|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
London Bookshops: Bibliophile's Paradise
| Article
# : |
18682 |
|
|
Section : |
LIFE
|
| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1991 |
3,160 Words |
| Author
: |
Herb Greer
Herb Greer is an American writer and playwright who lives in
Britain and on the Continent. |
To speak of a bookshop is rather like speaking of a "food" shop. One man's favorite is another man's counter full of junk. A bookshop full of fresh titles, with a profusion of bright, clean colors scattered over tables and along attractive, shining shelves, promises the excitement of what is fashionable and praised by those who are supposed to know about the latest and the best. On the other hand, a shop full of secondhand books has an air of genial disarray, of informal comfort. You walk in, and the noises of the street outside are suddenly distant and hushed.
You stroll along the stacked or jumbled shelves and cases, peering at the titles, and it is like threading your way through a wilderness of strangers where old acquaintances are waiting to be rediscovered. You pick up a forgotten author who has kept you company, amused you, given comfort or relaxation or shelter from a noisy world; another may have sung to you, argued with you, provoked you, or helped to pass the time on a tedious journey. Or you can turn a corner in these dusty aisles and stumble upon an unsuspected delight waiting on a shelf or a table, offering a change for new friendship to fill up a few hours that would have been idly frittered away and lost.
Since Doctor Johnson began the social fashion for bookshops in the eighteenth century, Britain has become one of the best countries in the world to find these havens. There is actually a small village on the Welsh border, Hay-on-Wye, that is almost nothing but a big secondhand bookshop. But the explorer of books and their territory would do best to start in London.
Searching through London
In London you will find all that is old and new, but especially old, in shops to satisfy and taste. The books include huge, brilliant art books and tiny volumes that contain a work of Shakespeare on pages no larger than a double-sized postage stamp. If you feel a nostalgia for prints or want to read about automobiles; if you prefer to savor old theatrical posters, photography, coins, children's literature, show business books, or Charles Dickens; if you are searching for the latest thought in sociology, cheap or very expensive secondhand literature, or even antiquarian books, then--somewhere out in the huge conglomeration of villages that is London--there is a shop that will have what you want.
It would take a row of very thick volumes to discuss all of the bookshops in London, but, given a week or two, it is possible (if one is
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
