{"product_id":"a-factotum-in-the-book-trade-9781771964562","title":"A Factotum in the Book Trade","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe bookshop is, and will always be, the soul of the trade. What happens there does not happen elsewhere. The multifariousness of human nature is more on show there than anywhere else, and I think it's because of books, what they are, what they release in ourselves, and what they become when we make them magnets to our desires.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA memoir of a life in the antiquarian book trade, \u003cem\u003e A Factotum in the Book Trade\u003c\/em\u003e is a journey between the shelves--and then behind the counter, into the overstuffed basement, and up the spine-stacked attic stairs of your favourite neighbourhood bookshop. From his childhood in rural Ontario, where at the village jumble sale he bought poetry volumes for their pebbled-leather covers alone, to his all-but-accidental entrance into the trade in London and the career it turned into, poet and travel writer Marius Kociejowski recounts his life among the buyers, sellers, customers, and literary nobility--the characters, fictional and not--who populate these places we all love. Cataloging their passions and pleasures, oddities and obsessions, \u003cem\u003eA Factotum in the Book Trade\u003c\/em\u003e is a journey through their lives, and a story of the serendipities and collisions of fate, the mundane happenings and indelible encounters, the friendships, feuds, losses, and elations that characterize the business of books--and, inevitably, make up an unforgettable life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMarius Kociejowski\u003c\/b\u003e, born 1949, is a poet, essayist and travel writer. Among the books he has written are \u003cem\u003eThe Street Philosopher and the Holy Fool - A Syrian Journey\u003c\/em\u003e, now reissued by Eland, and a sequel, T\u003cem\u003ehe Pigeon Wars of Damascus\u003c\/em\u003e published by Biblioasis in 2010. His first collection of poetry, \u003cem\u003eCoast \u003c\/em\u003e(Greville Press, 1990) was awarded the Cheltenham Prize. His most recent books are \u003cem\u003eGod's Zoo: Artists, Exiles, Londoners\u003c\/em\u003e (Carcanet, 2014), \u003cem\u003eThe Pebble Chance: prose \u0026amp; feuilletons\u003c\/em\u003e (Biblioasis, 2014), \u003cem\u003eZoroaster's Children and other travels\u003c\/em\u003e (Biblioasis, 2015) and \u003cem\u003eCollected Poems \u003c\/em\u003e(Carcanet, 2019). He has recently completed another travel book, \u003cem\u003eThe Serpent Coiled in Naples\u003c\/em\u003e. He lives in London, England where, until recently, he worked as an antiquarian bookseller.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Biblioasis","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50554058375442,"sku":"9781771964562","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9d067805-396c-437b-953e-4976c5fdccb6.jpg?v=1731706069","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-factotum-in-the-book-trade-9781771964562","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}