A ‘Cursed’ Profession?: A Qualitative Study on Antiquarian Booksellers’ Relationships with Books and Their Reading Practices

Year 2025, Issue: 72, 1 - 19, 15.12.2025

Berkay Çetin

https://doi.org/10.26650/JECS2024-1579761

https://izlik.org/JA86KR79KD

Abstract

This research focuses on the relationship that antiquarian booksellers have with books and their reading practices. It explores whether their relationship with books has changed before and after entering the antiquarian bookselling profession, and if so, in what direction this change has occurred. In this context, the study is positioned at the intersection of the sociology of literature and the sociology of profes sions. Employing a qualitative approach, the study conducted indepth interviews with 10 antiquarian booksellers from Türkiye’s three largest cities (Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir). The interviews were analyzed thematically in an inductive context. The findings revealed both positive changes, such as encountering a far greater number of books than before joining the profession, and some negative changes, such as viewing books as commercial objects. In this regard, it has been determined that antiquarian bookselling is a profession situated at the intersection of the cultural and economic fields, and unlike other trades people, antiquarian booksellers have a unique relationship with the products they sell. In this context, another finding of the study is that antiquarian booksellers attribute a unique importance to the items they trade, unlike those in other professions, and do not regard books as merely ordinary commercial products.

Keywords

antiquarian booksellers , reading practices , alienation , sociology of professions , sociology of literature

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