The Bookshelf

84, Charing Cross Road
By Helene Hanff

Why didn't anyone ever tell me that this delightful little book existed?  I had to discover it, on my own, at the Cleveland Airport for goodness sakes.  The same airport, mind you, that has no Starbucks but a Crocs store. Yes, a store for rubber shoes.

Anyway, 84, Charing Cross Road is hands down the most delightful thing I have ever read (and I read a great deal of delightful things.)  For the uninitiated, the book is a lovely collection of letters between Helene Hanff, a writer living in New York and the staff, particularly Frank Doel of an antiquarian bookstore in London called Marks & Co.

In 1949, Helene wanted an antique book. Rather than trudge fifty New York City blocks, she requested her books and a much more reasonable rate from London.

To wit:

October 5, 1959

Gentlemen:
Your ad in the Saturday Review of Literature says that you specialise in out-of-print books. The phrase 'antiquarian book-sellers' scares me somewhat, as I equate 'antique' with expensive. I am a poor write with an anteriquarian taste in books and all the things I want are impossible to get over here except in very expensive rare editions, or in Barnes & Noble's grimy, marked-up schoolboy copies.
I enclose a list of my most pressing problems. If you have clean secondhand copies of any of the books on the list, for no more than $5.00 each, will you consider this a purchase order and send them to me?

From that point on, I was completely charmed, smiling like a fool as I devoured the entire book before I landed in Baltimore.

What is there to say about a series of letters collected over 20 years?  It's just amazing how these little snippets, shared with strangers tell such a wonderful, woven story.  You don't get the whole picture, nor do you want to.  There isn't much for me to critique, all I can tell you with any certainty is that you must read this book immediately and you will love it. Now, I will go off on a tangent...

I wish we still wrote letters to one another.  Yes, I know we email but the care and beauty of the envelope, the letterhead, the postage, it's all lost. This got me thinking about letters and I realized I hardly know the handwriting of any of my friends.  Aside from the occasional birthday card, Christmas card or thank you note, a majority of what arrives via post are bills and magazines. When I do get something out of the ordinary, it's the most wonderful feeling.  Someone cared enough to send a note, it's the little things my dear friends.

We all know I skew a bit vintage, but wouldn't it be wonderful if we still wrote letters to one another?  

Anyway, look at me getting completely off topic.  Just read the book. A friend tells me there is also a movie that apparently English schoolchildren are required to watch but I'm sure it can't possibly be as wonderful.  I also understand a stage play exists. So I must ask again, how is it that I never heard of this book?

Once you read the book and become obsessed, there is so much love out there for this book. The website below is wonderful.  It's filled with details and pictures of the bookstore, which, sadly, no longer exists. According to Google StreetView, it appears to now be a depressing ticket kiosk.  

84 Charing Cross Road Revisited

Fun Fact: Marks & Co doesn't stand for Marks and Company, it's for Marks and Cohen, the two owners.