The fact that you read books does not make you interesting. Reading is a large part of so many people’s identity – including mine – but it is not in itself a guarantee of a particular personality. Wigtown bookseller Shaun Bythell knows this. In Seven Kinds of People you find in Bookshops he gives us seven (or eight? or nine?) archetypes of second hand bookshop dweller. The product is designed to be a gift for a bookshop dweller, who will, if they are me, try to work out whether they are the sort of person who causes the shopkeeper – if they notice our presence at all – to wince or roll their eyes.

Some of these people are mean-hearted, some of them whistle or hum to themselves (hey! that’s me! I’ll try to stop), some break wind, some expect booksellers to provide free childcare while they visit other shops. Some of their behaviour will be consistent in other retail settings though the tendency of some browsers to change the dust jacket to hide that they’re reading erotica doesn’t really have an equivalent in Halfords.

Different niche communities have different characteristics. Bythell likes railway enthusiasts. Red-trousered country types, less so. Bythell tries to adopt a misanthropic tone with occasional warmth. From time to time he oversteps the mark – such as when he indicates that an interest in a particular subject means that you have no social skills and can’t or won’t wash yourself. At his best, though, he channels being amused and long-suffering. There are some interesting details about the book trade and some fun anecdotes, though fewer than I’d hoped for.

A safe, if a little too safe, present for the bookshop dweller in your life. Just flick through first to check they’re not in one of the groups that Bythell really goes for.