To appeal to readers who might otherwise succumb to book bargains online, independent bookshops must cultivate that particular alchemy that stems from a well-curated selection, charming digs, and, most importantly, dedicated and informed booksellers. Laura Barnicoat has worked in independent bookstores across London for the past few years. Having recently left the sardine-tin-sized Persephone Bookstore on Kensington Church Street, she is settling into Daunt Books, an original Edwardian bookshop with long oak galleries on Marylebone High Street that specializes in travel literature. I asked her how she was getting on:
What do you like about working in an independent bookshop?
The funny characters who come into the shop. Earlier today I overheard this guy on his phone, talking in a hushed, almost Mafioso accent, saying: ‘I’m in a bookshop… yeah… looking for books… yeah… thinking of reading a book… never read a book in my life… yeah, thought I’d give it a go.” He bought a lot of books in the end and seemed very happy with his adventure.
Which books are currently selling like hot cakes?
At Daunt, Stieg Larsson’s series are selling well—absolute Swedish hot cakes—along with the unusual travel books that Daunt specializes in. In the Persephone Bookshop where I used to work, the hot cakes were the Persephone Books, along with lots of great reprints of children’s books from the forties and fifties like “The Swish of the Curtain,” by Pamela Brown.
How would you compare the ambiance in Daunt Books to Persephone Bookshop?
The Persephone Bookshop is not much bigger than a cupboard, but every book in there is brilliant. Daunt in Marylebone, where I have just started working, is much more bustling, like a train station, but in the back, where there are three floors of books, wicker chairs, and balconies, it reminds me of Henry Higgins’ library in “My Fair Lady.”
What books do you recommend in particular?
“The Great Western Beach,” by Emma Smith, about growing up in Cornwall in the nineteen-twenties. Jen Hadfield’s poetry collection “Nigh-No-Place.”The Australian painter Sidney Nolan’s diaries. I also recently re-read Beatrix Potter—a comic genius.
How do you feel about U.K. versus U.S. editions?
American editions are great—I love the roughly cut edges of the pages that some of them have, and I think they often have better cover design. We used to get the American editions into Persephone before the books were out in the U.K., then we had to stop because it was illegal, but we’d always be thinking “Damn—we want to sell these American goods!” The cover is important, and the feel of the book, even the smell of it—this is what the bookshop has to offer now. As well as laying books out in a way that seems to explain them, and helps you to find your way around and show you new things. At Daunt, books are arranged by country, according to where a book is set. And in a way, reading and traveling are similar experiences.
