books had scarcely become
old in the time of Shakespeare, so that doubtless the volumes which were
to be had within the shadow of the cathedral were new ones. Booksellers
gradually migrated from the heart of London to a more westerly
direction. The bookstall followed, not so much as a matter of course as
because there was no room for it; land became extremely valuable, and
narrow streets, which are also crowded, are not a congenial soil for the
book-barrow. The Strand and Holborn and Fleet Street districts, both
highways and byways, became a favourite spot for the book-barrow during
the last century, and remained such up to quite modern times--until,
indeed, the iconoclastic wave of improvements swept everything before
it. Holywell Street still remains intact.

[Illustration: _Exeter 'Change in 1826._]

One of the most famous bookstalling localities during the last century
was Exeter 'Change, in the Strand, which occupied a large area of the
roadway between the present Lyceum Theatre and Exeter Street, and has
long since given place to Burleigh Street. The place was built towards
the end of the seventeenth century, and the shops were at first occupied
by sempsters, milliners, hosiers, and so forth. The place appears to
have greatly degenerated, and soon included bookstalls among the
standings of miscellaneous dealers. Writing on January 31, 1802, Robert
Bloomfield observes: 'Last night, in passing through Exeter 'Change, I
stopt at a bookstall, and observed "The Farmer's Boy" laying there for
sale, and the new book too, marked with very large writing, Bloomfield's
"Rural Tales": a young man took it up, and I observed he read the whole
through, and perhaps little thought that the author stood at his elbow.'
This locality was also a famous one for 'pamphlet shops.' 'Sold at the
Pamphlet Shops of London and Westminster' is an imprint commonly seen on
title-pages up to the middle of the last century. In addition to shops
and stalls, book-auctions were also held here. The curious and valuable
library of Dr. Thomas Pellet, Fellow of the College of Physicians, and
of the Royal Society, was sold 'in the Great Room over Exeter 'Change,'
during January, 1744, beginning at 5 p.m. (see p. 105).

[Illustration: _A Barrow in Whitechapel._]

Early in the eighteenth century, the third Earl of Shaftesbury, in his
'Miscellaneous Reflections,' 1714, refers to notable philosophers and
divines 'who can be contented to make sport, and wri