Square Books Owner Addresses Italian Booksellers

Richard Howorth, co-owner, with his wife, Lisa, of Square Books, in Oxford, Mississippi, recently gave a presentation, “The Bandwidth of a Bookstore,” to Italian booksellers as part of the Scuola per Librai (School for Booksellers), which convenes every year in Venice. Howorth, who is also the former mayor of Oxford and a former ABA president, was invited by Achille Mauri, an Italian book distributor, whose family started the school several decades ago, and by Inge Feltrinelli, an Italian publisher, bookseller, and friend of Howorth’s.

Richard Howorth

The weeklong school is made up of educational sessions led by about 30 different booksellers chosen from various parts of Italy. Traditionally, on the last day of the school, the focus is on the book industry in a different country. This year, the United States was featured, and in addition to Howorth, an Amazon-Europe representative and a history professor from the University of Chicago were present to speak about the history of piracy and intellectual property. About 400 industry professionals were in attendance.

Howorth provided the school’s participants with some personal background, giving a descriptive account of his own store’s history, from the founding of Square Books in 1979 – in a small upstairs location, with no street-level visibility and no window space – to its move to a two-story location in 1984 and the installation of a café with a commercial espresso dispenser, the first in the town’s history.

The community of Oxford, despite its many years of economic hardship, “fiercely supported the store from its inception,” Howorth told the audience. Although in the 1960s the community faced issues of racial segregation and violence, he said, “many enlightened people … tirelessly would struggle to achieve what long had been the vision of the University [of Mississippi’s] early leaders – that it would be a sort of ‘Harvard of the South.’” It was the support of these people, who wanted an “intellectually and economically healthy community” and Mississippi’s unparalleled literary heritage and its many local writers who would help ensure Square Books’ success.

Howorth’s presentation also stressed the importance of booksellers keeping up with digital developments while still preserving and celebrating the tangible book.

“While recognizing inevitability and certain advantages regarding e-books, I also explained why physical books and bookstores ultimately could not be replicated electronically,” said Howorth.

He talked about the resurgence of independent businesses in several American cities, and how, amongst chain and online competitors, many bookstores continue to thrive.

“The ‘shop local’ and ‘slow’ movements – phenomena more naturally ingrained in European culture – are gaining strength in America today,” Howarth told the crowd. “People grasp the structure and importance of a strong local economy and the necessity of their active participation in it.”

Though Howorth plans to re-visit Italy and its many bookstores, the ones he did get to visit were, as they are in the U.S., very different from each other. He visited some Feltrinelli stores (Italy’s leading retailer of books, music, and home videos), of which there are more than 100 in Italy, and spoke to Carlo Feltrinelli, who runs the bookstore side of the company. The stores are among the few in the country to sell e-reader devices in the store, and to promote e-book buying. Feltrinelli told Howorth: “When I saw these e-books coming, I said I can do two things – just watch, or attack. I decided to attack.”

Attendees of the school were particularly interested in how e-books are being sold in bookstores in the U.S, said Howorth, even though their e-book penetration has not yet reached three percent of the Italian market (compared to the U.S.’s nine percent).

“I think they were somewhat relieved to hear someone admit that these are extremely challenging times and that we just don’t know all the answers yet, although there are many making a living by claiming to know them,” said Howorth. He peppered his PowerPoint presentation with dramatic or humorous stories and pictures, the most popular of which was a quote from Michael Norris, a senior analyst at Simba Information, who said, “Saying that bookstores won’t be around in the future because Walmart and Amazon sell books is like saying Italian restaurants will go out of business because we have canned spaghetti sauce,” and with a click, an image of a jar of Prego sauce appeared on the screen.

Howorth concluded by elaborating on the title of his presentation, “The Bandwidth of a Bookstore”: “No matter how one equates digital books to traditional books, or e-tail to re-tail, one cannot replicate the bookstore experience. A bookstore is a place where one may purchase a book, yes, but it additionally offers particular physical, aesthetic, and social experiences and values.”