Book finally sold after being on the shelf for nearly 30 years

A book about William the Conqueror was fast becoming the most ignored book in the UK- until it was finally purchased 27 years after it was first placed on the book shop shelf.

Broadhursts of Southport is an independent bookshop situated in Merseyside, NW England, where each book is individually selected based on its own merit. The Pitkin children’s biography of William the Conqueror was stocked in the 1990s by 84-year-old Marie, who now works part time, and they never lost faith the book would sell.

I have just sold a book that we have had in stock since May 1991. We always knew its day would come.
— Broadhursts Bookshop (@BroadhurstBooks) 17 November 2018

Joanne Ball of Broadhursts of Southport bookshop told The Guardian:

“We always had faith it would sell, as we do with all our books. We choose every book we stock individually, rather than having random batches of stock sent to us. Often books unsold within nine to 12 months are returned to the publisher, but some we keep for longer, either because they (or the subject) are personal favourites of ours, or because there are not many other titles on the subject available. We know that one day, someone will want that exact title, however long the wait.”

According to Ball, the almost-forgotten title “was bought by a gentlemen looking for books on the Norman conquest for his grandson. We think that a local school is covering the subject.”

The tweet went quickly viral and book lovers around the world rejoiced as the lonely book was adopted at last. The outpouring of positivity and support was heartwarming for Joanne Ball and her colleagues:

“It isn’t often you see book-related stories going viral, which has been a great surprise – lots of book-lovers out there wanting to support it, too. We have had some great reactions from our local and regular customers, but the fact that people in the US and Australia now know about us, and have been talking about us, is just unbelievable.”