A ROYSTON businessman has set up the world s first online bookshop specialising in large print books. Guy Garfit is launching the Large Print Bookshop to cater for the needs of about two million people in the UK who are unable to read conventional print

A ROYSTON businessman has set up the world's first online bookshop specialising in large print books.

Guy Garfit is launching the Large Print Bookshop to cater for the needs of about two million people in the UK who are unable to read conventional print due to visual impairment.

He said: "The concept for Large Print Bookshop was born when I tried to find a large print book for an elderly relative and discovered that not only was the range of titles tiny but the major book sellers didn't provide what our readers and listeners need.

"Most of the books we have are not available on Amazon or places like that, this is a unique venture."

Mr Garfit has spent many years working in publishing, bookselling, and digital print. He had the idea for Large Print Bookshop shortly before he turned 60, and in 2005 won a competition organised by Saga Magazine to find 'aged entrepreneurs' setting up a new business in later middle age.

"A lot of UK publishers don't publish a wide range of large print books, often I have to get books by UK authors from America," he said.

He is also looking to the future, and feels 'ebooks' - machines, much like an MP3 player, onto which several books can be loaded and read - may be the way forward.

"Ebook technology is still in its early stages, but I think it will work well.

"The problem with large print books is that they are generally quite large, and old people can find them heavy or difficult to hold. So an ebook where you can make the text size bigger might be useful for them," he said.

The Large Print Bookshop launches on March 6, to coincide with World Book Day. For more details visit www.largeprintbookshop.co.uk.