With books available now at the click of a button from e-commerce websites, buying them has become an easy proposition. The portals are convenient and efficient, but they don’t substitute for the pleasure of holding books, smelling the pages and discovering their spirit!
For a wholesome experience of buying books, one needs to make a trip to a bookstore, spend time with its inhabitants, and have a chat with the owner before making the final purchase. I must admit to having succumbed to the online buying trend myself in the last few years. But I still rely largely on some book stores for rare books.
Back in the 1950s, when acquiring books so easily was unheard of, an up and coming writer from New York named Helene Hanff got in touch with Marks & Co., a second-hand bookstore in London, for her antiquarian needs. During this time, Helene was struggling to make ends meet as none of her plays had made the transition from script to stage. Her desire to acquire out-of-print books led her to write to Marks & Co., and thus began a correspondence spanning two decades.
What could have remained a formal, transactional relationship between a seller and buyer was quickly transformed into a warm friendship. While she mostly received letters from Frank Doel, an employee of Marks & Co., she also managed to establish a rapport with the rest of the staff at the store and Frank’s family members. Despite not having seen each other, Helene and Frank bonded over their common love for the beauty of English literature.
Gestures such as Helene’s food parcels for the store during the post-War food-rationing period in Britain soon made her a member of the Marks & Co. family.
In 1969, when Helene heard about Frank’s passing away due to ill-health, she was devastated. In addition to the grief of losing a dear friend, she had to come to terms with not being able to visit London owing to her financial constraints. As a token of gratitude to Frank’s importance in her literary life, Helene compiled their delightful correspondence and published it in the book titled 84 Charing Cross Road .
Named after the address of the bookstore, this book served as the ode to their affectionate relationship.
With a positive response from readers across the world, Helene became an overnight celebrity. What was perceived as seemingly ordinary letters became the foundation for a much larger community that was to form over the years. In fact, this book gave rise to a fan community where the common thread was celebrating the strength of the written word and its unique ability to help people understand one another.
With the success of the book, Helene was able to fulfil her lifelong wish of visiting London. Unfortunately, by the time she arrived, Frank was no more and Marks & Co. had shut down as well. However, Frank’s family members, prominent personalities of the British literary world, and scores of other ordinary fans were eagerly waiting to welcome Helene into their lives. Having lived a largely solitary life in New York, Helene was overwhelmed by the love she received from strangers in this unknown community.
Helen’s fan following got bigger when 84 Charing Cross Road was adapted into a BBC TV show (1975), an award-winning stage play (1981) and a Hollywood movie (1987). With the different versions of the book coming to life, the letters were given a new dimension and perspective. With every medium achieving its share of success, there was one element that stood out for Helene in the midst of all this fame.
She was able to see Frank at work in Marks & Co. through these media. Although she never had the fortune of meeting him in person, the book’s adaptations gave her an opportunity to look at her correspondence with Frank from his perspective. The diverse community that formed, reaffirmed the feeling in Helene that what she and Frank shared was truly special and that nothing could change that.
To me, 84 Charing Cross Road is a fine example of how a passion for books can bring individuals from different cultures and continents together and form a tightly knit community.
When the book was adapted into several visual forms, this community widened and got enriched with the various interpretations of those precious letters. While Helene was able to witness the growth of this community, I often wonder what Frank’s reaction would have been. My guess is, he would have been delighted to see Helene’s charm and humour weaving together its magic on the different threads of the community!
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