Are books (still) «different»? comparing alternative views of bookselling in france and great britain

Abstract

The idea that the book is a good “like no other” that partly escapes the general laws of the economy is particularly strong in France in the independent bookshop sector.
Independent bookshops are presented as offering a more human and authentic way to access books than online international bookselling giants and large book chains. An enquiry conducted in Great-Britain and France shows that this conception is illustrated in very different legal and economic contexts, as Great Britain abandoned its century-old system of a single book price in 1995. The cross-analysis allows us to observe the circulation of representations and the imaginary of the independent bookshop in two contrasting national contexts, marked by a revival of independent bookshops. The aim is to understand how the representations surrounding the book trade have been constructed in the two countries and how the work of legitimising the bookshop as an “unbeatable” place of access to books is manifested; But also to analyse the “alternative” values carried by booksellers as well as their concrete implementation, which constitute a powerful counter-model to the digital book distribution platforms.