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

No gentleman can be without three copies of a book, one for show, one for use and one for borrowers.

Richard Heber

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
If you never make mistakes, you’re not taking enough chances.

Rusty Mott

Interview of the week Margaret Squires of The Quarto Bookshop, St Andrews

Margaret Squires of The Quarto Bookshop, St Andrews

I went into bookselling thinking that it would do until I got a ‘proper’ job when the children grew up. This shows a terrible contempt for bookselling, but it is more a reflection of the portfolio life that many women tend to have, with many part-time occupations.

Read on ...

Latest updates

In Memoriam Robin Myers

Posted on 08/05/2023 at 14:05

Robin Myers passed away on the morning of her 97th birthday on 1 May 2023. The first female President of The Bibliographical Society, which she always referred to as ‘Bib Soc’, Robin was awarded an MBE in 2009 for services to bibliography. I first met Robin in 1979 when she gave a talk to the Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles on The Stationers’ Company, a year after her appointment as its Honorary Archivist. Robin’s interview may be found here http://www.sheila-markham.com/book-collectors/robin-myers.html

 

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

 

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SHEILA MARKHAM

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