Bookshops

She found unexpected satisfaction in the half-forgotten masterpieces of the past, in poets not quite divine whom fashion had left on one side, in the playwrights, and novelists, and essayists, whose remembrance lives only with the bookworm. It is a relief sometimes to look away from the bright sun of perfect achievement; and the writers who appealed to their age and not to posterity, have by contrast a subtle charm.

Undazzled by their splendour, one may discern more easily their individualities and the spirit of their time; they have pleasant qualities not always found among their betters, and there is even a certain pathos in their incomplete success.

W. Somerset Maugham - Mrs Craddock (1902)


This was always one of the great attractions of a good bookshop, finding a well-written book by someone I’d only vaguely heard of or had not heard of at all. There is a particular fascination to be found in writers who appealed to their age and not to posterity. I certainly enjoy reading them without posterity looking over my shoulder.

The serendipity of bookshop browsing hasn’t been completely lost with the Kindle, but perhaps the sense of discovery has. The feel and aroma of old books has been lost too of course, but so has the problem of bookshelves groaning with hundredweights of books. I don't miss that.