"Bookshop Memories" was published in 1936 by the English author
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...
. As the title suggests, it is a reminiscence of his time spent working as an assistant in a second-hand bookshop.
Background
In October 1934 Orwell's aunt Nellie Limouzin recommended him for the job, as part-time assistant at Booklover's Corner in
South End Road,
Hampstead
Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...
. The shop was run by her friends the Westropes, who also provided him with accommodation. He was
job sharing
Job sharing or work sharing is an employment arrangement where two people, or sometimes more, are retained on a part-time or reduced-time basis to perform a job normally fulfilled by one person working full-time. This leads to a net reduction in ...
with
Jon Kimche so that he worked at the shop in the afternoons, having the mornings free to write and the evenings to socialise.
Kimche recalled Orwell never sitting, but standing in the middle of the shop "a slightly forbidding figure" who probably resented the idea of selling anything to people. Kimche retained the image of "a very tall figure almost like de Gaulle" with a small boy looking up and buying stamps from him.
Peter Vansittart recalled visiting the shop as a child with the "slightly ungracious assistant" trying to sell him a copy of ''Trader Horn in Madagascar''. Kay Ekevall, who established a relationship with Orwell after meeting him at the shop, recalled "I saw this new assistant and thought he was a great asset because he could reach all the shelves nobody else could without hauling a ladder out!"
While working in the bookshop, Orwell was working on the novel ''
Keep the Aspidistra Flying'' (1936) and was able to draw on his experiences. Many commentators have pointed out that the bookshop in the novel bears little relationship to Booklover's Corner.
[D. J. Taylor ''Orwell:The Life'' Chatto & Windus 2003]
The essay first appeared in the November 1936 issue of ''
Fortnightly
A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days", since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights).
Astronomy and tides
In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is hal ...
''.
[Orwell, Sonia and Angus, Ian (eds.). ''The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 1: An Age Like This (1920-1940)'' (Penguin)]
Summary
Orwell describes the irritating behaviour of bookshop customers - first edition snobs, oriental students, vague minded women and "the kind of people who would be a nuisance anywhere but have special opportunities in a bookshop". The shop had various sidelines including typewriters, stamps for collectors, horoscopes and Christmas novelties (Orwell was particularly amused by an invoice for these that included the phrase "2 doz. Infant Jesus with rabbits"). However, the main sideline was the lending library, which to Orwell shed a new light on readers: "In a lending library you see people's real tastes, not their pretended ones."
In conclusion, Orwell says that he would not wish to be a bookseller full-time, mainly because it is a job that tends to give one a distaste for books.
See also
*
Bibliography of George Orwell
References
External links
Text of ''Bookshop Memories''
{{Crimethink
Essays by George Orwell
1936 essays
Works originally published in The Fortnightly Review