After reading Hanff's humorous letter about Samuel Pepys diary I just had to check him out. So thanks to this funny little book I became a bit of a Pepys fan.If you're a fan of second hand books, you may appreciate this quaint little book.
An American author decides she wants to order some second hand books all the way from England. The correspondence is mostly businesslike - apart from the fact she occasionally sends the odd ham across to the bookshop keepers - due to the rationing still going on after the second world war. A few gifts are exchanged and a subtle friendly-professional relationship is developed over a long period of time.
Nowadays with Amazon and other online booksellers - this relationship between customer and shop is highly unlikely. A lost relationship of time.