News of--one of the trade magazines referred to him as "legendary"; I can imagine the chuckle he got from that--bookseller Vincent McCaffrey's foray into fiction with his novel Hound got me thinking back to the aftershock of the closing of his legendary Back Bay Boston book shoppe Avenue Victor Hugo, after which my time spent in the dwindling population of Boston bookstores diminished considerably (for which I might, possibly, be better off). Also, I was reminded of the manifesto Vince wrote to explain the apparent demise of book selling (and book publishing), which is worth reconsidering some 10 years later:

Ever thankful to those who made the effort before us, with heartfelt apologies to those who are still in the fight and the few who support them--offered upon the closing of Avenue Victor Hugo Bookshop in Boston.

1. Corporate law (and the politicians, lawyers, businessmen and accountants who created it for their own benefit)--a legal fiction with more rights than the individual citizen, which allows the likes of Barnes & Noble...