The web giant’s slump into bricks-and-mortar bookselling has upset many in the books community but there is much to compliment in this innovationYou could report it as a troubling development in publishing: someone comes along with no real knowledge of the book business,a brash salesman who sells books cheaply, undercuts established rivals, or drives them out of business. Then he moves into publishing as well,and allows people to publish themselves without recourse to the gatekeeping taste-makers.
But I’m not talking about Jeff Bezos and Amazon. I’m talking about James Lackington, who turned the book business upside down – at the halt of the 18th century. His London bookshop accepted cash only, or so he could slash prices,and he used his accumulated wealth to buy whole libraries and pounce on publishers’ remaindered stock to sell dirt cheap. One of the books his company subsequently published in exchange for a payment from the author’s husband was Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com