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Blackwells 1879 1979: The History of a Family Firm
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191 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1983
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August 12, 2022
If you’ve ever visited or studied in Oxford, that great British town of higher learning and dreaming spires, you’ve probably been to Blackwell’s Book Shop, a vast bookstore on Broad Street in the heart of the many colleges. I will never forget what a jaw dropping experience it was when I first walked into the Norrington Room in the basement of that store. A 1960s era expansion of the store when space was ever the highest need of a bookstore, the Norrington Room, as described by this book (written by its namesake, A.L.P. Norrington!), is “an enormous subterranean terraced chamber of some 10,000 square feet, with two and a half miles of shelving containing 160,000 volumes”. It’s a cathedral of books, a Pirandellian fantasia of bibliomass, a Borgesian labyrinth of printed material, all for sale. I wanted to read this book to find out where it came from and the story of the birth and growth of Blackwell’s is one of great interest.
Blackwell’s was founded in 1879 and got its start where it still is today - 50 Broad Street in Oxford. During the time period covered in this book, 1879-1979, it was owned by the same family and run by Benjamin Henry Blackwell, his son Basil, and Basil’s sons. This biography of the firm covers the history of the bookstore which began focused on used and antiquarian books, then focused on new books, with an antiquarian books department. But it also covers the many other business avenues that the firm took including selling periodicals, owning binderies, selling books to overseas customers, and publishing scientific publications. Some of these digressions are more or less interesting, and the author also pads the story of the bookstore by including a lot of historical information about what was going on in the worlds of letters and publishing at the time under discussion, which doesn’t always relate strictly to Blackwell’s and may make some readers’ interest wane.
It also should be pointed out that as Blackwell’s is an institution in Oxford, this book may not be of much interest or always comprehensible to those who lack at least a basic understanding of that eccentric town of medieval traditions and institutions. The book doesn’t feel meant for a general public, it feels intended for those who will get the inside jokes and obscure references (the author worked for Oxford University Press and Trinity College and it shows). In other words, this is a book for fans of Blackwell’s.
But if you are a fan you will love all the anecdotes about famous customers, non-paying customers, the employees or “Blackwellians” who had decades-spanning careers there, and the beneficent patriarchal founder and owners (when Benjamin Henry Blackwell, the founder, died, every employee of three years’ standing or more received one month’s pay).
There are numerous ways of describing this bookstore as a part of what makes Oxford special that are presented in this book, which gives you some idea of its influence and its place in the heart of Oxford: “one of the most pleasant of the unofficial departments of the University” and “one of the better colleges-the one called Blackwell’s” are two of my favourites. But this one really expresses what Blackwell’s is all about to its many fans, and comes from a newspaper, the Morning Post: “Many men will aver that the greatest educative influence of Oxford resides neither in the Bodleian, nor schools, nor tutors, nor lectures, nor college societies, but in the excellent management and liberal facilities of one of the best bookshops in the world-Mr. Blackwell’s.”
Blackwell’s is an institution in an institution and this is the story of its founding and flourishing, full of the personalities on both sides of the register, and covering its growth into a vast, mazelike shop crammed full of bookshelves.
Blackwell’s was founded in 1879 and got its start where it still is today - 50 Broad Street in Oxford. During the time period covered in this book, 1879-1979, it was owned by the same family and run by Benjamin Henry Blackwell, his son Basil, and Basil’s sons. This biography of the firm covers the history of the bookstore which began focused on used and antiquarian books, then focused on new books, with an antiquarian books department. But it also covers the many other business avenues that the firm took including selling periodicals, owning binderies, selling books to overseas customers, and publishing scientific publications. Some of these digressions are more or less interesting, and the author also pads the story of the bookstore by including a lot of historical information about what was going on in the worlds of letters and publishing at the time under discussion, which doesn’t always relate strictly to Blackwell’s and may make some readers’ interest wane.
It also should be pointed out that as Blackwell’s is an institution in Oxford, this book may not be of much interest or always comprehensible to those who lack at least a basic understanding of that eccentric town of medieval traditions and institutions. The book doesn’t feel meant for a general public, it feels intended for those who will get the inside jokes and obscure references (the author worked for Oxford University Press and Trinity College and it shows). In other words, this is a book for fans of Blackwell’s.
But if you are a fan you will love all the anecdotes about famous customers, non-paying customers, the employees or “Blackwellians” who had decades-spanning careers there, and the beneficent patriarchal founder and owners (when Benjamin Henry Blackwell, the founder, died, every employee of three years’ standing or more received one month’s pay).
There are numerous ways of describing this bookstore as a part of what makes Oxford special that are presented in this book, which gives you some idea of its influence and its place in the heart of Oxford: “one of the most pleasant of the unofficial departments of the University” and “one of the better colleges-the one called Blackwell’s” are two of my favourites. But this one really expresses what Blackwell’s is all about to its many fans, and comes from a newspaper, the Morning Post: “Many men will aver that the greatest educative influence of Oxford resides neither in the Bodleian, nor schools, nor tutors, nor lectures, nor college societies, but in the excellent management and liberal facilities of one of the best bookshops in the world-Mr. Blackwell’s.”
Blackwell’s is an institution in an institution and this is the story of its founding and flourishing, full of the personalities on both sides of the register, and covering its growth into a vast, mazelike shop crammed full of bookshelves.
Displaying 1 of 1 review