I love used books.
But then, I always spent hours browsing used books stalls.

I started buying  used books regularly when I realized I could get university textbooks for a fraction of the price.
A typical student’s strategy to save money.
Old monographies were a special treat – I still remember some of my teacher’s surprise at the discovery that I owned a copy of a precious monographs about stratigraphy – a gift from my mother, that had found it used for ten bucks (compared to the two hundred of the retail price).

Later, I started buying used books independently of the subject – why pay more, after all?
Before the coming of the ebook, it was the easiest way to save on reading matter – and to get a cheap sample of some new or unknown writer.
Also, and again, before the advent of ebooks, some old books could only be found second hand – on used-books stalls, or through Amazon vendors (Amazon UK is my main purveyor of used books).
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