Shelf Life

MICHAEL ROBB, a stalwart figure in the bookselling and publishing arena, has experienced first-hand the shifting tides of this well-loved industry over the past 40 years. From successfully running an independent bookshop in Essex for two decades, to transitioning into the publishing domain, his broad network within the book trade gives him a unique insight to the world of books.

• TitleCopyrightContentsIntroduction: On Books and BookshopsPart One: Remembrance of Things Past 1 William Caxton the Pioneer: Early Episodes in the History of Bookselling2 Wynkyn de Worde and the Development of the Publishing Business3 James Lackington’s Temple of the Muses: Bookselling in the Age of the Enlightenment4 Charles Edward Mudie and W.H. Smith: Literary Culture in the Nineteenth Century5 Allen Lane and the Paperback Revolution: The Quest for a Wider Book Market in the Twentieth Century6 Bookselling in the Twentieth Century Part Two: The Way We Live Now 7 Tim Waterstone and the Bookselling and Publishing Transformation of the 1980sInterlude: The Closing of a Bookshop8 Selling Books in the New Millennium9 Changes to the Wider Book Industry10 Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon11 The Digital, Audio and Self-Publishing Explosion12 How the Book Trade Fought Back Part Three: The Shape of Things to Come 13 The Road Ahead for Bookselling14 The Road Ahead for Publishing15 Two Big Issues for the Book Trade Epilogue: The Last WordUseful InformationAcknowledgementsBibliography

‘The story of the UK book trade over our lifetimes has been a rollercoaster of constant change. It’s great to see the story of our lives being captured so effectively in Michael’s closely observed history – a great read both for insiders and for social historians too.’