The Antiquarian Bookshops Of Old London
At Marks & Co, 84 Charing Cross Rd
After I left college and came to London, I rented a small windowless room in a basement off the Portobello Rd and I spent a lot of time trudging the streets. I believed the city was mine and I used to plan my walks of exploration around the capital by visiting all the old bookshops. They were such havens of peace from the clamour of the streets that I wished I could retreat from the world and move into one, setting up a hidden bedroom to sleep between the shelves and read all day in secret.
Frustrated by my pitiful lack of income, it was not long before I began carrying boxes of my textbooks to bookshops in the Charing Cross Rd and swapping them for a few banknotes that would give me a night at the theatre or some other treat. I recall the wrench of guilt when I first sold books off my shelves but I found I was more than compensated by the joy of the experiences that were granted to me in exchange.
Inevitably, I soon began acquiring more books that I discovered in these shops and, on occasion, making deals that gave me a little cash and a single volume from the shelves in return for a box of my own books. In this way, I obtained some early Hogarth Press titles and a first edition of To The Lighthouse with a sticker in the back revealing that it had been bought new at Shakespeare & Co in Paris. How I would like to have been there in 1927 to make that purchase myself.
Once, I opened a two volume copy of Tristram Shandy and realised it was an eighteenth century edition rebound in nineteenth century bindings, which accounted for the low price of eighteen pounds. Yet even this sum was beyond my means at the time. So I took the pair of volumes and concealed them at the back of the shelf hidden behind the other books and vowed to return.
More than six months later, I earned an advance for a piece of writing and – to my delight when I came back – I discovered the books were still there where I had hidden them. No question about the price was raised at the desk and I have those eighteenth century volumes of Tristram Shandy with me today. Copies of a favourite book, rendered more precious by the way I obtained them and now a souvenir of those dusty old secondhand bookshops that were once my landmarks to navigate around the city.
Frank Hollings of Cloth Fair, established 1892
E. Joseph of Charing Cross Rd, established 1885
Mr Maggs of Maggs Brothers of Berkeley Sq, established 1855
Marks & Co of Charing Cross Rd, established 1904
Harold T. Storey of Cecil Court, established 1928
Henry Sotheran of Sackville St, established 1760
Andrew Block of Barter St, established 1911
Louis W. Bondy of Little Russell St, established 1946
H.M. Fletcher, Cecil Court
Harold Mortlake, Cecil Court
Francis Edwards of Marylebone High St, founded 1855
Stanley Smith of Marchmont St, established 1935
Suckling & Co of Cecil Court, established 1889
Images from The London Bookshop, published by the Private Libraries Association, 1971
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Today’s images made me smile. When very young, in the 1950’s, my father and I regularly walked along Cecil Court. The window of Harold T. Storey intrigued me, even at that age. I remember the hanging prints displayed like Christmas cards at home.
However, the name Louis Bondy strikes an even more powerful memory. He was a dealer in antique miniature books. I met him in about 1990 while he was visiting his son, a friend of mine, in Canada. Once he ascertained my interest in old books, he asked if I would like to see his collection. I assured him that I would, the next time I was in London. He said I could see them there and then. He then produced a biscuit tin. His whole collection of extremely rare miniature books was in it! It was a singular experience. As a thank you, I made a miniature book in a presentation slipcase for him. He was delighted.
The objects that take up the most space in my little house are many bookcases, all filled to overflowing. I even have one bookcase under the stairs, plus a floor to ceiling one in my box room – the latter of which, officially, should be a third bedroom!
There was a used book dealer, Postars? on Market Street in the Brighton part of Boston Massachusetts in the US which closed decades ago but my history professor father and I spent many wonderful Saturday afternoons looking for young adult level books for me (I was around 11) and other ones for him. I know I’ve got the name wrong but I remember what a good time we had there. The building is still there. It’s the name I’m mangling.
My whole life has been filled with adventures involving books and second-hand bookshops. It all began with my grandfather, who was a senior teacher and headmaster of a boys’ school, whilst my father completed an apprenticeship as a bookseller in Leipzig and went on to work as a publisher’s bookseller. And when I began my design degree, my bookshelves gradually filled up. Today, there’s hardly any room left for a single book!
But whenever I’m in the old university town of Göttingen (where I was born), I simply can’t resist the second-hand bookshops. And I still come across such magnificent treasures as the one described by the GA: This spring, I found a bargain book called *The Oscar Wilde Album*. Edited by his only grandson, Merlin Holland. The best bit: Merlin Holland signed it on 30 October 2005 whilst he was in Göttingen! — THIS BOOK COULDN’T BE ANY MORE PRECIOUS TO ME!
Love & Peace
ACHIM