The Guardian has an interactive look at the bookshops on Charing Cross Road. Barry Clarke of Any Amount of Books, a tremendous secondhand bookseller and Abe seller, is interviewed and there are also some wonderful old photographs of bookstores from the past.
Our friends at Bookride - a most excellent blog - have some interesting tales from the secondhand booktrade.
I love this comment…..
I used to work at a used book store. One day a group of bus tourists came in, each one asking if I could do any better on the price. When the last one asked me, I said no again,and he proceeded to barrage me until I began to cry. I took the book and refused to sell it to him. He did aplologize, but I still wouldn’t sell him the book.