Book Club: Shaun Bythell – Return of the Bookseller Diarist

<p>For this week’s <em>Book Club</em>, Sam Leith, the <em>Spectator</em>’s literary editor, is joined by Shaun Bythell, proprietor of The Book Shop in Wigtown, Scotland, and author of <em>The Diary of a Bookseller</em> series, to discuss the fourth instalment, <em>The Return of the Bookseller’s Diary</em>.</p><p>They discuss the strange characters who wander into second-hand bookshops, the customers who haggle over £2 books, and how Bythell’s shop helped turn Wigtown into Scotland’s unlikely book town.</p><p>They also explore the changing world of bookselling, from the rise of online marketplaces to the 18th-century bookseller James Lackington, whose ‘buy cheap, sell cheap’ philosophy has more than a little in common with Amazon.</p><p>Plus, Bythell reveals how keeping a diary has changed the way he sees his customers, the unexpected consequences of becoming a published author, and why the Covid-19 pandemic proved surprisingly good for business.</p><p>Produced by Abigail Brierley.</p>

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