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The Haunted Bookshop

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 928 ratings · 182 reviews

"When you sell a man a book," says Roger Mifflin, protagonist of these classic bookselling novels, "you don't sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue you sell him a whole new life." The new life the itinerant bookman delivers to Helen McGill, the narrator of Parnassus on Wheels, provides the romantic comedy that drives the novel. Published in 1917, Morley's f...more

Hardcover, 253 pages

Published January 1st 2004 by Castle Books Inc (first published 1918)

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Oct 17, 2012 Gary McTiernan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I can see why people find this charming-and a wee bit corny. It is set in a used bookshop in Brooklyn at the end of WWI which is "haunted" by the authors of all the unread books on its shelves. It celebrates the world of book lovers and casts a worried glance at the coming onslaught from motion pictures. The childless couple who live over the shop are drawn with humor and affection, as is their Brooklyn neighborhood. When a young woman joins them to learn the business of book selling, their tran...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Donna rated it 4 of 5 stars

While in Dubuque last week, I found a copy of The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley. I was curious to read it. I'm glad I did. I found the book fun and meaningful, leaving me both entertained and enlightened. The book is primarily a mystery but more importantly, gives deeper insight into the seemingly humble job of bookseller. Within the suspenseful story, Morley weaves commentary about war and the value of literature. As peace activist and bookseller, the subject matter was a perfect fit f...more

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Oct 27, 2012 jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Roger and Helen Mifflin own a second-hand bookshop in Brooklyn, and Roger couldn't be happier. Though they aren't wealthy, Roger adores his books and can talk books all day. When a wealthy patron asks the Mifflins to take in his daughter and teach her the trade, in the hopes she'll gain an education, Roger is delighted to have a student. Aubrey Gilbert, a new young friend of Roger's is also delighted with beautiful Titiana, but he doesn't think Brooklyn is a safe place for her. There is somethin...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Richard rated it 3 of 5 stars

Well-loved books from my past

Rating: 3.5* of five

Allegedly a spy story-cum-mystery, it's really a love note from author Morley to the trade of bookselling, with a side of supremely sweet love story.

And I can't help myself, I am charmed and beguiled by the book, by the memories it holds, and by the sheer anti-German fervor of it.

This book and Parnassus on Wheels were in my maternal grandmother's library. She died in 1977, and I chose these two books to be mine because I liked the titles. I read t...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Johnathan Weston rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shortly after the close of World War I and the signing of the armistice, people were trying to return to some semblance of normal and just get on with living. The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley takes place during this time of American re-discovery and self examination. A sequel of sorts to Morley’s previous novel Parnassus on Wheels the two main characters from that story re-emerge here a bit older, wiser and less mobile.

There is nothing incredibly deep about this book, but I found it ve...more

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Mar 06, 2011 Bev Hankins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: vintage-mystery, mystery

First published in 1919, the story finds Roger Mifflin running a second-hand bookshop in Brooklyn. We know immediately that this is no ordinary bookshop, as is stated on Mr. Mifflin's sign:

Parnassus At Home
R. & H. Mifflin
Booklovers Welcome!
This Shop Is Haunted

It's true that the "Parnassus at Home" is inhabited by many lively spirits and not all are among the living. And yet this is not a supernatural book. Rather, it refers to the ghosts of all great literature which haunt libraries and book...more

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Oct 20, 2009 Kathrina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: great-literary-fiction, books-that-changed-me, american-fiction, favorites

Required reading for every booklover. I had to wait a day before writing this review so I wouldn't gush too embarrassingly. The book contains a trite, amusing little mystery, interesting in it's parallels to current history and acts of terrorism. Yes, the pen is mightier than the sword, and I wonder if the secret service keeps an eye on copies of Team of Rivals and Lush Life, Obama's recent reading picks.

But the book is magnificent when Morley lets Mr. Mifflin rant. At times I felt I was readin...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Timothy Ferguson rated it 5 of 5 stars

You must be a lover of books, in general, to love this book, in particular.

This book has a plot on which the author hangs his erudition about other great books. You need to go into this willing to be pleased as he gives shout-outs to various obscure books, which were obscure enough at the time of writing that he wanted to give them a bit of a prod along in the public conciousness. You need to love the sort of weirdoes that hang out in the book trade. You need to accept that the author is a bit...more

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Dec 06, 2011 Colleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nook-books

Once again, I'm sorry to be repeating myself, but Christopher Morley has written an absolutely charming follow-up to Parnassus on Wheels. Most people who've read both books seem to prefer The Haunted Bookshop. That mystified me at first because I thought this got off to a boring, slow start. Helen and Roger Mifflin are now ensconced in a Brooklyn brownstone. They live in the back, the front is a second-hand bookstore they've called The Haunted Bookshop. It isn't haunted by ghosts, per se, but "b...more Once again, I'm sorry to be repeating myself, but Christopher Morley has written an absolutely charming follow-up to Parnassus on Wheels. Most people who've read both books seem to prefer The Haunted Bookshop. That mystified me at first because I thought this got off to a boring, slow start. Helen and Roger Mifflin are now ensconced in a Brooklyn brownstone. They live in the back, the front is a second-hand bookstore they've called The Haunted Bookshop. It isn't haunted by ghosts, per se, but "by the ghosts of the books I haven't read," as Roger says. Helen does not narrate this book; she has more of a secondary role. Instead we have to listen to the insufferable literary snob, Roger, name-drop books I've never heard of (and I've read a lot of classics) and spout off antiquated words I've never heard of (thank God my Nook has a built-in dictionary). At first, every time he came on the scene, I'd feel my eyes glaze over, waiting for the onslaught. But for every dull diatribe on the books Roger believed we should read, there was a gleaming Morley nugget that would redeem this book. Here's one: "Without seeming even to look in that direction he had performed the most amazing feat of lightning calculation known to the human faculties. He had added up all the young ladies of his acquaintance, and found the sum total less than the girl before him." What on earth does that mean, you ask? That is Morley's way of describing the love at first sight that Aubrey feels when he first meets the adorable Titania. Aubrey and Titania are two charming new additions to this story. They light up the page whenever they appear on it. (I apologize for my excessive use of the word "charming" but even the chapter titles are charming: "Aubrey Walks Part Way Home--and Rides the Rest of the Way," "Aubrey Goes to the Movies and Wishes He Knew More German.") By the time these two new characters have arrived the story picks up speed, then picks up more speed until it's fairly racing along like a train (an actual racing train scene plays a very important role at the end). The depiction of Brooklyn in a bygone era is enchanting. There's lots of suspicious characters lurking around, a touch of violence, and an awesome explosion. There's a sweet new love between Aubrey and Titania. There's Morley's trademark wittiness: "I will tell you a secret. I have never read King Lear, and have purposely refrained from doing so. If I were ever very ill I would only need to say to myself "You can't die yet, you haven't read Lear." That would bring me round, I know it would." And of course there's loads of charm. One final note: The Haunted Bookshop is an ode to the lover of secondhand bookstores. Christopher Morley would turn over in his grave if he knew I were reading this on a Nook!(less)

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Oct 09, 2011 Kathy Jackson rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: booklovers

Wow, what to say about this book! First let me give you the summary from Goodreads:

"When you sell a man a book," says Roger Mifflin, protagonist of these classic bookselling novels, "you don't sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue you sell him a whole new life." The new life the itinerant bookman delivers to Helen McGill, the narrator of Parnassus on Wheels, provides the romantic comedy that drives the novel. Published in 1917, Morley's first love letter to the traffic in books r...more

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Aug 28, 2009 Jen3n rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, classic, favorites, mystery, literature

I loved this book. I can not believe no one before now brought it to my attention. While I was reading it, I realized that not only was this book one of my favorites, it had always been one of my favorites, I just hadn't realized it yet.

It's one of those books.

There's a plot in there somewhere (though such a poor one that I could not in good conscience give this book five stars because of it), but mostly it's beautiful, smart, and funny conversations and monologues about books and society and id...more

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Oct 25, 2012 Suzanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

First of all, I live near Christopher Morley Park. Though, I've never been there, people always speak well of it. I never knew who Morley was. Second, my mother lived in Brooklyn and my daughter lives there now. I don't know Brooklyn, but I have haunting memories of it, from when, as a child, I'd take a walk with my grandfather. Now, my husband and I occassionally get lost in Brooklyn when visiting my daughter.
I was thrilled as I began this novel, which was written in 1918 or so, to think of my...more First of all, I live near Christopher Morley Park. Though, I've never been there, people always speak well of it. I never knew who Morley was. Second, my mother lived in Brooklyn and my daughter lives there now. I don't know Brooklyn, but I have haunting memories of it, from when, as a child, I'd take a walk with my grandfather. Now, my husband and I occassionally get lost in Brooklyn when visiting my daughter.
I was thrilled as I began this novel, which was written in 1918 or so, to think of my grandparents walking down these streets at this time with my mother's older sisters. I soon realized that the streets Morley walked down were not the streets which contained the tenaments my mother's family inhabited. Though the book shop was not upscale, the brownstones were not in the ghetto. My daughter, now lives in a house which Mifflin, the proprieter of the book shop might have owned.
The lower level is the shop and the upper levels are where the Mifflin's and a rich girl, Titania, who is "interning" as a sales girl live. Aubrey Gilbert, a salesman, introduces himself to Mifflin and that's the book. Well, there's a little more to it, but not much believeable.
As I began reading I was thinking "Girls" (an HBO show) meets Mad Men (AMC show). Not. I tried to put these odd spirits away and got down to the text. Roger Miffllin says, "My business is advertised by the minds I stimulate...Do you know why people are reading more? Because the terrific catastrophe of the war has made them realize that there minds are ill....People need books, but they don't know they need them..."
Mifflin provides his patrons with books, a quiet place to read and suggestons about books. Sort of Anne Tyler's Homesick Restaurant with ash trays. Some of the Barnes and Nobles have cafes, but I doubt that patrons are encouraged to read books there until they're paid for. Mifflin tells Gilbert that,"living in a bookshop is like living in a warehouse of explosives. Those shelves are ranked with the most furious combustibles in the world--the brains of men."
Unfortunately this foreshadows the thin plot. One of the funniest lines is in reply to Gilbert, who asks why if books "are so provocative" aren't librarian all screaming. Mifflin says,",,,you forget the card index! Librarians invented that soothing device for the febrifuge of their souls...a mendicament!"
Morley, a publisher turned author, through his characters, show his understanding of economics. Benson, a book salesman understands that people will pay more for tickets to a movie than for a book. He says, "Folks will pay a darned sight more to be amused than exalted."
I wish there was a list of all the books Mifflin referenced. I won't talk about the plot, because it was silly, but I enjoyed seeing Brooklyn 100 years ago and I enjoyed hearing about books which I should have read.
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Jan 25, 2009 Bonnie Jeanne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh, I enjoyed this book so much. A bit stodgy in places, but considering the time in which it was written, I suppose that is to be expected. [return][return]There is a good deal about the tension involved in bookselling. Do you sell what the public wants, though it may be drivel? Or sell what you think the public needs? It may seem an obvious answer since it would be seriously presumptous to make decisions about proper reading material for others. However, the protagonist of this story, Mr. Miff...more

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Jun 17, 2010 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-fiction

What a period piece this is! Written (and set) just after the end of World War I, it concerns an heiress sent to apprentice at a used bookstore in Brooklyn. The ad man who falls in love with her suspects the bookseller of being engaged in a German conspiracy, but how he underestimates Roger Mifflin, who is true blue and as patriotic and idealistic as the next man. Much of the book contains Mifflin's musings on bookdealing, the world's future, and sundry authors, some of whom are essentially unkn...more

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May 27, 2012 Meg rated it 2 of 5 stars

The book started out sweet....with references to a bookshop I dream of losing myself in on restless nights when I need a change of thought. The story.....was a bit hard to get through at points....as Aubrey is a bit daft (he should not be a detective)....but the mystery kept me readingso I could read more about the love of books.

I thought the book was about a haunted bookshop...with ghosts and murders, but sadly...the title is in reference to the haunting done by book characters and authors.

It...more

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May 07, 2012 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

THIS SHOP IS HAUNTED by the ghosts
Of all great literature, in hosts;

We sell no fakes or trashes.
Lovers of books are welcome here,
No clerks will babble in your ear,

Please smoke--but don't drop ashes!
----
Browse as long as you like.
Prices of all books plainly marked.
If you want to ask questions, you'll find the proprietor
where the tobacco smoke is thickest.
We pay cash for books.
We have what you want, though you may not know you want it.

Malnutrition of the reading faculty is a serious...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is, essentially, everything that a bibliophile could want in a book, and it was written by a man who quite obviously loves literature with all of his soul. I think Mr. Morley would be proud that I picked this book up in a second-hand bookshop - it was one of those occasions where I was searching for something without really knowing what I was searching for, and it just came to me.

There are excellent reading lists and suggestions craftily slipped in by way of the bookseller, Roger Miff...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Mary Beth Williams rated it 4 of 5 stars

This companion to "Parnassus on Wheels" by Christopher Morley was published 2 years later in 1919. The story finds Roger Mifflin settled down from his travels in his book wagon called Parnassus and he now runs a second-hand bookshop in Brooklyn. No ordinary shop, the sign Mifflin has hanging outside the Gissing Street address says "Booklovers Welcome: This Shop is Haunted."
This bookshop includes the great spirits of the literary past as well as the lively spirits of its owner, Roger Mifflin, hi...more

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Jul 13, 2010 Jack Goodstein rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

This is the first book I've read on the iPad. It is certainly a different experience,, one I never thought I'd care for. I didn't find it unpleasant, but I would still prefer the actual book. The story itself is someewhat silly. German spies planning to blow up the ship President Wilson is traveling to the peace conference after WW I are caught by an amateur advertising man and an old second hand bookseller.

Some interest in looking at some of the older second rate thrillers. A good deal about b...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Andree rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

I liked the first half of this more than the second. I vacillated between two and three stars on this, but in the end went with two, because the ending was just, weird for me. I found the book inconsistent.

(view spoiler)...more

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Oct 30, 2010 Julie Davis rated it 4 of 5 stars

A wealthy young woman's father gets her a job at his friend's second hand book shop in order to teach her about real life. It soon turns into a mystery. Is the bookshop haunted? Or is there something else going on, as the young woman's admirer (a dedicated advertising man)?

I remembered that I began listening to this LibriVox recording some time ago and then stopped when beginning my Lenten podcast fast (yes, SOME time ago!). I picked it up to finish it again and have been really enjoying the low...more

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Aug 22, 2010 Kate rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

This was a "freebee" on Kindle. I'm not sure when it was written but I would guess sometime after WWI as the style certainly wasn't contemporary and the story took place immediately after the war. A rather simple mystery involving a romance and spies. I'd equate it more with some of our modern pulp fiction that once removed from this time period wouldn't have such a great appeal to a future audience. It was a short read which may have been the case at the time. For a "freebee" it was worth what...more

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Jun 06, 2010 Sean O'Hara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Despite the title, there's nothing supernatural about the Haunted Bookshop. Instead, it's the name of a bookstore whose proprietor, Roger Mifflin, says is haunted by the spirit of great literature.

One evening in December 1918, Mifflin is visited by Aubrey Gilbert, a young ad man who's soliciting business. Mifflin doesn't believe bookstores need to advertise, but he invites to Aubrey to join him for dinner. The two strike up a friendship and Aubrey becomes interested in literature for the first t...more Despite the title, there's nothing supernatural about the Haunted Bookshop. Instead, it's the name of a bookstore whose proprietor, Roger Mifflin, says is haunted by the spirit of great literature.

One evening in December 1918, Mifflin is visited by Aubrey Gilbert, a young ad man who's soliciting business. Mifflin doesn't believe bookstores need to advertise, but he invites to Aubrey to join him for dinner. The two strike up a friendship and Aubrey becomes interested in literature for the first time in his life.

Aubrey learned about the Haunted Bookshop from a client, Mr. Chapman, who's friends with Mifflin. Chapman believes his daughter Titania has been ill-served by the boarding schools she's attended, so he arranges for her to work at the bookstore for a few months. Once Aubrey meets her, he finds even more reason to frequent the store.

But mysterious things begin to happen. A copy of Carlyle's Cromwell's Letters and Speeches disappears from the store, only to reappear a few days later and then disappears again, while notices appear in the newspaper from someone seeking a lost copy of the book. When Aubrey starts to investigate, he's attacked by mysterious men. He soon begins to suspect Mifflin is involved in a plot to kidnap Titania ... or maybe a plot by German spies who want to sabotage the Armistice.

The book is suffused with a sort of Wilsonian Millennialism -- the sort of claptrap that led people to believe the First World War was the War to End All Wars. But at the same time, Germans are depicted as a bunch of mustache-twirlers while the Entente is the force of good opposing the evil Huns. Yet Morley doesn't appear to see any contradiction in these ideas -- at least, no one ever points out the irony.

The book also serves as a great example of why authors should avoid pop-culture. The story is chocked full of references to popular books and movies of the era, most of which will mean nothing to anyone who hasn't studied early 20th Century literature. In fact, the only book the average person will recognize is one that characters constantly use as an example of how awful popular taste is -- Tarzan of the Apes (less)

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Jan 02, 2010 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars

The follow-up to Parnassus On Wheels finds Roger Mifflin, travelling bookseller, holding down a storefront in post-WW1 Brooklyn, holding forth on his favorite topic (his passion for reading) to anyone who will listen. Apparently a few people actually agree with him, as a friend sends his daughter to do a bit of apprenticeship to "get some of the 'finishing school' nonsense out of her head". While she gets accustomed to the way things are done in her new trade, a book of Oliver Cromwell's speeche...more

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Mar 22, 2008 Leslie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Leslie by: Kateri

No, there are no ghosts in this book. The title is the name of the second-hand bookshop in the novel, which is "haunted" by the ghosts of the great authors shelved within.

This is a lovely read for the patient bibliophile. It's not at all plot-driven (the mysterious intrigue that provides the obligatory conflict is rather daffy and entirely beside the point), but for the right sort of reader this book will provide quotable comfort and excellent recommendations for further reading (I actually adde...more

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May 21, 2012 Samantha rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was recommended to me by my mother and someone I work with so I obviously had to give it a try. It's a very cute book and a good mystery for any book lover. Considering that it was written in 1919 or thereabouts, it has the typical parts that drone on that novels of that time period are known for. I thought some of the passages in which Roger Mifflin talks about books were very insightful and made me think a lot about reading in general. Overall it was a very enjoyable book.

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Oct 17, 2012 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-related, mystery, kindle, novellas, classics, read-in-2012

This is a charming homage to the world of second hand booksellers, set in the time immediately after WWI. Roger Mifflin reprises his role begun in Parnassus on Wheels but is now stationary with his now-wife Helen in a bookstore in Brooklyn, not rolling along the roads of the country as an itinerant bookseller. The story allows for frequent philosophical musing on the place of books in the then modern world, the place of the seller as an educator of the masses.

If this sounds heavy, it most defin...more

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Jul 27, 2011 Apryl Anderson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a timeless slice of 1917: cheesy spy story, stereotyped evil Krauts, post-war diplomacy and the perpetual conflict of kingdoms, the popularity of Tarzan & the moving picture show, and an enormous list of classic and popular novels of the day. Better than I'd anticipated.

I've been googling his references.

Look at this: http://www.archive.org/details/Tarzan... It's the real Tarzan movie on-line!

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Mar 13, 2013 Lee Riggs rated it 2 of 5 stars

Didn't realize this was a 90 year old book until I looked up the author; thought it was done in the style of. I enjoyed the writing and character descriptions, and lots of enthusiasm for books, literature, creativity and the like, but once any actual plot started up it was a bit disappointing. Might be interesting to read the initial novel which introduced the characters (and the bookshop, and 1918 Brooklyn, New York is a character all its own).

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Dec 11, 2011 Dayna Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars

A wonderful book written in 1919. Roger Mifflin runs a unique used bookshop in Brooklyn. When he meets Aubrey Gilbert, an advertising salesman, and takes on a new assistant, Miss Chapman, the daughter of a rich businessman, his life suddenly gets very exciting. From wonderful observations on books to German spies and bomb plots, this book is a thoroughly enjoyable read. The language may seem complicated, but it is well worth the effort.

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About Christopher Morley

Christopher Morley was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania while his father was a mathematics professor at Haverford College. Morley graduated from this same school in 1910 as valedictorian. He then went to New College, Oxford University for three years on a Rhodes Scholarship, studying modern history. Arriving home, he headed out to Garden City to begin his life of letters at Doubleday, where he work...more Christopher Morley was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania while his father was a mathematics professor at Haverford College. Morley graduated from this same school in 1910 as valedictorian. He then went to New College, Oxford University for three years on a Rhodes Scholarship, studying modern history. Arriving home, he headed out to Garden City to begin his life of letters at Doubleday, where he worked as a publicist and publisher's reader. About this time he married Helen Fairchild, and they lived first in Hempstead, and then in Queens Village. Morley moved to Philadelphia where he got his start as a newspaper reporter and then columnist for various publications. In 1920, he returned to New York City and took a job writing the column The Bowling Green for the New York Evening Post. [1]

He was one of the founders and long-time contributing editor of the Saturday Review of Literature. A highly gregarious man, he was the mainstay of what he dubbed the "Three Hours for Lunch Club". Out of enthusiasm for the Sherlock Holmes stories, he became the founder of the Baker Street Irregulars and wrote the introduction to the standard omnibus edition of The Complete Sherlock Holmes. In 1936 he was appointed to revise and enlarge Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1937, 1948). He was one of the first judges for the Book-of-the Month Club, serving in that position until the early 1950s.

Author of more than 100 books of essays, poetry, and novels, Morley is probably best known as the author of Kitty Foyle (1939), which was made into an Academy Award-winning movie. Other well known works include Thunder on the Left (1925), and The Haunted Bookshop (1919) and Parnassus on Wheels (1917), his two novels of a fictional bookseller.

For most of his life, he lived in Roslyn Heights, Nassau County, Long Island, commuting to the city on the Long Island Rail Road, about which he wrote affectionately. In 1961, a 98-acre park was named in his honor in Nassau County. This park preserves his studio, the "Knothole", as a point of interest, his furniture and bookcases available to the historically-interested public.
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Quotes from The Haunted Bookshop

“ON THE RETURN OF A BOOK
LENT TO A FRIEND

I GIVE humble and hearty thanks for the safe return of this book which having endured the perils of my friend's bookcase, and the bookcases of my friend's friends, now returns to me in reasonably good condition.

I GIVE humble and hearty thanks that my friend did not see fit to give this book to his infant as a plaything, nor use it as an ash-tray for his burning cigar, nor as a teething-ring for his mastiff.

WHEN I lent this book I deemed it as lost: I was resigned to the bitterness of the long parting: I never thought to look upon its pages again.

BUT NOW that my book is come back to me, I rejoice and am exceeding glad! Bring hither the fatted morocco and let us rebind the volume and set it on the shelf of honour: for this my book was lent, and is returned again.

PRESENTLY, therefore, I may return some of the books that I myself have borrowed.” — 31 people liked it

“Printer's ink has been running a race against gunpowder these many, many years. Ink is handicapped, in a way, because you can blow up a man with gunpowder in half a second, while it may take twenty years to blow him up with a book. But the gunpowder destroys itself along with its victim, while a book can keep on exploding for centuries.” — 28 people liked it

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