Sapsford came across the writer when secondhand editions were given to her family, and she then set about tracking down the Clark literary estate.
I once bought a secondhand first-edition copy of "Black Box," by Amos Oz, at a used-book stall.
I bought my copy about 10 years ago, secondhand, a Folio Society edition with a faded grey cover.
Find one of those lovely old editions secondhand is my advice.
Books are in English and Italian, ranging from little-known 16th-century editions to secondhand copies of the latest Donna Leon, sometimes signed by the author herself, who lives nearby.
Towards the end of our time together, and after draining a second cup of coffee, Frost tells me a story about his teenage years, when he used to scour charity shops in the hope of coming across first editions of secondhand books.
My copy of "Wise, Witty, and Tender Sayings," which I bought a few years ago from a secondhand bookseller, is the tenth edition, from 1896, which gives Main an enviably long time on the back-list.
In the pre-pill and pre-abortion days of the early 60s, those of us unfortunate enough to need abortions passed around copies of Rosamond Lehmann's The Weather in the Streets, in hardback editions bought at secondhand bookshops.
At Books Attic (D1, 7-17 Amoy Street; 852-2259-3103; bookathec.infownerennifer Li, the owner, serves free Chinese tea as you browse through thousands of secondhand books, including out-of-print editions from the city's days as a British colony.
But specialist cassette labels, which have boomed over the last two years, are born out of choice rather than necessity, quixotically running off limited-edition tapes on stacks of secondhand decks.
