Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller

Read this book! If you are a person who is enchanted with bookstores, books and literature, this book will make you feel extremely warm and very very fuzzy. As a bookseller's daughter, I can attest to the truth of this wonderful memoire. Oliver writes like a dream. Reading this book is like eating a Baked Alaska. It is a full-body experience. You will laugh and may even shed a tear. His stories are great and the illustrations are delightful. You're welcome.

Eccentric doesn’t even begin to describe the people and book collections of Sotheran’s, an antiquarian bookstore in London. Founded in 1761, they found a writer to tell their story, their own apprentice, Oliver Darkshire. Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller, is a delightful book filled with odd people and even odder items.Chris Saunders, Managing Director of Sotheran’s, and the author’s supervisor, writes a delightful opening note. The bookstore has been around since 1761, in one form or another, so no one really paid any attention when Oliver said he’d take over the store’s Twitter account. Why would something like the Internet stir up interest in a bookstore that was 260 years old? But, people found Darkshire’s accounts of his co-workers, customers, and books to be humorous. The book came about because of interest in that Twitter account.Darkshire was hired for Sotheran’s apprenticeship program, with the understanding he would be made permanent staff after two years. The program had only been for one year, but according to Andrew, the store’s manager at the time, “The staff, he explained, was getting whiplash from learning one new name a year and it was all very inconvenient.” So, the apprenticeship became a two-year program. Andrew even enrolled Oliver in the government-sponsored apprenticeship scheme, which would pay some of Oliver’s wages if Sotheran’s could prove it was teaching him a trade. Woe to the government employee who had to check on that. I have the feeling people became lost in that bookstore, and were never found.In fact, the store was renovated in what was referred to as “The Upheaval”. Afterward, the Powers that Be decided to have it inspected. The poor inspector didn’t know what to make of an antiquarian bookstore with ladders all over, one hidden fire extinguisher, and hazards of boxes and books. When he fled, he was never seen again.Darkshire has so many stories, including trying to bring the store into the twenty-first century. (If you check the website, I don’t know how well he succeeded, but the store does have a website!) https://sotherans.co.uk/ His writing, and his summaries of chapters and life in the bookstore are a treat to read. And, he sums it up here. “This, I think, is the fate of the rare bookseller. You buy books, you sell them, and then you look after the ones which don’t have anywhere else to go.” Or, perhaps his summary is the funny Appendix, “Bookshop – The Game.” There’s no way to succeed with that game. You can succeed with the book, though, Once Upon a Tome.

I read this book in day and a half, it is funny, interesting and has some unexpected twists. Mr. Darkshire is an unlikely recruit to the antiquarian book trade. He makes the trade his own through a series of adventures and encounters with the people who work in the shop and those who frequent it.

In my travels around the world over the years, I’ve always tried to find and spend time in the local bookstore wandering around tiny aisles with heaps of books organized in no particular way. I’ve been even managed to accumulate a tiny collection of first additions of some of my favorite authors. You think I would be the perfect audience for this bookI was impressed that the business has been around for a long, long time. Although based on the musings of this book, you have to wonder how.There is no real story here. There are a bunch of random “blogs“ that been collected in no discernible order. And even more annoying, at least to this reader, most of them have no point. There is a general theme – if you can wait out the customer, the inspector, the ringing phone, or the knock on the door – you can get back to what’s important reading a book. I look forward to the next one in my queue. I’m glad this one is done.

What a lovely ode to people, institutions, books, and the British. I’ve followed Oliver on Twitter for a few years - and I love his wit & wisdom. I could hardly wait to get my hands on this book - and it did not disappoint. I feel like I made new friends in reading it - and I shed a few tears at the end to hear what became of one of my favorites. This is absolutely gorgeous writing. I hope Mr. Darkshire keeps it up.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC. This is my honest review.I had wanted to read this book since I first heard it announced. I've been following the Sotheran's twitter page for a few years and have found it delightful.This book was a fun, easy read; entertaining, engaging, laugh out loud funny.Darkshire has a great tone--confiding, rambling, personal. From the opening note to the end of the book it is riveting and fun. Full of oddities, odd people and odd situations.If you've ever dreamed of owning a bookshop, working in a bookshop or simply love books I think you will love this book. I could read Darkshire's musings all day.4.5 stars

Oliver Darkshire has written a fascinating, often very funny and sometimes quite touching ramble through the world of antiquarian book selling. Having worked for years at a venerable shop, he is the ideal participant-observer. With apologies for the cliché, I was sorry to see this book end.

Best book I’ve read in a long time - hilarious, very witty, rolls along at a good clip, chapters well-catalogued and not obtrusively long. Also a very pretty hardcover. You will be lending this one out, so don’t get the paperback.

Darkshire manages a skilled balance of humour and information in describing to the reader the ins and outs of rare bookselling, as he happens to stumble into it. His voice is charming and wry, making the book an absolute pleasure to read!

Loved this book. Well written, enjoyable and made me laugh out loud.

A brilliant novel about life as a young rare bookseller in a famous historic bookshop in London. It's divided into topics / genres , each presenting related comments and episodes, all of them infinitely engaging and fun , some of them also deeply moving. It is full of quirky characters, as inevitable in this line of work, apparently, described in very enjoyable prose by the author, who is sometimes just an onlooker / reporter, sometimes actively part of the story. This is unmissable and perfect for any booklover and bookshop lover. Readers enjoying this book should also definitely follow the author and the Sotheran's account in social media (Twitter for instance), to catch up with old events and keep updated with new ones. This hardcover edition is of course quite beautiful in itself.

Very lengthy descriptions with a slightly funny episode every ten or twenty pages. An explanation could be found on page 68, where the author states that he suffers from narcolepsy...

Funny, heart-warming stories.