Broad Conversation

Events, news and opinion from Blackwell's, Broad Street, Oxford – one of the most famous bookshops in the world. Join the conversation…

February 12, 2013 • 9:38 am 3

Bookselling before the Internet

It is so easy to forget that there was bookselling going on before the Internet Age. For you nostalgic delectation here is a small insight into how it was done – STOCK CARDS!

 

Stock Card

We had boxes and boxes of these in every department and would use them to look up whether we stocked a book and also to place orders.

It was a simpler time :)

You can see from this card that we sold 362 copies of this Penguin edition Propertius: The Poems (the reorder quantities continue on the back of the card), it went into a reprint in November 1989 and that we initially subscribed 80 copies!

Our world has changed…

Filed under: The Book Trade, The Bookshop

December 7, 2012 • 10:30 am 6

Book of the Year for one of our booksellers

Ray has impeccable taste in contemporary fiction (he was the first of our booksellers to wax lyrical about New Finnish Grammar) and an unshakeable belief that the most worthwhile books are subversive. Here he shares with you the book that has rocked his world most this year:

This year there has been a veritable banquet of books that make reading more than worth it. If you don’t know what they are you haven’t been paying attention, but there is one particular book that has made it to these shores from the US I feel so evangelical about I want to run around screaming “YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK OR YOUR LIFE WILL BE INCOMPLETE”, in Billy Graham style.

A monumental debut, shining with a searing razor-edged intelligence, ‘ A Naked Singularity ‘ by Sergio de la Pava fizzes like a roman candle.

naked singularity

Casi, the main character of this book, is a New York public defender of Columbian descent, who describes his day-to-day existence and the people he is involved with, including clients, colleagues, family and flatmates. With an astonishing immediacy, de la Palma throws you into the murky waters of the US legal system at street level. It’s almost a soap opera for the thinker… but there’s a twist.

This being a big book, in every sense of the word, the author takes you into the grit of life in a way that is enthralling, engaging and compelling. He sparks up philosophical, scientific, social, cultural and political discourse until halfway through an almost 700 page book when it changes gear and becomes something more. This impacts on the adrenaline, heightening the novel to a level that carries you through to the end like a surfer riding the perfect wave.

Quite simply, it’s one of those books you want everybody to read and to tell everybody else to read. Or maybe…. just keep it to yourself?

This is not just the best book of 2012, it is an important book, a book which tackles brilliantly not just the moral dilemmas and ideas thrown up, but how we read what we read. I cannot find superlatives big enough to celebrate this novel. I just wanted to punch the air in victory at this guy’s achievment when I finished it.

An endnote… This powerful opus had to be self-published for almost 4 years as no publisher would pick it up. I suspect they cowered at their inability to define the genre it belongs to. More fool them, but all power to the University of Chicago Press for their insight. It would have been an act of almost criminal injustice to let this novel sink into obscurity. It’s just way too good for that, trust me.

Ray

Filed under: Book Reviews, The Bookshop, , ,

November 30, 2012 • 11:54 pm 0

Something for the weekend – 30th November

So it is the end of term and Christmas shopping has started in earnest. Here are just a smidgen of some books (and the odd non book) that we are loving. We would love to see you over the weekend – and if you are popping in, do visit our Children’s Book Tree

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Filed under: Holiday Reading, The Bookshop

November 16, 2012 • 1:10 pm 0

Something for the weekend – 16 Nov

Another tantalising glimpse at some of the books (and one or two other lovely items) that our booksellers are passionate about at the moment. Look out for our Children’s Book Tree, which in conjunction with The Children’s Society, offers you the chance to buy a book for a child less fortunate than most…

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Filed under: Bestsellers, The Bookshop

November 2, 2012 • 5:11 pm 0

Something for the weekend?

Here’s a quick glimpse at just a few of the lovely books that we are featuring in the shop at the moment

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Filed under: Bestsellers, The Bookshop

October 27, 2012 • 2:08 pm 0

Fireside Reading

It has turned chilly, hasn’t it? To me the biggest upside to the cold days and dark nights is the chance to curl up with a good book (ideally in front of a proper log fire), get lost in it and recharge your batteries in a way that no other recreation can touch.

Here are a few books that I recommend to you – from Sherlock to Silas, Discovery to Danger. The only thing that they have in common is an unerring ability to transport you to a faraway place…

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Filed under: Bestsellers, The Bookshop, ,

September 21, 2012 • 10:41 am 0

Front of Shop

Here’s a little taster of some of the books that we feel are worthy of space at the front of our shop. In addition to the new and bestselling titles we have a ‘Books of the Year so far’ table and two 342 promotions on translated fiction and our choice of ‘The Greatest American Writers’. Becky has also put together a really interesting selection of novels about Time. Do pop in over the weekend…

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Filed under: Bestsellers, The Bookshop

August 23, 2012 • 10:15 am 3

Penny for them?

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last few years, you’ve probably already encountered the strange beast that is the £0.01 book, found almost exclusively the digital world of online retailers.

On the face of it, doesn’t that seem like an excellent notion? Why go all the way to your local bookshop to spend £7.99 on a paperback when you can get one delivered right to your door for the measly sum of one pence (plus £2.70 postage)?

Unfortunately however, books are not supposed to cost one pence. It is simply impossible to produce a printed book for so little. And why is that, I hear you ask? Well that’s convenient, because I’m about to explain…

Pick up the book lying nearest to you. On the front you’ll undoubtedly find the title, and then the author. This just one of the many people who are trying to make a living by producing this book. Turn one or two pages in and you’ll find this:

Have a look. It will say ‘Published by, for example, Oxford University Press’.

The publisher can be considered an umbrella term, covering several people. The editors and editorial assistants who have beaten the author’s raw material into grammatically correct shape. The designers who came up with the cover. The new girl in marketing who wrote the press release and spent days sealing envelopes and sending out review copies.

Further down, you will probably find the words ‘Printed in… by…’ which covers the typesetter, the printer and the paper they used.

And then that’s it – for now. Once the books hit the shelves of shops, a whole new set of people are relying on selling that book in order to earn their living – namely myself, and the likes of me, the booksellers who arrange, display and point you in the direction of that book. And mostly, we do it because we genuinely love the book and think you should read it – not just because we’re trying to extract the 798 extra pennies from your wallet.

Of course, I’m not suggesting that we forsake the second hand book. Some of the most exciting and interesting things can be found among the piles of old and long out-of-print titles that grace most second hand bookshops. But again, I would urge you to go in search of your local second hand bookshop, or indeed your local Oxfam bookshop. In buying from them you may not be supporting publishers or authors, but instead you are supporting your local retailers, and/or a whole myriad of people through the work of a charity.

But even for the most hardened anti-capitalists, there is still another, increasingly forgotten option open to you. Libraries are full of old classics and exciting new reads which can be yours, for two weeks, for absolutely nothing. Also, while you may not paying for these books, when they were bought, they were bought at a fair price.

So what’s my point? I am not saying you should all rush into Blackwell’s (although you’d be most welcome to!) to buy your books, or that you should only buy second hand books, or indeed that you need to buy all your books at all, when there are libraries full of free reading all over the country. However, what I would suggest is that you consider the effort of the many people that made them, and the people that are trying to sell them, or the people who bought them so that you could read them for free. 

The moment your £0.01 book arrives might be exciting… however for most die-hard booklovers, your first step into a room full of books, free or otherwise, is infinitely more thrilling, and full of possibility…

 

 

 

 

 

To try out the ultimate literary experience for yourself, why not visit:

Blackwell’s Bookshop

48-51 Broad Street

Oxford

OX1 3BQ

(second hand books on 3rd Floor)

 

Albion Beatnik

34 Walton Street

Oxford

OX2 6AA

 

Oxford University Press Bookshop

116-117 High Street

Oxford

OX1 4BZ

 

Oxfam Bookshop

56 St. Giles

Oxford

OX1 3LU

 

Or visit:

https://www.libcat.oxfordshire.gov.uk/

To find out more about libraries near you.

Filed under: Oxford, The Book Trade, The Bookshop, Uncategorized, , , ,

August 3, 2012 • 12:14 pm 0

Blackwell’s Book-a-lympics

We’ve been cheering for the likes of Rebecca Adlington (Bronze – Swimming 400m Freestyle), Zara Phillips (Silver – Equestrian: Team Eventing) and Bradley Wiggins (Gold – Cycling: Road) all week, and this set us to thinking – what if there were a similar event for books?

So we’ve scoured our shelves, weighed up the competition and put our stock through its paces to come up with a selection of Book-a-lympics medal winners for the shop…

 

The Norrington Room Winners:

Bronze: The Rule of Law (Tom Bingham) (GBR) – A slim paperback but hugely important book by the late Lord Bingham, one of the most acute legal minds of our time. It explains clearly what ‘the rule of law’ means in a modern society

Silver: McMafia (Misha Glenny) (GBR) – “Gold to Glenny for providing a compelling tapestry of international criminology and political complicity woven out of great investigative journalism and entertaining stories.” Tom, Blackwell’s Philosophy Dept.

Gold: The Age of Wonder (Richard Holmes) (GBR) – Stupendously good and thorough on the first great age of scientific discovery. 

Judged by: Tom, Ulric and Lydia

 

The Children’s Winners:

Bronze: Fintan Fedora (Clive Goddard) (GBR) – the world’s worst, funniest, best illustrated explorer – meet author and illustrator Clive Goddard at his event on 4th August

Silver: Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll) (GBR) – this was always an easy one, and we’ve got several beautiful editions to choose from.

Gold: The Stick Book (Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield) (GBR) – you’ll never look at a stick in the same way again – find out more at our The Stick Book event on 11th August. 

 

Judged by: Harry

 

The General Winners:

Bronze: Death Comes to Pemberley (PD James) (GBR) – a bestseller (136 copies in 2 days) from an excellent writer and friend of the shop.

Silver: New Finnish Grammar (Diego Marani) (ITA) – an old favourite that’s sold over 500 copies, a story of loss, learning and language.

Gold: The Sea the Sea (Iris Murdoch) (GBR) – a haunting tale of the strange obsessions that plague a self-satisfied playwright and director as he writes his memoirs.

 

Judged by: Becky, Catherine and Ray

 

The Literature Winners

Bronze: War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy) (RUS) – an infamous yet addictive classic you’ll never forget – plus if you buy our Oxford Classics edition you can get another classic for free.

Silver: Charles Dickens, A Life (Claire Tomalin) (GBR) – a brilliant biographer writing about one of the most famous writers England has ever produced.

Gold: Thank You, Jeeves (P.G. Wodehouse) – (GBR/USA) The first Jeeves and Wooster book seemed as good as any to choose, but why not come and browse our Wodehouse 3 for 2 display and bally well choose for yourself!

Judged by: Sophie

 

The History and Classics Winners

Bronze: The Secret Life of Bletchley Park (Sinclair McKay) (GBR)- this country house in the Buckinghamshire countryside was home to the brilliant mathematical brains of people like Alan Turing, and the scene of immense advances in technology – indeed, the birth of modern computing

Silver: The Gruffalo (Julia Donaldson): Latin Edition (ITA) – Set in forty-six elegiac couplets, the translation draws on the language and style of the classical poets to brilliantly capture the rhythm and mischievous spirit of the original story.

Gold: Medieval Cats (Katherine Meikle Walker) (GBR) – Britain has been a nation of cat-lovers for longer than you might think – find out more in Katherine Walker’s history of the cat in medieval art.

Judged by: Kyle

 

The Second Hand Winners

(All second hand books are all like gold medals – one off and special. If you’d like to come and take a look at these you’d better move fast – ready… set… Go!)

Bronze: Murder at the Vicarage (Agatha Christie) (GBR)

The perennial home champion. Quintessentially British yet ever popular with fans from all over the world, our extensive and renewable Agatha Christie collection is always a winner.

Silver: Œuvres complètes (Émile Zola) (FRA)

The heavyweight French favourite. An exhaustive 15-volume edition of great naturalist’s works, this is the perfect way to appreciate the full range of this unique artist’s ability.

Gold: Ukiyoe Woodblock Prints (JPN)

A stunning performer and worthy winner. Printed on Torinokogami, this collection of beautiful poster-sized and silk-bound representations of 18th century Japanese life is currently our most eye-catching team member.

Judged by: Lucas

 

Thank you for joining us at the Blackwell’s Book-a-lympics – if you’d like to pick up a winning title, or just discover a few ‘winners’ of your own, why not pay a visit to 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford?

 

Look out next week – we’ll be coming back with round two and this time, you’ll be judging!

 

Also - many thanks to the esteemed judges – Ulric,Tom, Lydia, Harry, Becky, Ray, Catherine, Kyle and Lucas.

Filed under: Bookshop news and events, The Bookshop, , , , ,

August 3, 2012 • 9:40 am 0

Friday Competition 3rd August – Where in the shop am I?

A bit of a difference today – below are a set of photos taken in the shop. All you have to do is say where, 1 point for the correct floor and 1 point for a more detailed location. In the Olympic spirit I will award Gold, Silver and Bronze today. Eamil answers to euan.hirst@blackwell.co.uk

I will be late in revealing the answers as I have my performance review this afternoon. Good luck to me and good luck to you!

Filed under: Competitions, The Bookshop

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