P A U L   C O L L I N S . - - - - COPYRIGHT 2003 Reed Business Information Library Journal April 15, 2003 v128 i7 p86(1) - - - - Collins, Paul. Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books. (Book Review)_(book review) Scott Hightower. Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2003 Reed Business Information Bloomsbury, dist. by St. Martin's. Apr. 2003. c.240p. ISBN 1-58234-284-9. $23.95. LIT This book is unique in its modesty in handling the largely historical topic of books as tokens of our humanity. Collins (Banvard's Folly) gently sifts through geography, eccentric architecture (retrostructures), and Victorian and American trivia to weave a charming, humane, and attractive story of a man and his family relocating from California to England to work with antiquarian books. The author settles with his wife and younger son in a small town on the Welsh border that only has 1500 inhabitants but more than 40 antiquarian bookstores. He lands a job as a clerk at the town's largest bookstore and spends his days shifting through piles of old books. This part travelog, part literary memoir is a thoughtful exploration of one person's fascination with books, a human study of utility that dovetails with Elaine Scarry's more theoretical Dreaming by the Book and Alberto Manguel's A History of Reading. Highly recommended for all libraries and for all readers who know the joy of being lost in a town of books.--Scott Hightower, Fordham Univ., New York Named Works: Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books (Book) - Reviews Copyright Library Journal Article A100111118 - - - - MORE ARTICLES

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