{"product_id":"bookseller-of-hay","title":"Bookseller of Hay","description":"\u003cp\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Bookseller of Hay\u003c\/em\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHardcover.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"James Hanning","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48672135151768,"sku":"9781472159786","price":60.9,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0569\/5193\/1032\/files\/James-Hanning-The-Bookseller-of-Hay-Mrs-Blackwell-s-Village-Bookshop-Greytown-NZ-2.jpg?v=1773712114","url":"https:\/\/villagebookshop.co.nz\/products\/bookseller-of-hay","provider":"Mrs Blackwell's Village Bookshop Greytown","version":"1.0","type":"link"}