you never know what you are going to get when you go into an old dusty bookstore, apart from the obvious- Dust and books. I have always loved the thought of being one of those antique dealers who scurry around the shelves and find rare editions, and special finds that they buy for 50p off the poor unsuspecting book dealer and flog on eBay for thousands of pounds... and the other day this dream became glorious reality, and I was able to scam my very own unsuspecting book dealer. Dreams really do come true.
I went to Brighton for the very first time last week, and it was as good as I imagined it would be - I ate ice cream on the stony beach and wandered through the winding streets getting run over by students on bicycles and old people with zimmer frames. I went into alternative clothes stores and tried tye-dye dresses on, before realizing I was turning into my mum and hastily made my exit from the incense and the windchimes. It was down one of those streets that I saw the little bookstore, and once inside the walls were covered with books from floor to ceiling - and a iron wrought spiral staircase lead me down to the basement. It was awesome.
I browsed through the old editions of children's classics and poetry, pretending I knew what I was looking for when my eye caught a hardback edition of harry potter. I'm not really a harry potter fan, but it was the only book I recognized, so I picked it up. I turned to the front cover and saw that it was FIRST EDITION!! I knew enough about books to realize that this was a good thing, so I turned to the price tag and saw £1.50! I casually strolled to the bearded cashier and handed the book over, slightly disappointed that it had a card machine (it didn't fit in with my idea of the 'olde bookshop' fantasy)
Sure enough, the first edition is going for around £60 on ebay, so I've swindled my first bargain. Hustler!
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