"The genteel, slow-paced atmosphere of most second-hand bookshops seems to belong more to the 19th century than the 21st; few things are further from today's high-tech, high-speed connected world. The advent of the internet and the widespread take-up of broadband in recent years has intruded brutally on this cloistered world, changing the face of the second-hand book business forever."

"A forest of sites has sprung up selling second-hand books in vast quantities. These include the ubiquitous Amazon.com and others such as Alibris and Bookfinder.com, but the category killer is Abebooks."

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