Oliver is at it again!

REVIEW: Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller

Unrelated note, but I wish that the mobile app didn’t make my portrait so enormous. Or maybe I wish that my portrait looked nicer.

Be Warned: An Impostor is Among Us

I recently finished reading Oliver Darkshire's book Once Upon a Tome. Mr. Darkshire is an antiquarian bookseller at Sotheran's Rare Books in London. While I greatly enjoyed the book, I was deeply disturbed to read this passage:

"Of all the nice letters I've ever received, the ones I hold particularly close to my heart were sent from a mysterious stranger masquerading as the bookshop-owning angel Aziraphale from the novel Good Omens."

I do not understand why Mr. Darkshire describes me as being "from the novel Good Omens," as though I were some sort of fictional character. Setting that aside, however, it is unnerving to realize that a complete stranger is wandering the streets of London, writing letters and pretending to be me.

I can offer no proof, but I believe that the likely suspects can be narrowed down to a very short list.

A few years ago -- well, I suppose it was actually many years ago -- there was a book called History of New York. It was subsequently revealed that the author of this book, one Diedrich Knickerbocker, did not in fact exist. Perhaps "Mr. Knickerbocker" has moved on from creating fictional personas, and is now hijacking the identity of legitimate booksellers such as myself. (Regular readers will recall that I have previously commented on Mr. Knickerbocker: https://www.aziraphale.com/post/143753123162/a-curious-bit-of-satire-in-an-unvisited-corner-of)

Meanwhile, I have also been informed that there is a man named Buster Poindexter who is notorious for falsifying his identity. I have it on good authority that Mr. Poindexter has openly confessed that he is suffering from a personality crisis. It should also be noted that the name "poindexter" is often used to refer to someone who is enamored of books. Coincidence? I think not.

Another likely suspect -- or possibly "suspects," plural -- is a person or persons going by the name Pratchett Gaiman, or possibly Gaiman Pratchett. Again, I have no proof, but I have lost count of the times someone in the shop has asked me about so-and-so Gaiman or such-and-such Pratchett.

Finally, I cannot completely discount the possibility that my friend Crowley might be playing some sort of elaborate prank. He insists that this is not his doing, but it is just the sort of device that he would employ to rile me. He knows that pranks are anathema to me.

It seems apposite to mention — in case I haven’t already done so — that I am not in any way employed by the makers of the documentary. I am not ‘promoting’ anything (although I’d be very pleased if you were kind to each other). I’m just a perfectly ordinary retired entity who very occasionally — if I have no other option — sells a book.

I hope that clears up any misunderstandings.

[240210 pdx vs. sea] the portland winterhawks congratulate goaltender jan špunar after a win. špunar recently returned to the ice after an injury that took him out of commission for over two months; in the three games since his return, he has gone 3-0-0 while allowing just a single goal in each outing. špunar leads all whl goaltenders in gaa (1.70) and sv% (.934).

fun fact: only 3 players from manitoba were selected in the draft this year and 2 of them were drafted by the flyers

@Sotherans

ME: yes doctor I think I have the book scramblies

DOCTOR: well thats not a disease

ME: I think you'll find it is or why did I buy all these books I can neither afford nor have time to read

DOCTOR: im not sure thats a medical issue

ME: book scramblies

6:41 AM · Jun 15, 2023

Hello Neil, I will find myself in London in a few weeks with extremely limited free time (work trip). Is there anything that a book-loving person absolutely should not miss? You seem like a man who would know.

The British Library is marvellous, and has events and displays that are fabulous: https://www.bl.uk/whats-on

Portobello Road Market always has some glorious traders in rare and interesting books.

Old and Rare Book Shops are really fun -- Cecil Court is filled with them although they tend to be a bit specialised (https://www.cecilcourt.co.uk/) there's even an Alice In Wonderland shop; there are still some regular second hand book dealers in the Charing Cross Road. The Atlantis Bookshop near the British Museum is filled with Occult Books; Sotherans, Jarndyce, Maggs Bros and Shapero are fancy rare bookshops, and I'm undoubtedly forgetting dozens more.

Also, the various New Book Shops often have excellent events on. Waterstones and Hatchards, Foyles and Daunts and the rest of them. In my day, Time Out was what you used to find out what was happening in the world of readings, signings and suchlike events. It's possible that their website still has that information. If not, google for it.

🐢 Tortoises, terrapins, and turtles London, Paris, and Frankfort: H. Sotheran, J. Baer & co., 1872.

Listening to Oliver Darkshire - the Sotherans guy's - book and the further in I get, the more I'm fully convinced he'd have a statement in the magnus archives.

https://twitter.com/Sotherans/status/1513210507506954250?s=20&t=tjpqJX_hLbEYNflHGezUig

SIR EDWIN LANDSEER, R.A. by James A. Manson. (London: Walter Scott Publishing/ New York: Scribner’s, 1902).

Full, dark green Cosway binding by Rivière & Sons for Sotheran & Company. (1902)

The front and back covers are ruled and decoratively tooled in a gilt floral and leaf design, surrounding ten oval/round miniature paintings under glass. Nine miniatures on the front cover depict 8 hunting dogs around a stag; the miniature on the back cover is a portrait of painter Sir Edwin Landseer.

My first videographic endeavour! Now I don’t even need to be there in person to tell customers to go away. Isn’t technology wonderful?