Any book lover with a fondness for first editions, rare books, and leather bindings is probably familiar with 84, Charing Cross Road. The address is the title of a true story told in a series of letters between Helene Hanff, a writer living in Manhattan, and Frank Doel, seller of rare and secondhand books at Marks and Co. in London.
The letters started in 1949 when Ms. Hanff sent Marks and Co. a list of secondhand books she wanted. She says, “I am a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books and all the things I want are impossible to get over here except in very expensive rare editions, or in Barnes & Noble’s grimy, marked-up school-boy copies.”
Through the twenty-year correspondence the reader watches the development of a delightful and often poignant friendship between Hanff and Doel. I was reminded of the book last night as I caught the end of the movie on television which featured Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins as Helene Hanff and Frank Doel and Judi Dench as Mrs. Doel. When I took my yellowed paperback version from my bookcase, I saw that I’d bought my copy in June of 1987 at a bookstore in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Helene Hanff’s dream was to visit London. Like her, it had been one of my wishes, too.
(Note: Editions published in the U.S. omit the comma after 84.)
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