In a world ruled by the cold computer and the impersonal sheen of the screen, the tattered pages and rising dust of a second-hand bookshop have become something of a refuge. Part of the attraction of the antiquarian, or second-hand, bookshop is that it offers a link with the past.
There is that special attraction of old things with their history and personality. The mellow tan of an aged page has the maturity and character of a seasoned whiskey. As Des Kenny, of Kenny's Bookshop in Galway, explains, second-hand books will be around for some time to come.
"There is a great deal of very very good literature that is no longer in print," he says. "And also there is the very special kind of client who wants to read what another person has read because part of that adventure is getting into the other person's life. This happens particularly where a book has been annotated in pencil, or whatever. "There is always a market for secondhand books because of the feel of a book. A book becomes a living organism, in many strange ways."
One man who should know a thing or two about the world of old books is Jack Gamble, of Emerald Isle Books in Belfast, who Des Kenny describes as "a real book man . . . an international expert on Irish books." Based on the Antrim Road, Gamble is in the business of assembling collections for his customers. Through a private consultation he will determine your interests and advise you on building your collection. With up to 1,000 requests for specific titles every day, Gamble says he has "maybe 2,000 customers around the world, from Tokyo to Texas, and everything from housewives to local historians".
While Kenny's Bookshop deals in books of Irish interest, both old and new, Gamble specialises in old and antiquarian titles relating to Irish history and culture. With approximately 100,000 titles in stock, his last catalogue had books dating back to 1483. As printing didn't come to Ireland until the mid1500s, many of the earlier titles come from abroad. Examples of these foreign books of Irish interest are the published travel writings of early French and German tourists - works such as A Frenchman's Walk Through Ireland and Malton's Views of Dublin. The latter title, by the way, is quite rare, and would fetch around £10,000 at auction.
Another leader in the field of antiquarian books, Sean Day of Carraig Books in Blackrock, Dublin, explains that while certain books may go for £10,000, age is infrequently a determining factor in value.
"Books need to be very old before the age is a prime factor," he explains. "People ring you up with something from 1880 and think it's very old. But that's classed in the trade as a modern book. Generally an antiquarian bookseller would sell books published before 1800. That's probably stretched a bit now. It's probably 1850 or so."
According to Day, books published after 1850 (modern books) need to be in near mint-condition before they will fetch a top price. Other factors that contribute to value are a dust jacket, a small print-run, a title page, and some unusual feature or other. But what about that signature we all queue up for at book signings?
"The modern trend is for authors to sign books, so they probably sign a couple of thousand and then the signature doesn't really mean anything, it would have to be something more than that. In older books, a signed book from one author to another, that's usually where the big interest is."
Des Kenny agrees with Sean Day on this matter. An Austin Clarke signed to Patrick Kavanagh, a Seamus Heaney dedicated to Joseph Brodsky - these are the types of inscriptions that are really worth something. Annotations are also of value when a famous author makes them.
"You're looking for condition, inscription, where it came from, binding, maps, plates - whatever," explains Kenny. "It can be one thing and anything. And equally it can be one thing that destroys it. For example, a secondhand book without a title page is like a body without a head."
Charlie Byrne, in Middle Street, Galway, approaches the matter of bookselling from yet another angle. In a shop that has doubled in size, and then doubled in size again, Charlie stocks a large range of effectively brand-new books at a fraction of the price you will find them anywhere else. As a lot of his stock is made up of books bought from publishers who have books left over from excessive print runs, much of it is new and unread, although you might have to wait a few months until new titles come in.
The bookshop's manager, Vincent Browne, describes Charlie's as a "reader's and browsers' bookshop", and it is precisely in this activity of browsing that the real pleasure of bookshops, either antiquarian or second-hand, can be found.
"I can't see the Internet taking over,' says Byrne. "I wouldn't like to be sitting in a private premises selling books. I just like the whole thing of a vibrant bookshop. People coming in and browsing. Browsing in a bookshop is different to browsing in a supermarket. It's an enjoyable and relaxing thing to spend a half-an-hour in a bookshop. The Internet won't change that."
Sean Day, Carraig Books, 73 Main Street, Blackrock, Dublin. Tel 2882575; Jack Gamble, Emerald Isle Books, The Antrim Road, Belfast. Tel 0801 232 370798; Kenny's Bookshop, High Street, Galway, 091 562739; Charlie Byrne's Bookshop, The Corn Store, Middle Street, Galway, 091 561766.