{"product_id":"the-bookseller-of-hay-james-hanning-9781472159809","title":"The Bookseller of Hay","description":"\u003cb\u003e'A breathtakingly hilarious and absorbing portrait of one of the most brilliant, dotty, dippy delirious yet ultimately inspiring eccentrics in British history . . . A remarkable story of cultural life, friendship, obsession and passion' Stephen Fry\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrilliantly evocative, like listening to the gossip of ghosts' Bruce Robinson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'\u003ci\u003eThe Bookseller of Hay\u003c\/i\u003e is the very model of a biography which amazes, occasionally horrifies and entirely engrosses . . . James Hanning is a writer of sublime insight, style and skill' Horatio Clare\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e'What you have to understand is that Richard Booth was completely mad' Marianne Faithfull\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 1962, a young man left university without a degree and, for want of anything better to do, bought a small shop in an obscure market town on the edge of the Brecon Beacons. Within fifteen years, largely through force of personality, Richard Booth had created the world's largest second-hand bookshop, attracting thousands of visitors from across the globe to Hay-on-Wye, on the Welsh border. \u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Bookseller of Hay\u003c\/i\u003e tells the tale of an extraordinary, chaotic man, a true British eccentric, who invented the term 'book town', attracted a coterie of exotic and illustrious followers, crowned himself king, declared the town's independence and provided the bookish backdrop which - to his frustration - allowed a rival attraction, the now world-famous Hay Festival, to flourish. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt is a story of the extraordinary singlemindedness of a hard-working, hard-playing and rebellious son of privilege, inspired by a romantic vision and a deep love of the area, of a man better suited to publicity than bean-counting, who launched countless careers but whose business instincts undermined precisely what had brought success. Booth was a deeply divisive figure, but love him or hate him, all agree on one thing. He put Hay on the map. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eJames Hanning, a frequent visitor to Hay since the 1960s, has interviewed dozens of local people and booksellers and with typical acuity wonderfully captures this bygone era of eccentricity and excess.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e James Hanning\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1472159802\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781472159809\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Corsair\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/08\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 56\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback","brand":"James Hanning","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48852695875839,"sku":"9781472159809","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-bookseller-of-hay-james-hanning-9781472159809","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}