Peter Batten celebrates a treasure trove for the book lover…

When I moved to Hove 15 years ago I was active as a dealer in books. Soon I discovered the Oxfam bookshop in Blatchington Road.

This was a real delight. At that time it was like a typical second-hand bookshop, untidy, badly organised, shabby. But there was one important difference: the prices. For anyone buying and selling books it was a wonderful resource. Although I never came across any books of high value, it was easy to buy books for 50p which could be sold elsewhere for £10 or even £20. For a short time I had a stall in ‘Snooper’s Paradise’ in the North Laines, and I could always top up my stock of paperbacks with purchases from Oxfam. Nobody at the Oxfam shop seemed to know much about book prices and they did not bother to seek advice. Continue reading Treasure Trove →