Oliver Darkshire

This is a delightful amuse-bouche of a book that unfortunately has made me examine my entire past life and regret I didn’t follow my heart and work at a bookshop, particularly a used bookshop. Oliver Darkshire has a light touch, bringing humour to the teetering near disaster of Sotheran books, the self-proclaimed Oldest Bookshop in the World. (It has been around since 1761, so they might be close to right).
He reminded me of my experiences in London, UK, with the odd light switches and the terrifying open wooden one person elevators. Cellars in London have way too much history in them, as well as dangerous wiring and century-old spiders. He also reminded me of the exotic experience that is Doull’s books in Dartmouth, NS, a place that Sotheran sounds significantly like- and a place I can never enter without being overcome by the need to buy a book on cheese or skeet-shooting or a novel by a forgotten author. Used book stores are the best places in the world.
Darkshire’s vignettes about the shop create that feeling of excitement one gets when stepping over the threshold of a used book store. Adventure awaits!
There’s magic in his description of the antiquarian bookseller’s world, but the best stories are about the people who work in it and the characters who sidle in to try to sell books or demand that they be allowed to sniff them or want one for a present but don’t know on what topic. Laughed out loud a few times, and anyone with retail experience will enjoy the various techniques used to deal with customers. Loved the names he assigned the various clientele.
My only complaint about the book is that it was too short. I wanted to linger in Sotheran’s longer, check that cupboard that hadn’t been opened in decades and see what hid there, see how many desks were concealed…find the gourds….
A fun read, and a wistful one. Many used book stores are barely clinging on these days- and what a terrible loss if we should have to live without them.

… (mais)

While The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller is reminiscent of Shaun Bythell's books about life in the Wigtown bookshop, Oliver Darkshire is more likely to be making fun of himself rather than the customers. There are a few with whom he spars but many of his tales focus on the internal workings of Sotheran's, reportedly the oldest bookstore in the world. Signing on as an apprentice with no experience of bookselling, Darkshire learns in fits and starts from his quirky boss and co-workers. Darkshire has a dry sense of humor, punctuating his prose with silly and sometimes outrageous descriptions, then ending with the perfect punchline.… (mais)