Once Upon A Tome

Equipped with charmingly skewed anecdotes and a cast of unforgettable bibliophile lunatics, ONCE UPON A TOME tells the story of a bookseller’s life in one of the world’s oldest antiquarian bookshops just off Piccadilly. It sold to Transworld in a big six-figure pre-empt, and went to W.W. Norton at auction in the US. It is funny, tender, with a brilliant queer element to it – it is as much about finding acceptance in the most unexpected of places, as it is about life as a bookseller.

Some years ago, Oliver Darkshire stepped into the hushed interior of Henry Sotheran Ltd on Sackville Street (est. 1761) to interview for their bookselling apprenticeship, a decision which has bedevilled him ever since. He’d intended to stay for a year before launching into some less dusty, better remunerated career. Unfortunately for him, the alluring smell of old books and the temptation of a management-approved afternoon nap proved irresistible. Soon he was balancing teetering stacks of first editions, fending off nonagenarian widows with a ten-foot pole and trying not to upset the store’s resident ghost (the late Mr Sotheran had unfinished business when he was hit by that tram).

For while Sotheran’s might be a treasure trove of literary delights, it sings a siren song to eccentrics. There are not only colleagues whose tastes in rare items range from the inspired to the mildly dangerous, but also zealous collectors seeking knowledge, curios, or simply someone with whom to hold a four hour conversation about books bound in human skin. By turns unhinged and earnestly dog-eared, Once Upon a Tome is the rather colourful story of life in one of the world’s oldest bookshops and a love letter to the benign, unruly world of antiquarian bookselling, where to be uncommon or strange is the best possible compliment.

Oliver Darkshire is 28, and his life as a struggling bookseller and writer is exactly what his careers instructor warned him would happen if he didn’t pay attention. He lives in Manchester with his husband and a house full of books he actively tried not to collect. Oliver is represented by John Ash at Pew Literary Agency.