Something Thougthful

  Nicholas Reid reflects in essay form on general matters and ideas related to literature, history, popular culture and the arts, or just life in general. You are free to agree or disagree with him.   

          WHERE CAN I FIND A SECOND-HAND BOOK SHOP? [or shouldn’t I bother?]

In days of old (by which I mean about twenty years ago) I was addicted to buying second-hand books. Very well, I am a bibliophile and about a quarter of the books I have on my shelves are books that I have bought from second-hand-book shops. But I was very choosy and bought only books that meant something. I made it a law to avoid the latest “best-sellers” which are usually trite. So, back then, when the week’s work was over and it was Saturday, I would catch a bus from the North Shore and go to central Auckland. In those days there were about five second-hand-book shops in central Auckland, so I would wander around those shops. They were just off  Queen’s Street. Then there was Ponsonby where there was an excellent second-hand-book shop run by a thoughtful man called Bryan Harold. I bought quite a number books from him. And very, very occasionally I would hop into my car and go to Onehunga, where there was another very good second-hand-book shop. And once or twice I went to Devonport where there were two competing second-hand-book shops. There where an abundant number of second-hand-book shops in Auckland .

And then one day I went into Bryan Harold’s shop and he was very gloomy. The rates had been raised so high that he could not pay them, and he had to close shop. He went down south, very far away from Auckland. And then the people who ran the Onehunga second-hand-book shop also had to close-up… but the priests who ran St. Benedict’s church allowed them to set up a second-hand-book shop in rooms where nuns had once taught children. For a number of years it worked. But bit by bit, second-hand-book shops disappeared in central Auckland. Yes, you can find small second-hand-book shops in some suburbs but they are mainly short of stock. In central Auckland there are some traders who offer very expensive first editions, which really can be bought only by the rich. So what is left if you are a bibliophile in Auckland looking for old but thoughtful books? You have to go the Book Mark in Devonport. I hasten to note that it is a very good second-hand-book shop and I usually have a good chat with the owner.  … At which point I have to admit that, as well as buying old books sometimes, I also sell new books to owners of second-hand-book shops. If you read this blog at all, you will be aware that I review new books – some of which are just off the print – but I do so very rarely.

But here is another problem.  Devonport is a charming place, but there is one difficulty. There is only one main road that leads to Devonport; and sometimes, every so often, when one drives back home, there maybe a long traffic jam. some visitors curse that they had gone there at all.

Meanwhile, second-hand-books shops thrive in other parts of New Zealand – especially in Wellington and Dunedin but also in smaller cities. My wife’s cousin Michael O’Leary runs a second-hand-books shop near to Wellington and I am glad to hear that Bryan Harold now runs a second-hand-books shop in the South Island.

Footnote: Many people have told me that Aucklanders prefer to buy their second-hand-books by getting them on line… you send the money and the book is sent to you. But this takes away the delight of being able to walk around a real second-hand-books shop and discover books that you had never heard of. And it’s a good place to chat with other bibliophiles.