Finders, Keepers

The Secret Life of Second-hand Books

Finders, Keepers is a book about collecting second-hand books and therefore about second-hand bookshops and booksellers, disguised as a series of memoir-inflected essays about free books, London books, and books with the same titles as other books and so on.

Season Highlight, Spring/Summer 2026 — The Bookseller

Finders, Keepers tells the stories that hide between the lines of the second-hand books that fill the shelves of charity shops and second-hand bookshops up and down the country. The author collects books. He collects books that contain bookmarks in the form of maps – he will read the book while walking the streets depicted on the map, provided he doesn't have to get on a plane to get there. He collects books given as Christmas presents. He collects books that have the same title as other books – he'll read both books and compare them. He might wonder – he might even ask – which one has the greater claim on the title. He collects books that he finds with business cards in them – instead of reading the book, he sends it to the individual named on the business card and asks them to read it instead. He collects ex-library books. He collects free books. Well, he looks at the books that people leave out on their garden wall in the rain and photographs then and mostly leaves them where they are.

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