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Bennett and Kerr Books started out in September 1982, without premises but with a stock of inherited books in boxes, inaccessibly stacked, at one end of Oxfordshire, and two second-hand manual type-writers at the other. The logistics got less complicated when books, typewriters and personnel moved into the same house, and gradually computers supplanted the typewriters. It soon became clear that medieval studies would be our focus, and we are proud to have handled in the last 42 years the collections of, among others, scholars such as Norman Davis, Denys Hay, Donald Bullough, Kathleen Major, Patrick Wormald, George Zarnecki, Derek Brewer, C R Dodwell, Anne Hudson and Mark Whittow. As we began to buy whole libraries the books demanded more room; by 1992 we had run out of space, but the farm up the road had a soon-to-be empty warehouse - far too big, we thought, for our needs, but convenient and inexpensive, if draughty. It's still draughty, but no longer seems too big, and we welcome visitors of all ages and from all over the world.
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Edmund Bennett (B.A., Oxon; M.A., Lond.) and Andrew Kerr (B.A., Exon.) have known each other for five decades, and for a few years shared the classical education that would (they were promised) teach them 'to despise the emoluments which it forbids them from attaining'. Edmund's background and experience were academic, Andrew's in the book trade and antiquarian book cataloguing, when with some misgivings they joined forces in the uncertain commercial venture of second-hand bookselling.
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Marion, who has a degree in French and Spanish, has worked with Edmund and Andrew almost since the beginning of the partnership. Her organisational skills have controlled the excess enthusiasms of the partners, and her diligent cataloguing ensures that the books we buy are available for sale as soon as possible. More recently Bev, unfailingly cheerful, has brought fresh energy and imagination to all aspects of the business from internet to mailing, with assistance from Ez (cataloguing) and Chrissy (packing).
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