Maggs

"Maggs," I said, "we are all in a bad way, but our case is more desperate than yours.

The Man with the Clubfoot Valentine Williams 1914

But Maggs says it is nowhere near as bad as it seems and insists that the 15 full-time experts, organised in five areas, know where everything is.

A working life: The rare-book dealer Mark Tran 2010

Despite the nepotism, he took over the section and has been managing director of Maggs Bros Rare Booksfor the last 10 years.

A working life: The rare-book dealer Mark Tran 2010

Avoiding the travel section, which was his father's speciality, Maggs – who liked literature – was drawn to the modern titles section run by William Lent, a man who "didn't read anything new" and "who if he didn't like you, told your to your face".

A working life: The rare-book dealer Mark Tran 2010

One of the world's largest antiquarian booksellers, it was established in 1853 by one Uriah Maggs, whose picture hangs on a wall at the firm's premises on the very fancy Berkeley Square.

A working life: The rare-book dealer Mark Tran 2010

"The name must have been dreamt up by some marketing type," says Maggs, who looks like he would happily stomp on a Kindle if one was at hand.

A working life: The rare-book dealer Mark Tran 2010

At the same time, Maggs admits that a large part of what he does is much more prosaic – "bickering about whether a book is worth five beads or seven beads".

A working life: The rare-book dealer Mark Tran 2010

For someone who loves old and rare books, buys and sells them, Ed Maggs hardly comes across as bookish, more of an energetic sporting type.

A working life: The rare-book dealer Mark Tran 2010

As managing director, which he describes as a "courtesy title", Maggs compares his job at the company, in which a majority stake is owned by an employee trust, to that of a mahout or elephant driver.

A working life: The rare-book dealer Mark Tran 2010

Maggs sold the correspondence last month to Yale University for its social history collection for a few hundred pounds.

A working life: The rare-book dealer Mark Tran 2010