Delvin - a book lover's paradise

Readers had a feast today at the Delvin Book Fair, where tens of thousands of books were on sale for €1 each and children’s books for 50c. The streets were lined with visitors’ cars and a steady stream of satisfied customers could be seen bearing bundles of books from the outlets that opened at noon.

This year, the Book Fair moved from the Delvin Mart to St Patrick’s Hall and three other units next to it.

Tables groaned under the weight of thousands of books, and yet more were stacked beneath to replenish stocks.

There was lots of popular fiction, classics, cookery books, travel books, animal encyclopedias, history books, coffee table books and much more.

A feature of the fair was the friendliness of the organisers, who were passing pleasantries with customers, giving them advice on books and authors and thanking them for coming.

The Book Fair was the culmination of a weekend of events in the hometown of author, Brinsley McNamara (John Weldon), whose publication, Valley of the Squinting Windows, raised a storm when it was first published in 1918.