Confessions of a bookseller

This is the second volume about Shaun Bythell's life as a second-hand bookseller in Wigtown, Scotland. It is therefore the sequel to The diary of a bookseller. Shaun Bythell also has a Facebook page, The Booshop, in which he regularly publishes updates of his experiences with customers.

Each chapter covers a month from January 2015 until the end of December. At the commencement of each chapter is a quote from Augustus Muir's book, The intimate thoughts of John Baxter, bookseller (1942) followed by the author's comments on the passage. He then includes daily sections from his diary of sales, the weather, comments made by customers, life in Wigtown plus the activities of his cat, Captain. An important part of a second-hand book shop is the need to access collections of books as possible stock for sale and this takes up much of his time. Increasingly he also (much to his disgust) has to rely on sales of books via online sellers such as Amazon.

The two volumes provide a commentary not only on the state of the book trade but also on life in a small town in Scotland. Wigtown has a variety of bookshops and book festivals and author events are featured during the year. The bookshop is a central part of the community with a number of groups regularly meeting in the building, especially in the room upstairs. This is not, therefore, just an amusing account of the experiences of someone trying to make a living selling second-hand books. It is also a record of living in a small Scottish community in 2015.