![\"Dylans](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/f45c87c9d53274737cbc5c2f0878161c20536d52\/0_0_650_452\/master\/650.jpg?w=300&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=fec9b78388b1d86a9a8880da78f9ac27\")
<\/picture><\/div>\nDylans Mobile Bookstore Photograph: Literary Hub
\nDylans Mobile Bookstore was dreamt up three years ago by Jeff Towns and his son Joe in a bar in Laugharne, Wales during a literary festival. Jeff, an antiquarian bookseller for 40 years, had closed his old shop in Swansea, Wales ten years prior, but he still had about 10,000 books in storage and was missing the buzz of the book trade. He had been considering starting a pop-up bookshop that would travel to various festivals when Joe suggested that he buy an old library bus instead. Before long, they\u2019d dubbed it Dylans Mobile Bookstore and were on the road with a merry brand of pranksters; Joe handles the bus\u2019s bookings and social media, their friend Huwie drives, and Joe\u2019s wife Gwar keeps everyone in line.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your favourite section of the store?
\nSign up to our Bookmarks newsletter
\nRead more
\nJeff: My favourite section has to be our Beat section. We stock classic titles by Burroughs, Ginsberg, Kerouac\u2026 We loosely based Dylans Mobile Bookstore on Ken Kesey\u2019s Magic bus, and we also have a big cardboard cut out of Neal Cassady behind the wheel. On the side of the bus is our motto: \u201cFind an event, immerse yourself, become the story.\u201d It\u2019s one of Hunter S Thompson\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Joe: I look after the vintage stuff, so that\u2019s my favourite bit: retro ladybird originals, rare music magazines, curious Victoriana, political pamphlets, old medical prints and postcards, hilarious educational and etiquette books from the \u201930s, \u201940s, and \u201950s about how we used to live. Even things like magic lanterns and all the erotica! Any of the weird stuff.<\/p>\n
Gwawr: I run a section on the Bus called Blind Date Book Club, where I wrap up books in brown paper and put a few cheeky clues on the cover and then people pick a book based on the clue\u2014basically a blind date with a book. It\u2019s one pound a go. A pretty cheap date, I reckon! And these books are always the first to sell out.<\/p>\n
![\"Jeff,](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/2b52a46a05d3b629e3efa20de2a34a8cd84108d5\/0_6_800_480\/master\/800.jpg?w=300&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=ae7995d8b323fa7487fd41d4e58b2261\")
<\/picture><\/div>\nJeff, pictured inside Dylans Mobile Bookstore. Photograph: Literary Hub<\/p>\n
Jeff, pictured inside Dylans Mobile Bookstore.
\nFacebook Twitter Pinterest
\nJeff, pictured inside Dylans Mobile Bookstore. Photograph: Literary Hub
\nIf you had infinite space what would you add?<\/p>\n
Advertisement<\/p>\n
Jeff: We have a graffiti artist in residence; his name is Simon Dark. He does spray can stencil pictures of all our literary heroes\u2014Richard Brautigan, Tom Wolfe, Hemingway, and Hunter. And shot gun art of all our least favourite politicians. It would be cool to have some spare wall space for his pictures. Oh, and personally I\u2019d like An Art Deco Art Nouveau absinthe dispenser on the counter\u2026<\/p>\n
What do you do better than any other bookstore?<\/p>\n
Jeff: Thomases! We specialise in Dylan Thomas, R.S. Thomas, Edward Thomas, and Gwyn Thomas. We are based in Wales, and those are four of our finest literary legends. So we have Thomas covered. And Poetry! No one does poetry like us. Not only do we stock a lot of poetry, but we also hold pop up poetry sessions on the bus for people to come and perform. Amateurs and professionals both.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s your favorite regular?<\/p>\n
Jeff: There\u2019s a guy called Gruff Rhys who sings with a band called the Super Furry Animals; he has an amazing aura whenever he comes on board. He\u2019s very calm and wise, talks slowly, and asks for extremely obscure books about Welsh heroes: myths and legends like Iolo Morgannwg.<\/p>\n
If I wasn’t a bookseller? I’d probably be some sort of itinerant tramp
\nMusicians always make great customers. Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth came on once and bought some really interesting Welsh poetry from a publication called Second Aeon; that was cool.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the craziest situation you\u2019ve ever had to deal with in the store?<\/p>\n
Joe: Wow, where to start? Going to music festivals, it gets pretty surreal and strange at night, but we have another old Hunter S Thompson saying we like: \u201cWhen the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.\u201d People at festivals are often in fancy dress so we\u2019ve had bears, zulu warriors, spacemen, and guys on stilts all buying books of us. Once the artist Gavin Turk came on the bus dressed as a tree. The thing with festivals is no one ever has any cash. People always want to trade books for alcohol or sunglasses or even hash cakes!<\/p>\n
At the Good Life Festival we had a lovely lady buy an old copy of Private Eye magazine with Robert Maxwell on the cover. We asked why she wanted an edition with such an evil guy on the cover and the girl said: \u201cRobert Maxwell was my granddad.\u201d And at the Green Man Festival last year, a guy arrived on a raft, attached to a barge, on which he was delivering a piano to London. He asked for some books on pianos. See what I mean? It\u2019s weird.<\/p>\n
![\"Dylans](\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dialog\/share?app_id=180444840287&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbooks%2F2016%2Fjul%2F11%2Finterview-with-a-bookstore-dylans-mobile-bookstore-in-wales%3FCMP%3Dshare_btn_fb%26page%3Dwith%3Aimg-2%23img-2&picture=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.guim.co.uk%2F2b52a46a05d3b629e3efa20de2a34a8cd84108d5%2F0_6_800_480%2F800.jpg\")
<\/picture><\/div>\nPhotograph: Literary Hub Jeff: I remember Better Books and Compendium Bookstores in London when I was young. I could get my hands on early Beat stuff, drug literature, and counter culture books. I won a prize at school on sports day when I was 16, and the prize was a book token. I could have any book I wanted. I went to a bookshop in East London and boughtHowl, and the head teacher had to present it to me. I don\u2019t think he read it!<\/p>\n I went to my first ever antiquarian book fair in Bath in 1971. It was in an ancient eight-sided building called the octagon, and I remember seeing all these men with beards surrounded by incredible books. I was intrigued and hooked for life!<\/p>\n Festival goers seem to find the Bus a place of tranquility, a break from the madness Jeff: Probably some sort of itinerant tramp. I\u2019ve never had a proper job, never had a boss; life on the road suits me. I really can\u2019t imagine being anything else other than a bookseller. I did want to be a pro basketball player back in the day. I once sponsored a local team in Swansea, and we were called the Dylans Bookmen.<\/p>\n Joe: I guess if we didn\u2019t have the BookBus we\u2019d still go to the festivals, but having the bus makes it easier, it justifies it. We take the BookBus to the sort of festivals we always wanted to go to anyway\u2014the sort of bespoke rock and roll festivals which also cater for the arts. It\u2019s amazing how these festivals now get in touch with us, invite us along with the bus, and treat us like performers with backstage passes. Some of us have normal jobs, so it\u2019s just a joy to come and work on the bus. I sleep on it too, which is magical.<\/p>\n \u2018We\u2019ve had bears, zulu warriors, spacemen, and guys on stilts all buying books of us…\u2019 Photograph: Literary Hub<\/p>\n \u2018We\u2019ve had bears, zulu warriors, spacemen, and guys on stilts all buying books of us\u2019… Jeff: The constant synchronicity that seems to occur in the book world. The amount of times I\u2019m sat reading a book and then someone comes in and asks for that very book \u2014 it\u2019s spooky. There are always amazing moments of serendipity and destiny in the book trade. I feel it when I\u2019m in other bookshops, too; I find myself instinctively drawn towards a certain shelf. I can sense where a bookshop will be in cities I\u2019ve never been to. Joe: I\u2019m always pleasantly surprised how much the people at music festivals want to actually buy books. They seem to find the Bus a place of tranquility, a break from the madness\u2014we have music playing but we keep it mellow. Coming on the BookBus, because it\u2019s an authentic old library bus, people get all nostalgic about their school days and remember the day the library bus would visit: the way it wobbles when you step on, like it\u2019s boat on the sea, and the cantilevered shelves. People have a sort of epiphany. It\u2019s a genuine madeleine moment for them.<\/p>\n The staff shelf On The Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin Dylans Mobile Bookstore Photograph: Literary Hub Dylans Mobile Bookstore was dreamt up three years ago by Jeff Towns and his son Joe in a bar in Laugharne, Wales during a literary festival. Jeff, an antiquarian bookseller for 40 years, had closed his old shop in Swansea, Wales ten yearsRead More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mobilebookcafe.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mobilebookcafe.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mobilebookcafe.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mobilebookcafe.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mobilebookcafe.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1713"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/mobilebookcafe.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1716,"href":"http:\/\/mobilebookcafe.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1713\/revisions\/1716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mobilebookcafe.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mobilebookcafe.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mobilebookcafe.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhat\u2019s your earliest\/best memory about visiting a bookstore as a child?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nIf you weren\u2019t running or working at a bookstore, what would you be doing?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/picture><\/div>\n
\n\u2018We\u2019ve had bears, zulu warriors, spacemen, and guys on stilts all buying books of us…\u2019 Photograph: Literary Hub
\nWhat\u2019s been the biggest surprise about running a bookstore?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nInterview with a Bookstore: Melbourne’s Readings, the best bookshop in the world<\/p>\n
\nWhat are Dylans Mobile Bookstore\u2019s booksellers reading?<\/p>\n
\nOn the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin (1982). Gwawr recommends: \u201cI\u2019m from a farming background in Wales, and the way Chatwin describes how life can be on a farm is perfect.\u201d
\nFear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson (1971). Simon recommends: \u201cHunter. Every time. Or anything by Hemingway.\u201d
\nPortrait of the Artist as a Young Dog by Dylan Thomas (1940). Jeff recommends: \u201cA stunning collection of short stories by Dylan Thomas. People forget what an amazing prose writer Dylan was, and how funny he could be.\u201d
\nIf you\u2019d like to follow where Dylans Mobile Bookstore is, you can check their Facebook page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"