Books

A man looking through second hand books in Cheshire Street, 1984

Books of all kinds have always been available at street markets in Spitalfields.

A man looking through second hand books in Sclater Street, 2009

The precarious nature of book collections in markets adds to their attraction. Unlike a book shop where everything is well ordered alphabetically a market selection is random. You never know what you might stumble upon. You will also find collections from dead people. Spending time looking through these is like reading an autobiography. You can imagine and construct the character of the former owner of the books. A box of books in a market once examined with a cursory browse inevitably draws you in to inspect every volume in the box.

A boy in Bangladesh with his school books, Sylhet 1993

This boy has covered one of his school books with brown paper. This neat endeavour reminds me of my own school days when we were encouraged to do the same with unused wallpaper rolls or brown paper. One teacher in particular would inspect books to ensure they were covered and would cane boys who had failed to cover their maths exercise books. Our art teacher however would have no problem with graffiti and lewd remarks enveloping sketch pads.

A woman looking through second hand books, Sclater Street market 2008