P J Hilton's blog

Bookshop Memories

  Sitting by the fireside a friend persuaded me to reminisce about my years in the book trade:  I started at the beginning when I first came into contact with the bookshops in the Charing Cross Road, in the early nineteen seventies. Here’s a couple of these old acquaintances;-  
 
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Did Someone Call Me Indiscreet ?

A certain degree of discretion is probably called for in narrating what I am about to tell you. This normally comes fairly easily to me, up to the point when I suddenly blurt out whatever I am supposed to be concealing. However a bookseller gets a good deal of practice over the years; whether it’s dealing with a clergy man with a taste for erotica or a wealthy collector who needs to dispose of some books quickly and discretely, for cash. Read more about Did Someone Call Me Indiscreet ?

Books For All

Somewhere in the western world is the dream bookshop; the shelves are full of beautiful, clean antique books that have not been attacked by worms, sunlight, librarians or housewives, there are no dog-eared paperbacks, and, although there are books we have longed to find at prices we can afford, there are also books; old, but new to us, that we did not know existed. Read more about Books For All

This Isn't What I Meant To Write

Have you ever tried one of those self-improvement recordings that are supposed to connect with the unconscious mind? The kind where a north American orders you to relax and then tells you to focus, visualise your goals and so on, whilst drawing your attention to everything in your life that sends your blood pressure soaring, leaves you a shaking unfocused wreck and wondering if life is worth living. Read more about This Isn't What I Meant To Write

Bluebeard's Secret

Have you ever tried to explain the finer points of book collecting to the uninitiated? Last night I had a new neighbour round for a drink: roaring log fire, bottle of light red wine and two glasses waiting on the table, best shirt on, quick tidying away of miscellaneous junk, put the Cliff Richard CDs at the bottom of the pile (they’re not mine, honestly, but it’s a long story). Read more about Bluebeard's Secret

Dreaming About Books

 I hope no trick cyclists or shrinks are reading, because I’ve a feeling I might be about to give away more about myself than I intend. You see not only do books fill a considerable portion of my waking life but, even when I am asleep, they haunt me, pleasantly in the main, like the familiar old ghosts in the family mansion, but they haunt me. Read more about Dreaming About Books

Confession of a Repentant Bookseller

There’s a very good reason I am blogging this morning and, in agreement with the doctrine of Historical Inevitability, the immediate cause lies in the dim mists of the past, of yesterday evening in fact, and a few glasses of wine too many. Putting aside the pomposity of a slight hangover, I met a couple of old acquaintances from the book trade, stepped into a bar for a ‘quick one’ in memory of old friends; one anecdote lead to another and one glass to another and, the upshot is, I am completely unfit for cataloguing this morning. Read more about Confession of a Repentant Bookseller

Send Me An Email!

I am sitting in the dining-room, watching a blackbird climb over the rockery in the sunshine, prodding at a plant with his yellow beak in a sort of timid-aggressive fashion. The rain stopped half an hour ago, and everything else glistens peacefully in the sunlight. He has started his day’s work, and, I suppose, I must start mine. Read more about Send Me An Email!

Why Did I Do It?

I didn’t tell anyone that I was giving up my shop until almost the last moment, or at least until it became obvious. When I started packing books in boxes and a van came to take the first load to my new premises, then it was obvious to all, because I was someone forever acquiring books, never getting rid of them. If they were leaving my shop by the van full, that could only mean one thing. Somehow I wanted everything to go on as before and I told no one I was leaving, opened the shop every morning at the usual time and even put new stock on the shelves. (It’s true! Read more about Why Did I Do It?

Last Day In Cecil Court

So, after twenty years at my bookshop in Cecil Court, I have finally taken the plunge, turned the key in the door for the last time and become a book dealer rather than a shop keeper. I am glad so many old customers came into the shop during my last few weeks there, to say goodbye and to leave their contact details, and most of them asked how I felt. Did I feel sad after so long? Was it a wrench to leave? Read more about Last Day In Cecil Court
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