‘The Lounging Rooms’, and to the first of a series of circular galleries, lighted from the lantern of the dome, which also lights the ground floor. Hundreds, even thousands of volumes are displayed on shelves running round their walls. As we mount higher and higher, we find commoner books, in shabbier bindings; but there is still the same order preserved, each book being numbered according to a printed catalogue."

from The Book Browser’s Guide by Roy Harley Lewis.

The law [1981 Loi Lang] stipulates that the publisher has to print the price of the book on the back cover, and retailers are not allowed to offer more than a 5% discount on that price. It is the reason behind the quality of books published and the abundance of independent bookstores in France; it prevents large retailers like the Fnac or Amazon from putting small bookstores out of business; in theory it is also meant to prevent consumers from going to small bookstores to check out a book and then buying it in discount stores or, now, online.

The editor Sabine Wespieser, who owns her own publishing company, says that in the US, houses of her size can only function with the support of non-profit foundations, whereas in France, her books can compete on the market alongside the big publishers."

Whist in Chicago recently I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Levi Stahl (of University of Chicago Press fame). Our conversation should be up on the site shortly. Levi supplied me with the addresses of a number of bookstores for me to photograph, including the not to be missed Seminary Co-op. I notice that Scott Esposito has a post on the Co-op today, in which he tells us that "The Co-op has now " premiered a feature called UpFront. They have "asked our friends from University Presses to highlight for you their favorite upcoming books." Here are their recommendations for February and March. And if you do find something worthwhile on their list, I’m sure they’d appreciate if you bought it through their online store."

Here’s what we came up with on the photo front: Quite an unassuming place it is:

Down in the basement (reminds me a bit of the movie Brazil) of an old, yes, seminary, near the University of Chicago.

Notice the yellow stripe on the floor.

Follow it and you get to the section it represents. For future reference: Red takes you to Literary Criticism: