Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller

by Oliver Darkshire

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

This is a delightfully witty trip through the unique world of bookselling by a former bookseller (and blogger) at Southeran's, one of London's oldest established antiquarian bookshops. Oliver Darkshire offers tales of an accidental career, low pay, idiosyncratic colleagues, ghosts, and customers good, bad and bewildering. Once Upon a Tome is a love letter to booksellers and bibliophiles.

A Literary Hub and BookPage Most Anticipated Book of 2023

Welcome to Sotheran’s, one of the oldest bookshops in the world, with its weird and wonderful clientele, suspicious cupboards, unlabeled keys, poisoned books, and some things that aren’t even books, presided over by one deeply eccentric apprentice.

Some years ago, Oliver Darkshire stepped into the hushed interior of Henry Sotheran Ltd (est. 1761) to apply for a job. Allured by the smell of old books and the temptation of a management-approved afternoon nap, Darkshire was soon unteetering stacks of first editions and placating the store’s resident ghost (the late Mr. Sotheran, hit by a tram).

A novice in this ancient, potentially haunted establishment, Darkshire describes Sotheran’s brushes with history (Dickens, the Titanic), its joyous disorganization, and the unspoken rules of its gleefully old-fashioned staff, whose mere glance may cause the computer to burst into flames. As Darkshire gains confidence and experience, he shares trivia about ancient editions and explores the strange space that books occupy in our lives—where old books often have strong sentimental value, but rarely a commercial one.

By turns unhinged and earnest, Once Upon a Tome is the colorful story of life in one of the world’s oldest bookshops and a love letter to the benign, unruly world of antiquarian bookselling, where to be uncommon or strange is the best possible compliment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324092070
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/14/2023
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	385
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Oliver Darkshire (@DeathByBadger) is an antiquarian bookseller at Henry Sotheran Ltd, and the voice of @Sotherans twitter account. He lives in Manchester, England, with his husband and his neglectfully curated collection of books.

Editorial Reviews

12/12/2022

In this witty and heartwarming memoir, Darkshire, a former bookseller at London’s Henry Sotheran Ltd., catalogs the stories behind the books, patrons, and antiques that found their way to the shop during his apprenticeship. He comically recounts peculiar interactions with customers, or “cryptids”: one woman offered to sing for him then later recanted because his aura was off, a customer nicknamed The Spindleman kept trying to lend his own books in exchange for favors, and an elderly patron was always impossible to please. His humor extends to the store’s resident ghost as well, a polite spirit named Henry (after the last Henry Sotheran, who died in an accident not far from the store) who only caused minor incidents during Darkshire’s tenure. More serious matters include taking care of antiquated collector’s volumes, which involved keeping the books away from sunlight and the arduous use of book oil to preserve their covers. The entertaining stories of the challenges Darkshire encountered day-to-day and the eccentric customers he served over the years add a ton of appeal. Darkshire’s sunny temperament and respect for the trade will resonate with book lovers and fellow booksellers. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Unfortunately I have mislaid the book in question."

Neil Gaiman

"Peculiarly hilarious!"

William Gibson

"An enchanting billet-doux to an arcane and eccentric world. Every page is a pleasure."

Lindsey Fitzharris

"A browse through these hilarious pages is just as satisfying as a browse in a good bookshop."

Danny Caine

"Seeking a Christmas present for that bibliophilic relative who has seemingly read everything? It’s right here."

Financial Times - Suzi Feay

"Brim[s] with self-effacing charm."

Caitlin Doughty

"Laugh-out-loud."

Garth Nix

"Utterly charming."

Tom Holland

★ 03/10/2023

This debut by former antiquarian bookseller Darkshire offers readers a wonderfully charming story about his bookselling life. He situates his story in Sotheran's, the well-known bookshop in London that was established in York in 1761. At the age of 20, the author interviewed for an apprenticeship at the shop. He gets it but intends to stay for only a year. Soon Darkshire realizes that he's drawn to the aroma and dust of old books, and he ends up working there for a decade. In this memoir, he colorfully tells story after story about the mishaps and unfortunate occurrences he experienced at the bookshop. He even tries to fend off the ghost of its late founder. One highlight of the book is a story centered on Sotheran's commissioning a bespoke copy of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. It proved impossible to sell and was sent off to New York City in the hopes of finding a buyer at a cut rate. Thus begin rich tales about life in Sotheran's, the people who work there, and the antiquarian book business. VERDICT A funny and witty memoir about life in the antiquarian book trade. Avid readers will love it.—Jacqueline Parascandola

Library Journal

2022-12-20
An antiquarian bookseller shares tricks and quirks of the trade.

Books about bookshops are popular, as Shaun Bythell’s diaries on life at the helm of Scotland’s largest secondhand bookshop have proved. Darkshire adds to the genre with this frequently hilarious work. On a whim, the author answered an ad for Henry Sotheran Ltd, a London antiquarian bookshop that opened in 1761, with its smell of old books, “a faintly unsatisfied smell, as if they’re all distantly aware that they’ve missed their chance to be a worldwide smash hit.” He accepted the shop’s offer to take part in their two-year training program even though “the wages for an apprentice bookseller seemed to have been frozen around when the Old Curiosity Shop opened for business in 1840.” In sections that correspond to subject classifications, Darkshire describes his years working at the shop. Among the characters populating this work are colleagues such as James, the man who trained him and watched over the shop with “suspender-clad perspicacity,” and the “cryptids,” or customers, who fit neatly into one of three categories: “They have never purchased a book….They are peculiar enough that you have doubts they are real….They repeatedly return to the scene of the crime as if drawn by a lure.” Then there are the shop’s oddities, from mysteries such as the “books hurling themselves from shelves when no one is present” to the Sotheran Curse, which began in the late 19th century after the last Henry Sotheran was killed by a tram, “which I think we can all agree was rather thoughtless of him.” The book is a series of anecdotes, which occasionally makes for choppy reading, but Darkshire makes up for this minor quibble with considerable, often dark humor. For example, in his description of bookbinding methods, he notes, “it is technically possible to bind a book in human leather, but the practice is frowned upon.”

A delightful portrait of “the ugly stepchild of the antiques business or the art world.

Kirkus Reviews