Masters of the resurrection

Recently in the Gardens of the Crystal Palace, where imposing peacocks roam freely among the tumult of visitors and daring roosters stalk with shameless expertise the leftovers of diners in the food booths, another successful edition of the Feira comes to an end. do Livro de Oporto, one of the most emblematic literary events in all of Portugal.

More than 130 stands with a huge multitude of events that, between concerts, screenings, live theater and meetings with authors, have been the perfect excuse for those from Porto who want to escape the ennui urbanite immersing herself in books with the bucolic panoramic views of the Duero River as a backdrop.

But, paradoxically, the true publishing revolution is not being forged there, but a couple of kilometers inland, more precisely at the junction between the central (and significantly inclined) Calle de Passos Manuel and the densely busy Calle de Santa Catarina. The main store of the French multinational culture and technology company FNAC is located on that corner, where a few months ago a shelf in its vast bookstore section has been allocated to the implementation of a novel commercial strategy that, although it is still in a very embryonic stage, could well shake the foundations of the literary market.

This is the “Espaço Alfarrabista”, a discounted offer of second-hand books, most of them quite old, that does not compete with the new titles sold in the rest of the store. This initiative is not only solidly supported by a narrative that advocates the sustainability of the planet, but also aims to give another alternative to forgotten texts from which some value can still be extracted in the process. Although certainly altruistic, the fact that, for the first time, a large store opens the doors to second-hand books, a discreet but effervescent market that has always been reserved for retail booksellers, has not ceased to be controversial.

And that is where the real controversy lies, and that is that, in countries like Spain, where by law a fixed price system prevails for new books with maximum discounts of 5%, second-hand copies enjoy a liberalized price model for what the sale of these by giants like FNAC or Amazon could unbalance the balance in their favor by granting more generous rates leveraged on their financial muscle. This, in the case of products that are already sold at 25% or 50% of their original value, would mean a considerable reduction in profit margins for independent bookstores that have them as their main source of income.

Acting against irresponsible consumerism is a laudable slogan, but not at all unprecedented, since since ancient times it has been the mission of thousands of second-hand booksellers who, like masters of the resurrection, go wherever they are called, buying discarded libraries or lots of discarded volumes to rehabilitate them and give them another opportunity on earth. A humble task that deserves our protection against these emerging business dynamics.

By Fuad Gonzalo Chacón.