The British Book Trade: An Oral History

The British book trade underwent radical change through the course of the twentieth century. By the late 1990s most of the old family firms had been replaced by conglomerates, and the end of the Net Book Agreement had given shops new freedom to compete by cutting prices. The British Book Trade: An Oral History is more than a book about books-it describes the world in which books were published and sold, and how that world has changed.

Through the voices of book trade "insiders" such as sales representatives, shop assistants, secretaries, editors, agents and managers this volume provides access to a culture often perceived as glamorous, incestuous and hard to enter. Their recollections range from the 1920s to the present day and include the British trade at home and overseas as far as Australia, South East Asia and India.

The accounts are drawn from the Book Trade Lives collection of in-depth oral history interviews recorded by National Life Stories, and accessible through the British Library Sound Archive. To anyone with an interest in the book trade or oral history, they have challenging, entertaining and illuminating things to say.