vbl. sb. The trade of a bookseller.
1530. Royal Priv., in Palsgr., p. xi. Medlyng with the faite of printyng or bokesellyng.
1788. Walpoliana, xxxiii. 17. The manœuvres of bookselling are now equal in number to the stratagems of war.
1839. Hallam, Hist. Lit., I. ciii. § 145. The trade of bookselling seems to have been established at Paris and at Bologna in the twelfth century.
2. attrib. or adj. That sells books; pertaining to the selling of books.
1824. Dibdin, Libr. Comp., Introd. 17. The several great bookselling houses.
1839. Lockhart, Ballantyne-humbug, 6. Scott lost a fortune by the bookselling speculation. Ibid., 25. The early period prior to the bookselling adventure.
1884. Athenæum, 12 Jan., 54/1. The bookselling fraternity.
