‘‘There’s an atmosphere of serendipity when browsing a bookshelf, which just can’t be replicated online. There’s not the same satisfaction,” said Susan Naughton, who has turned her passion into her life.

‘‘Picking out a book or finding something different - it’s what bookshops are about.”

A family-run business operating for almost 30 years, Naughton Booksellers reopened its doors last month on Dun Laoghaire seafront in south Dublin, with the addition of a photographic gallery.

‘‘Prints and maps were always a popular part of our stock and, with my son’s passion for photography, we decided to build on this visual interest,’’ Naughton said.

The bookshop was founded by Naughton in 1978, selling second-hand and antiquarian books. Today, she runs the business with two of her sons, Patrick and Michael. It has a stock of almost 20,000 books, of which about 40 per cent are Irish interest, covering subjects ranging from antiques to zoos.

Books range from inexpensive paperbacks to expensive antiquarian editions and limited editions signed by the authors.

Five years ago, Naughton closed the shop doors to operate the business online at www.naughtonsbooks.com.

‘‘I went into semi-retirement, operating by appointment and mail order only,” said Naughton. ‘‘But we had a great deal of enquiries and a demand from our long-suffering customers looking for the shop to be reopened to the public on a daily basis. We gave in.”

The bookshop is on Marine Terrace, beside the People’s Park in Dun Laoghaire, and within half a mile of the Martello Tower, the setting for the opening scene of James Joyce’s Ulysses.

‘‘I’ve always loved books,” Naughton said. ‘‘I wanted to specialise in second-hand and antiquarian books because I like old things - it’s completely different to trading new books,” she said.

Naughton’s enthusiasm for books is clear, and her three sons spent their youth helping out in the store. ‘‘The boys always chipped in, helping to shelve the books, so it exposed them to books at an early age.”

Naughton said that the photographic gallery - which features black-and-white landscape photography by Patrick Naughton -w as receiving a positive response from customers.

Patrick did a degree in photography at Dublin Institute of Technology and, while building his portfolio, he took one-off photos around Dublin with film cameras. Susan Naughton expects the photography side of the business to grow in the coming years.

‘‘We’re not going to expand [the bookshop] -we’ re going to focus on boosting Patrick’s photography sales as the photography on offer complements the books. Most are original topographical prints of the area, such as a 19th-century print of Killiney Hill. They interest a lot of our local customers.”