Acknowledgements. The road I'd later take -- A giraffe in Edinburgh zoo -- The pope of long acre -- A paragon of seedy exactitude -- Hawks and magpies -- The loneliness of the collector -- The testament of Charlotte B. -- The disembowelling of phantoms -- Black mischief and subterfuge -- The square root of obsession -- Is Goldilocks Jewish? -- The man collecting names -- The polish for goodbye -- Coda -- Acknowledgements.
Summary:
"A memoir of a life in the antiquarian book trade, A Factotum in the Book Trade is a journey between the shelves--and then behind the counter, into the overstuffed basement, and up the spine-stacked attic stairs of your favourite neighbourhood bookshop. From his childhood in rural Ontario, where at the village jumble sale he bought poetry volumes for their pebbled-leather covers alone, to his all-but-accidental entrance into the trade in London and the career it turned into, poet and travel writer Marius Kociejowski recounts his life among the buyers, sellers, customers, and literary nobility--the characters, fictional and not--who populate these places we all love. Cataloging their passions and pleasures, oddities and obsessions, A Factotum in the Book Trade is a journey through their lives, and a story of the serendipities and collisions of fate, the mundane happenings and indelible encounters, the friendships, feuds, losses, and elations that characterize the business of books--and, inevitably, make up an unforgettable life."-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.