The line toward the small army of volunteers punching additions into the calculators stretched around the entire circumference of the University of Newcastle's Great Hall, circumscribing the scene like the Norse world serpent.
At one point, the most recent book hunter to join the queue stood, with their pile in hand, at the table where the sales were being put through near the door, knowing that they had an entire tour of the hall to go before they made it back again.
