{"product_id":"9781472159786","title":"The Bookseller of Hay : The Life and Times of Richard Booth","description":"\u003cp\u003e Author(s): Hanning, James \u003cbr\u003e Binding: Hardback, \u003cbr\u003e Date of Publication: 04\/09\/2025,\u003cbr\u003e Pagination: 304 pages, 1 plate section of b\u0026amp;w and colour photos,\u003cbr\u003e ISBN13\\EAN\\SKU: 9781472159786,\u003cbr\u003e Description: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Brilliantly evocative, like listening to the gossip of ghosts' Bruce RobinsonIn 1962, a young man left university without a degree and, for want of anything better to do, bought a small shop in an obscure market town on the edge of the Brecon Beacons. Within fifteen years, largely through force of personality, Richard Booth had created the world's largest second-hand bookshop, attracting thousands of visitors from across the globe to Hay-on-Wye, on the Welsh border. The Bookseller of Hay tells the tale of an extraordinary, chaotic man, a true British eccentric, who invented the term 'book town', attracted a coterie of exotic and illustrious followers, crowned himself king, declared the town's independence and provided the bookish backdrop which - to his frustration - allowed a rival attraction, the now world-famous Hay Festival, to flourish. It is a story of the extraordinary singlemindedness of a hard-working, hard-playing and rebellious son of privilege, inspired by a romantic vision and a deep love of the area, of a man better suited to publicity than bean-counting, who launched countless careers but whose business instincts undermined precisely what had brought success. Booth was a deeply divisive figure, but love him or hate him, all agree on one thing. He put Hay on the map.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJames Hanning, a frequent visitor to Hay since the 1960s, has interviewed dozens of local people and booksellers and with typical acuity wonderfully captures this bygone era of eccentricity and excess.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Griffin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55673943916917,"sku":"9781472159786","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0379\/1365\/7388\/files\/9781472159786.jpg?v=1753434516","url":"https:\/\/www.griffinbooksonline.live\/products\/9781472159786","provider":"Griffin Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}