Sheila Markham

in conversation

The originality of Sheila Markham’s conversations with the antiquarian book trade is the privileged insight they give into the quirky yet fascinating world of rare books, demonstrating how very much alive it is today.

She allows every bookseller his or her own monologue to talk about what interests them in their job, how they fell in love with books, or their views on the current state of the trade. Each bookseller has an individual voice – be it modest, earnest, anxious, ironic, zestful, measured, proud, humorous, business-like, secretive or nonchalant.

- Michael Meredith

 

Sheila Markham’s role is that of a silent recording angel, benign and encouraging, bringing forth occasional glissandos of egotism and ambition, wistful memories of happier or more profitable times, and occasional revelations of life in the real world as Buddhist monk, fashion photographer, drystone waller, bus driver, actor or pedagogue.

- Paul Grinke

 

An invaluable mine of fact, anecdote, memories, few lies and no statistics. Thank God for all the persons that Sheila Markham has immortalized, and all the rest that she has yet to reach.

- Nicolas Barker

 

Sketch by the Victorian artist John Leech

At a guinea a volume, I make that £19.19.0.

Brian Lake

This sketch by the Victorian artist John Leech (Mary Evans Picture Library) appears on the dust-jacket of the two volumes of Sheila Markham’s conversations with the antiquarian book trade published in 2004 and 2014.

The sketch lends itself to a caption competition. If you would like to enter, please send your suggestion to sheilamarkham@hotmail.com

The Voice of Experience
A shortage of customers is certainly not the problem - we simply cannot find the books. They’re so thinly spread out these days.

Daniel Lloyd

Interview of the week Don Lake

Don Lake

Booksellers tend to be very generous with their knowledge and I never miss a chance to talk and read about the trade. In fact I never make manoeuvres of any variety without speaking to a number of people in the trade whom I respect.

Read on ...

Latest updates


In Memoriam Robin de Beaumont

Posted on 25/02/2023 at 18:02

Robin de Beaumont has died at the age of 97. A highly-respected and knowledgeable bookseller who began his working life as an architect, Robin was renowned for his incredible eye for books as physical objects. He pioneered renewed interest in Victorian book illustration, and gave his collection of British wood-engraved illustrated books to the British Museum in the 1990s. Robin’s interview may be found here http://www.sheila-markham.com/interviews/robin-de-beaumont.html

 

A Mighty Slab of our Culture

Posted on 22/01/2023 at 15:01

If you’re reading this, you’re probably already interested in the rare book trade and its practitioners. And so I have no hesitation in recommending a recent book by Marius Kociejowski, poet, travel writer and A Factotum in the Book Trade, to quote the title of his volume of memoirs. Marius believes that bookshops are magic places, but fears that their future is at stake ‘and with it goes a mighty slab of our culture’.

A distinctive figure in the London book trade since 1978, Marius began his career with Bertram Rota, and later worked for Peter Jolliffe (Ulysses Bookshop) in Museum Street, and Peter Ellis in Cecil Court. There are memorable pen portraits of Marius’s colleagues and customers – past and present – including Edith Finer, whose shop in Cecil Court was later occupied by Peter Ellis. Marius’s description of Lady Finer’s business includes this quotation from my interview with her in 1992, ‘There’s a difference between books as a way to make money, and books as books. It makes me sad when I hear of people going into the business as a business. I love my books and I want to sell them as books.’ The full text of Edith Finer’s interview is available here: http://www.sheila-markham.com/interviews/edith-finer.html

A Factotum in the Book Trade is published by Biblioasis, Windsor, Ontario, 2022, £13.99, ISBN 978-1-77196-456-2. It’s easily available online, but please buy it from a bookshop.

A Poland & Steery Co-production