Oh, I just love the smell of old books, Part One

No, you don’t. “I have a Kindle, but I like the physical book in my hands.” Right. “I’ll be back.” No, you won’t. “Is that your best price?” Do you price-haggle in Two Boys Meat & Grocery?

Never have I sold a book to such persons, and they darken the doorways of my open-shop bookseller friends, too. Such persons, if they buy books at all, buy them from an Amazon warehouse, not from an independent...