http://www.edinburghbooks.net Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:08:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It has gone out of fashion in these post-modern times, but stories used to begin with a beginning, progress to a middle and conclude with an ending. Open-minded as I am, I have never minded a slight twist in the last chapter, but there my liberalism ends. So, my story will ... http://www.edinburghbooks.net/in-the-beginning/ You find all sorts of inscriptions in books, usually on the front endpaper, from the plain name and address to pledges of undying love. I came across one today at the front of a copy of 'Grammont's memoirs of the Court of Charles the Second' by Anthony Hamilton.The inscription to ... http://www.edinburghbooks.net/book-inscriptions-1/ You find all sorts of interesting things stuck inside books: letters, tickets, obituaries, even money.Today I found a Carol - a Scotch (or Scots) Carol in fact which I will now commit to cyberspace. It was typed on a small piece of paper and "From Popular Antiquities Pub. 1810" was ... http://www.edinburghbooks.net/a-scotch-carol/ Edinburgh Books has been a landmark for book lovers for more than twenty years. Formerly known as West Port Books, it was saved by the skin of its teeth from becoming yet another café in 2006 by William Lytle. This off-beat Edinburgh bookshop has a huge, wide ranging stock of second-hand ... http://www.edinburghbooks.net/welcome/ Some customers are just funny. Funny peculiar I mean, not Funny ha-ha, though we have our fair share of those too.One peculiar thing that these funny customers do is to go straight to a section where somebody else is already standing and do everything but peer between the first customer's ... http://www.edinburghbooks.net/move-over-skinny-dog/ I don't think we have a huge problem with theft but then again, I just don't know. There are eight fairly sizeable rooms in the shop with thousands of books in each of them and although I try, it's impossible to keep an eye on every book we sell. ... http://www.edinburghbooks.net/dirty-rotten-thieves/ One of the great things about working in a secondhand bookshop is being able to listen to the radio or the music of your choice whenever you like, which for me is most of the day. When I bought the property, along with the shelves, a few chairs and a ... http://www.edinburghbooks.net/thank-you-for-the-music/ One of the more difficult things about running a bookshop (after the tax return and all other dealings with authority) is staffing the shop. Ours is quite a big shop and although I dearly love my job and regularly thank the Lord that I no longer work for Scottish Widows, ... http://www.edinburghbooks.net/gies-a-job-mister/