{"product_id":"the-bookseller-of-hay-isbn-9781472159786","title":"The 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\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. \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\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\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Corsair","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47819457986789,"sku":"NP9781472159786","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/1e01274d-358a-47f8-8f4c-b2f800027a51.jpg?v=1767900498","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-bookseller-of-hay-isbn-9781472159786","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}