What price books?

By Naguib Mahfouz

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The AUC Press has just released an English translation of Dreams, at LE50 a copy. I recall selling my first novel, Mockery of the Fates, for one penny a copy. The publisher had given me 500 copies by way of payment and I didn't know what to do with all these books. So, I took a horse-drawn carriage to the nearest bookshop and offered to sell them. The owner felt sorry for me and took the books, promising to pay one penny for each copy he would sell. I kept going back to the shop, hoping to get something back, but he hadn't sold any. He had stacked the entire amount in a storeroom, not wanting to display them in the shop because, as he told me, "there is no market for them."

Years later, having published Khan Al-Khalili, I discovered the bookshop in question was selling the Mockery of Fates and at a much higher price than what I had proposed. I went to the owner and he was willing to pay me, but only in accordance with the original agreement. He gave me one penny per copy.

Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/762/op6.htm