Product Description

Based on the popular BBC Radio 4 series Rare Books, Rare People, "Tolkien's Gown" and Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books is a veritable feast of the tales behind some of the most iconic titles to have graced British publishing, and fascinating anecdotes about the authors who wrote them. It starts with the story of how Graham Green arranged a meeting in his hotel room to sell a signed copy of "Lolita" for £4,000 to the author of this book, Rick Gekoski, over a glass or ten of vodka. He resold the book for £9,000 in his hungover state the next day to Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin and in later years, it went on to fetch $264,000 at auction in Christies. With all the other behind-the-scenes stories, this becomes a gem of a book, tales about Tolkien, Potter, Orwell, Larkin, Hemingway and more, representing a treasure trove of trivia for book fans.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #514793 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Tatler, October, 2005
'Hugely entertaining account of the great books ... by the fabulously infectious American bibliophile. Think Bill Bryson, only on books.'

The Big Issue, September 30, 2004
'No lover of fiction will want to miss out on the skeletons in these closets.'

Customer Reviews

Book collecting
This is a fascinating read for anyone who has an interest in the world of book collecting. Gekoski has shared with us some terrific tales about his life as a book dealer. He discusses 20 books and includes information about the author's thoughts on their own works. It's a book crammed full with humour, anecdotes and interesting facts. I recommend it to all booklovers.

Quirks, Quips and Quids from the rare book trade
I loved this book - it's a wonderful combination of literary insight, amusing anecdote and the useless bits of information only applicable to the most esoteric pub quiz. 20 different books, each with their own stories to tell - about authors, publishers, reviewers and readership. Because Gekoski comes at his subject as both an academic and businessman trying to make a living, he has a fascinating range of yarns up his sleeve.

It was particularly fun to hear of the recurring bitparts played by Graham Greene in the story of Gekoski's catalogue, as well as the often wry remarks of an American living in England - I suppose that makes him the Bill Bryson of the book trade, though I suspect he wouldn't be particularly flattered to hear it.

But the most enjoyable thing for me was to learn some of the rigmarole in the genesis of some of my favourite books, stories one never really hears (unless of course one has gone really keen by following up with writers' biographies). Too often, one just picks up a book to read without giving a moment's thought to how it came to be on a shop's shelf.

Anyone who has even the slightest appreciation for books (especially 20th Century novels and poetry) will not fail to enjoy this rattling book. Buy it and read it. Gekoski's bibliophilia is incurably infections.

Dealer with a difference
At first impression, Rick Gekoski appears a world away from the genteel sanctuary of second-hand bookshops and their monk-like proprietors but what sustains his book is a common delight in the fusty and not so fusty love of books themselves. Tolkien's Gown is based on Gekoski's Radio 4 series Rare Books, Rare People. Each of the twenty chapters focuses on a celebrated twentieth-century author, concentrating on a particular book. There are James Joyce and Beatrix Potter, Jack Kerouac and J.K.Rowling, Sons and Lovers and The Hobbit, Eliot and Larkin. Gekoski has a dealer's perspective but his pithy and perceptive criticism reflects a man of letters. Anecdote is informed by personal aquaintanceship in the case of Golding, Greene and Rushdie; there is always an awareness of the wider context. More than anything, there is an ease and fluency in his communication, a joy in what he describes. But don't be fooled by the informal style, it is very precise. You know exactly what he's getting at when he says that so-and-so 'wore his charisma lightly'.