Product Description

Buzbee celebrates the unique experience of the bookstore - the smell and touch of books, getting lost in the deep canyons of shelves, the silent community of readers - sharing his passion for books and interweaving throughout the whole a fascinating historical account of the bookseller's trade.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46893 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

THE JOY OF BOOKS
Can't remember where I heard about this volume but it sounded like I had to add it to my collection of books about books. Having read it I am so glad my local independent bookshop in England (sorry Amazon) managed to get hold of a copy. The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop is a joy from beginning to end. Buzbee writes fondly and wittily of his subject and interweaves his personal experience as a bookseller and publisher's rep with a history of printing and the book in general. He must have done his background reading and manages to clarify aspects of the printed word of which I only had partial knowledge and does so in a style which is a pleasure to savour. The story of Ulysses and Shakespeare and Co., for example, I knew a bit about but now I know the whole story.
This book is a little gem and for me is the next best thing to emerge from America since Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris. And I must praise this book as object - its design and production values are among the highest. The typeset pages are a delight (well, apart from one or two typos!), the paper is perfect and I love the uncut fore-edge - not something that British publishers indulge in. The endpapers are yellow, of course, and the cover design inventive and witty.
I was a librarian for 10 years, an independent bookseller for 25, and I have been publishing and writing books since 1979. Although so many of your references are particular to the USA I too have shared many of your experiences and most definitely the same enthusiasms. Thankyou, Lewis Buzbee. If you read this and consider e-mailing me then please do - I have a book I should like to give you.

A 'must have' book for ALL bibliophiles!
I really enjoyed reading this book from start to finish. It's small and manageable; not too long, not too short. Although described as a memoir, it's not all about the author but contains snippets of information and history that all booklovers will devour. It's quite nicely bound and is lightweight enough to carry around. All-in-all if you're a true bibliophile, then this book is for YOU.

Lewis Buzbee tells his story as a partial memoir; the history of his interest, and then love, of books is described in some detail. He writes about his career as a bookseller (although always as an employee - he never ran his own shop) and as a publishers rep, and he writes about his love of visiting bookshops of all shapes and sizes. In-between this narrative is neatly woven a basic potted history of bookselling, from ancient times, through the Gutenberg press, and on into the production of mass market paperbacks. I was particularly fascinated to read about the scandal surrounding the publication of James Joyce's 'Ulysses', and how the publishing of the book was taken on by one of Joyce's friends, the proprietor of the little but exclusive Shakespeare & Co. bookshop in Paris. Copies of the book then had to find their way into England and America where it had already been censored. A fascinating account.

I have a couple of very small quibbles about Buzbee's style. At one point early on he mentions shop-lifting a book as a teenager; he narrates this in such a way that it sounds as though this is considered acceptable practice, or at the very least is an activity which lots of people have done and can understand. This did shock me a bit and marred my enjoyment slightly. In a couple of places he does also go over a point he's already mentioned which is a little repetitive. However, tiny quibbles aside, I found this book a delightful journey from cover to cover and will be cherishing my copy for some years to come.

A delicious treat for bibliophiles to savour
A sparkling treat of a book - the kind that you just know, after a page or two, that you will treasure forever. With its neat hardback format and thick creamy pages, it even looks right.

Buzbee combines everything bookish here, beginning with his own 'calling' to the world of books, at 15, reading 'The Grapes of Wrath' at school, and moving through his time as a bookseller and publishing sales rep to his current role as reader, writer and compulsive book buyer. On top of the autobiographical elements, Buzbee traces the history of the book and bookselling, from papyrus scrolls to roadside stalls, through developing bookshops, censorship and printing to the e-commerce of today. To cap it off there is a wealth of personal insight, from the author's favourite bookshops across the globe, lovingly evoked and fairly evaluated, to the simple joys of books - their texture and smell, the pleasure of admiring shelves and stacks of books, the slow contentment of coffee and browsing...

A magical little tome, definitely worth not only reading, but buying, rereading and passing down to the next generation of bibliophiles.