Sherlock Holmes's London - a quick question.

[dolorous_ett]

I'm useless at districts of London - being a provincial and proud of it, I never took the time or trouble to learn

Now, however, I need this knowledge for Sherlock Holmes and the Ravenclaw Codex. I'm trying to find a suitable place for the home of a well-to-deal dealer in antiquarian books somewhere in London, and I realise I have no idea where would be suitable. 

Any suggestions? If they sound slightly convoluted (the way Holmesian places tend to do), so much the better.

Comments

[zoepaleologa.livejournal.com]

Charing Cross Road, traditionally the place of booksellers. Alternatively, try Seven Dials (it's nearby and sounds rather odd).

The area between CCR and Covent Garden also used to house bookshops of more rarified sort - I remember my dad seeking out Samuel French (who could get you any playscript written) in that district when we holidayed there.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! - that's great for the shop.

Now I just need to find the name of somewhere where the family would live. It strikes me that even in those days the richer antiquarian booksellers probably wouldn't live over the shop - would a pleasant house in a suburb be a bit more than they could aspire to?

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Forgot to say that I love your icon!

[zoepaleologa.livejournal.com]

Maida Vale? (Northwest London, not too far out).

Icon from fandom_wank icons.

[aragon-san.livejournal.com]

Note that this comes from a London-tourist - so no refunds if I talk nonsense (though those are all shops/places I've seen personally).

I don't follow the story so I'm not sure if you're writing in Holmes' time - or if timeturners are involved ^_^ - which would make it that much more difficult to be accurate as to specific shops.

Cecil Court has been London’s booksellers’ row since the 1930s at least. Nearly every shop there sells printed material in one form or another, from theatre posters, first editions etc. and is apparently unique in London for this selection and quantity (if not sue the Guide and owners who told me ^_^). Cecil Court is a picturesque pedestrianised passage, linking Charing Cross Road with St Martin’s Lane, near all the theatres and just a stone’s throw from the galleries of Trafalgar Square and from Leicester Square.
And here comes the big prize for you! The bookshop frontages have hardly changed since the Court was rebuilt in the 1890s – booksellers being a fairly conservative lot and are resistant to at least architectural change (thankfully).

Here are some antiquarians existing now in other locales - though some look fabulously old like this one: http://www.robertfrew.com/

This one at Fulham Road at least can make a convincing case re interior: http://www.peterharringtonbooks.com/

[aragon-san.livejournal.com]

Nearly forgot this one: Quaritch near Piccadilly Circus exists since 1847, specializing in rare manuscripts and books! So Holmes could definitely visit that one.

I kept trying to remember the name and only came up with "something like Quidditch" so I needed to google. It's a truly weird name and I've never before or after heard it - and it's a German one even!

Website, extensive history, bragging about import customers etc. here: http://www.quaritch.com/

My dear Watson....

[wemyss.livejournal.com]

I remind you that, in 'The Adventure of the Empty House', the returning - and thitherto presumed-dead - Holmes poses as an antiquarian bookseller when he first encounters Watson:

'Well, sir, if it isn't too great a liberty, I am a neighbour of
yours, for you'll find my little bookshop at the corner of Church
Street, and very happy to see you, I am sure. Maybe you collect
yourself, sir. Here's British Birds, and Catullus, and The Holy
War - a bargain, every one of them. With five volumes you
could just fill that gap on that second shelf. It looks untidy, does
it not, sir?'

I moved my head to look at the cabinet behind me. When I
turned again, Sherlock Holmes was standing smiling at me across
my study table. I rose to my feet, stared at him for some seconds
in utter amazement, and then it appears that I must have fainted
for the first and the last time in my life. Certainly a grey mist
swirled before my eyes, and when it cleared I found my collar-
ends undone and the tingling after-taste of brandy upon my lips.
Holmes was bending over my chair, his flask in his hand.

'My dear Watson, said the well-remembered voice, 'I owe
you a thousand apologies. I had no idea that you would be so
affected.'

I presume that the bookshop in question, being near to Watson's surgery, is 'at the corner of Church Street' W2, where it crosses the Edgeware Road, as Watson, in canon, has his house and surgery in Kensington, and this particular Church Street (there are several in London), it being in Paddington, is the only one that could be near enough to Watson's surgery to justify Holmes in calling Watson a 'neighbour'. I'd suggest that you place your bookshop in Church Street W2 and give its owner an abode in Paddington or Bayswater(Chesterton's old home is thereabouts: so why not that of a successful bookseller?).

I should avoid Seven Dials: as you will recall from Iolanthe, it was at the time poor and insalubrious.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Maida Vale has the right sort of ring to it, doesn't it? Definitely on the shortlist!

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

No timeturners - it's set in a Hogwarts ruled by Phineas Nigellus Black, who Holmes really doesn't like...

Those bookshops look fantastic fun - it's a shame I can't include them all! Sadly, it's more in the way of personal background for one of the characters, though I'm now rather tempted to write a sequel to get some of the details of this lot in...

Thank you very much!

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Fantastic name for a bookshop, isn't it? Very much the sort of odd-sounding, whimsical name Rowling would go for...

Re: My dear Watson....

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

A fantastic quotation - one of my favourite passages - though I'd forgotten that there was a location for the fake bookseller.

I rather like the idea of Bayswater for these purposes, as there are quite a lot of literary types I know who still hang around there. Though very different from their Holmes-era versions, I'm sure!

Thanks - thoughtful and enlightening!