The same question arises every year: what on earth to buy my uncle for Christmas? Crisis was averted in 2011 by the admirable Mark Forsyth, whose book The Etymologicon (Icon) is a jaunty stroll through idiomatic English, guaranteed to tickle the avuncular tendency.
The Etymologicon was the sale of the season, so popular that bookshops could not supply public demand. All hands were at the printing presses as emergency runs were produced; the books were then apparently hand-delivered by Icon’s staff to bookshops desperate to profit from the public’s fever. Exact figures are not yet available, but it seems that more than 50,000 copies have been sold.
Icon’s Philip Cotterell told the Bookseller that The Etymologicon is ‘a triumph of traditional publishing’. Other green shoots have sprung in the arid high street, with several independent publishers reporting a ‘surprise’ increase in revenue through the festive period.
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