Rick Gegoski Bids Farewell To Second-Hand Bookshops
In particular, the days of profitable scouting are over, Gegoski reckons:
In those days, dealers went on "scouting" trips, and might spend weeks on the road, driving from one such shop and village to the next, building up their inventory, taking advantage of knowing that little bit more than the local proprietors did. In the 1970s and 80s, when my family went on holiday to Cornwall or the Lake District, a tour of the local shops would almost always cover our expenses. On trips to America I would count it as a failure if I couldn't pay my way within the first two days. It was genuinely fun, and I regarded it then - I was still a full-time academic and only a part-time dealer - as a free holiday.
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