Mr B's persuades Parthian to reprint Hummingbird

Nic Bottomley, owner of Mr B's Emporium in Bath, has purchased half the print run of a title from Welsh indie Parthian.

Parthian's title Hummingbird by the Canadian-Welsh writer Tristan Hughes has just sold though its initial hardback print run of 500 copies, priced at £10. Bottomley was recommended the title by a colleague and when he heard the title was going out of print, persuaded Parthian to reprint by promising to buy half its second print run of 400.

"We enjoy practicing a very opinionated form of bookselling at Mr B’s - hand-selling and recommending books at every opportunity", Bottomley said. "And we love nothing more than finding a book, like Hummingbird, that we believe is brilliantly written and that will appeal to many different types of readers – particularly when it’s published by an indie press like Parthian."

He added: “My colleague Tom has been going on about Hummingbird non-stop since May and when I finally read it last month I understood why. It has the perfect blend of plot, oddball characters and a superb sense of place.

"It’s been selling well throughout the summer and we’ve been getting incredible feedback on it from the customers who’ve read it. With three more months of customer conversations, our Christmas catalogue and an event at Mr B’s with the author between now and Christmas, we’re going to need a LOT of copies. I really hope other bookshops give it the reading-time and display it deserves too”.

Hughes has said he is "absolutely thrilled" that the shop is so enthuasistic about his novel. "The very best bookshops create a home for communities of passionate and curious readers, places to meet and share enthusiasms and discoveries, and I’m absolutely thrilled that Hummingbird has become part of such a rich and vibrant creative community as Mr B’s", he said.

The publisher Richard Davies said: "We'd noticed the sales of Hummingbird going through Mr B's and then they invited Tristan to take part in one of their famous Book Lovers Unite evenings. I contacted Nic to say we might have run out of stock by then, so he suggested a reprint. It's definitely one of the best responses I've had from a bookshop."

Hummingbird is now available from Parthian. Hughes will be appearing at an event at Mr B's on Wednesday 29th of November.