Available Formats
Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops
By (Author) Shaun Bythell
Profile Books Ltd
Profile Books Ltd
30th September 2025
26th September 2024
Main
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Published diaries, letters and journals
381.45002092
Paperback
144
Width 110mm, Height 176mm, Spine 12mm
113g
In twenty years behind the till in The Bookshop, Wigtown, Shaun Bythell has met pretty much every kind of customer there is - from the charming, erudite and deep-pocketed to the eccentric, flatulent and possibly larcenous.
In Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops he distils the essence of his experience into a warm, witty and quirky taxonomy of the book-loving public. So, step inside to meet the crafty Antiquarian, the shy and retiring Erotica Browser and gormless yet strangely likeable shop assistant Student Hugo - along with much loved bookseller favourites like the passionate Sci-Fi Fan, the voracious Railway Collector and the ever-elusive Perfect Customer.
'Funny' - Mark Mason, Daily Mail
'Bythell is having fun and it's infectious ... actually amusing' - Fiona Shepherd, Scotsman
'Bythell has a good ear for the absurd and a mundane telemarketing call becomes comedy gold ... For all Bythell's self-flagellation, he comes across as a generous, largely genial figure. It is hard to go for more than a few pages without finding him cooking for staying guests or drinking with friends until the small hours.' - The Times
'All the ingredients for a gentle human comedy are here, as soothing as a bag of boiled sweets and just as tempting to dip into.' - Literary Review
Shaun Bythell bought The Bookshop in Wigtown on 1 November 2001, and has been running it ever since with an increasing passion for the business, matched only by a sense of despair for its future, and an ill-humour inspired by almost two decades of dealing with confused customers and surly staff. His internationally-bestselling books The Diary of a Bookseller and Confessions of a Bookseller have been translated into over twenty languages, including Russian, Korean and French.