On the passion and dangers of buying and selling books in Barcelona

Abstract

The two central ideas of this text are: 1) The exchange of products, goods, and services is the main activity of cities. Without these exchanges —trade—, cities would not exist. 2) Bookshops are a qualitative sign of the urban phenomenon by providing a means to identify a robust and organised civil society. Without bookshops, there is no city. The article aims to analyse the relationship between books and the city through the commercial exchanges in bookshops. The study case applies the heterotopia concept developed by Michel Foucault to the commercial and cultural geohistory of the long-lasting Barcelona bookshops.