Last year Shady Characters visited St Andrews, and posted this photo of the oldest (?) bookshop in town, J & G Innes, Ltd. In December however, the bookshop announced it was closing after 144 years in business. Jude Innes said “We are closing the shop because the three directors, myself and my two sisters, have decided to retire and spend more time with our families.” It was emphasized that the decision to close had nothing to do with economics. Fear not: British bookselling remains buoyant.
St Andrews, which is on the coast of Fife is known as the home of golf. More significantly, it is the home of the oldest university in Scotland; founded in 1413.
The Shady Characters‘ post is however mostly about the $ sign which was probably first cut as a piece of type in Philadelphia by a former occupant of these premises. The post shows a plaque above the shop’s door commemorating the building’s Atlantic-spanning type-founding history. The $ symbol first appears in business correspondence in the 1770s designating the Spanish American peso also called the Spanish dollar. In 1792 the United States Congress adopted the currency as their own, although until 1857 various other coins were also accepted as legal tender.
Making Book 