Lucius Books, 144 Micklegate, York, 29th September 2022
The second event to promote Fifty Forgotten Books was at Lucius Books, generously hosted by James Hallgate and Monica Polisca. Lucius offers some of the most beautiful books (and artwork), and the launch was a well-attended and convivial occasion.
One of the subjects I discussed was the number of secondhand bookshops trading today compared to the past. In my teenage years (the 1980s) I frequented the many secondhand bookshops in Brighton, and it is very sad that there are none left today. However, on the whole, the number of bookshops in the country appears to have increased. I pointed out that one of the many losses for Brighton was the Grimoire Bookshop, run by Catherine Walton. I planned to read my account of her shop from Fifty Forgotten Books, pointing out that it specialised in esoteric, magical and occult books. I also planned to mention that, although the shop suddenly disappeared in the 1990s, it was fortuitous that it later reopened, very conveniently for us, in York. In both of its incarnations, Grimoire was one of those shops stuffed to the rafters with inexpensive paperbacks among which there was always something interesting to buy.
I invited Catherine Walton to Lucius for the
launch, but she did not reply. Just before the event, I went round to the shop,
only to discover that Grimoire Books was no longer there.
I asked what had happened in the (new) Little Apple Bookshop two doors along, and was told by the owner that she had arrived at work just a few days before to find that Grimoire had “done a midnight flit”. The big mystery was not that it had closed (York shop rents are very high and running a secondhand bookshop is incredibly marginal), but how Catherine had removed, unnoticed by anyone, in just one night, such a vast stock, and all the fixtures and fittings. Perhaps the clue is in the sign on the door stating that the shop had been “repossessed”. This implies that it was formerly “possessed” (by Catherine, of course). With her knowledge of the occult perhaps she used magic to spirit away her stock!
York lost Stone Trough Books a few years ago, and recently Ken Spelman’s closed. I also hear that Fossgate Books may be closing (and going online). All the more reason to visit Lucius Books when in York!
Fifty Forgotten Books can still be ordered here: https://www.andotherstories.org/fifty-forgotten-books/
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