The Evolution of a
"Bookseller"
from Diaskari
Books
Why the quotation marks? Well, I suppose that I feel
something of a fraud compared to the other booksellers who
are members of ibooknet. And yet I have made my living from
books - as a publisher or as a bookseller - all my adult
life. But the real truth is that I am a collector. The
selling provides a rationale for buying - it legitimises
what I really enjoy doing, which is adding to, upgrading,
"playing" with my books. And it keeps my wife quiet because
every purchase becomes an "investment”. So - how is it that
I have made my living for over 35 years selling books
without ever becoming a bookseller?
I grew up surrounded by books. My father was a collector
with a wide range of interests. My sister and I grew up
being read to every evening by my mother - from what I now
know were first editions of C.S.Lewis's Narnia stories and
Tolkien's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. At that time they
were simply marvellous stories that I enjoyed. But I also
read widely from my father's collection - he enjoyed
historical novels, some modern fiction, travel. He was a
founding member of the Folio Society. I was subtly pointed
at the classic stories for young readers - Rider Haggard,
Buchan (who I thoroughly disliked except for the wonderful
Prester John), Major Charles Gilson's excellent The Lost
City (which I can still recall the entire plot of even
though I haven't looked at it for 50 years), Robert Louis
Stevenson and so many more.
No limits were placed on what I could or couldn't read.
Although as adolescence approached my father did ask me to
wash my hands before my weekly reading of his pink silk
bound Folio Society edition of Zola's Nana. Now I can't
remember whether it was the pictures or the text I enjoyed
more - but this was the fifties and I had not yet discovered
Harrison Marks. When you are young your capacity to read at
many levels is astonishing. I would read Dostoyevsky,
Malcolm Saville and Eagle, Wizard and the Hotspur (and my
sister's girly comics too if I could do it secretly). Now I
think the Dostoyevsky was mere pretension but read it I did.
All during my childhood and young adulthood I accumulated
books. Much loved by my aunts because presents were so easy
- "Oh, give him a book token and he'll be happy" - and I
was. But it was accumulating not collecting. I didn't
concern myself with editions or, very much, with condition.
I just bought compulsively, usually read and always hoarded
the results.
I got my first pay check in 1961 from Blackwell's - working
in their packing department. Well, one day in packing - then
I was moved (sideways I thought but in Blackwell's terms
this was a demotion) to unpacking where my lack of manual
skills was not so serious. Then on to university where I
discovered science fiction and a whole new area in which to
accumulate books. I bought American imports extensively.
Science fiction obsessed me for years until one day I found
I simply could not read it any more - it was generally (with
some honourable exceptions) so badly written. So I sold
everything I had. How I wince now when I think of the
collectable first editions and rare mass market paperbacks I
turned into not very much cash.
Five years at university and then a couple of years as a
publisher. Children's books - paperbacks. I wasn't very good
at it really. First time I bought the rights to a book I
talked the rights holder in accepting double what he
initially asked because I liked the book so much. David
Severn's Drumbeat - loved it as a child and was really proud
to put it into paperback. Commissioned a wonderful cover. It
was a disaster - somewhere there must be a landfill site
full of copies. Our readers wanted Enid Blyton and pony
books.
Publishing turned out not to be for me (although it was all
I had ever wanted to be since I was a child). And I became a
sort of bookseller for the next thirty years - selling books
to academic libraries around the world for one of the larger
UK library suppliers. Great job. Lots of travel in the US
and Australia.
At this point I was still just an accumulator of books. Then
two things happened which changed my life. My father sold
his book collection without telling me. What I had grown up
with and expected to inherit was no longer there. My sister
incidentally was much more alert than me and "pre-inherited"
the first editions of Tolkien and C.S.Lewis when my father's
back was turned. At around the same time I started
travelling in the US with a colleague who was a collector -
crime fiction, sea stories and Scottish interest. He turned
me on to collecting first editions. Which I knew about but
which hadn't really concerned me because I was buying for
content.
What a revelation! The hunt became much more exciting - and
much harder. But I had a target - I had to replace what had
been taken out of my life. So for years I hunted down first
editions of Alfred Duggan - one of the truly great masters
of the historical novel with a extraordinary range; Henry
Treece - whose The Great Captains, The Golden Strangers, The
Dark Island and Red Queen, White Queen are wonderful and
neglected evocations of ancient Britain; Maurice Druon's
amazing series The Accursed Kings set in fourteenth century
France. And the search for these led to new discoveries: the
novels of Cecelia Holland, not all to my taste, but some -
like Great Maria - quite powerful; Gillian Bradshaw who is
one of the best historical novelists writing today and sadly
neglected by British publishers. Try and lay your hands on
Island of Ghosts, the story of the Sarmatian cavalry serving
in the Roman army in second century Britain. Prudence
Andrew, Meriol Trevor, Wallace Breem, George Shipway, Graham
Shelby, the list goes on.
[And if you are interested in historical fiction, let me
interject a recommendation for
The Historical Novel Society who produce a magazine,
Solander, twice a year and a Review every quarter. The
Historical Novels Review provides comprehensive coverage of
novels published in both the UK and the US. Solander Volume
7, No 2 (November 2003) had an excellent special feature on
Henry Treece]
And I discovered crime fiction. The great appeal of crime
fiction was its sense of place. I loved series set in
localities so you began to get a real feel for how a city
felt and looked. And even better if you visited there and
drove down those mean streets. I bought all the obvious
stuff but the authors I most valued were those who wrote
about what I didn't know: Jonathan Valin's Harry Stoner
books set in Cincinnati; Margaret Maron's novels of North
Carolina; L.R.Wright's outstanding novels set on the
Sunshine Coast in British Columbia; Peter Bowen's Gabriel Du
Pre mysteries set in Montana and rich with information about
the life and customs of the Metis; and again, many, many
more.
And now - with guidance - I knew how to buy. First edition,
fine condition, signed where possible. If not available
signed - buy the best you can and look to upgrade later.
Sort through the books looking for the best copy of the
book. The basement of The Strand Bookshop in New York was a
joy for this - and you could find signed copies there too -
what a sense of achievement!
I still have to travel with my handy and invaluable Pocket
Guide to the Identification of First Editions complied by
Bill McBride. Why? Because publishers are weird and
wonderful people and find it very hard to adopt any sort of
common practices - or even be consistent in the application
of the practices they do adopt. I know - I was one!
So the books continued to accumulate. All sorts of books.
One of the issues about being a collector is that you buy
books that you don't like or read but just because you
bought the first in the series. I bought the first
R.D.Wingfield Inspector Frost novel - hated it and never
finished it. But I had it, so as they come out I bought all
the others on publication, put them in a mylar jacket and
popped them unread onto my shelves. No skill, cunning or
judgement there - just the slightly obsessive actions of a
completist who had good access to books. Those were probably
my most profitable purchases. Sold for a very handsome price
when I started trading - and no grief at losing them!
Now if I was asked could I do the same with my Ian Rankin
novels the answer would be "no". I read them for pleasure
(well, I buy paperbacks and read them) but I have invested
too much time and effort in building the collection and
upgrading to signed copies etc ever to be comfortable
selling them.
After years of travel and book buying, I decided to go into
business for myself. Hence Diaskari Books. It has been a
fascinating experience. Another vastly more experienced
bookseller once said to me that the definition of a true
bookseller is that he will sell anything if the price was
right - no matter that it was a family heirloom, he nearly
died finding it, he loved the author, whatever… - if the
price was right, it was for sale. Well, that may not be the
only test and I expect there are others I fail as well. I
work hard at selling, I concentrate on providing a personal
and responsive service; I do all that well I think - but it
is all a means to an end. And the end is buying more books
which my heirs will have to dispose of...
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