A twenty-year correspondence between a witty, book-hungry New York writer and the staff of a London antiquarian bookshop, sparked by her orders for out-of-print English classics and warmed over the years by parcels of rationed food sent in return.
Books mentioned in 84, Charing Cross Road (34)
The Diary of Samuel Pepys by Samuel Pepys: “She demands "a real Pepys" after the shop sends an excerpted edition: "WHAT KIND OF A PEPYS' DIARY DO YOU CALL THIS?"”
Imaginary Conversations by Walter Savage Landor: “Have you got a copy of Landor's Imaginary Conversations? ... the one with a dialogue between Aesop and Rhodope.”
Selected Essays by William Hazlitt: “The three Hazlitt essays you want are contained in the Nonesuch Press edition of his Selected Essays.”
Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: “"the Stevenson is found in Virginibus Puerisque" — sent along with the Hazlitt essays in the shop's first reply.”
Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb: “She asks for Lamb's Essays of Elia in a Macdonald Illustrated Classics edition; the shop finally finds her a copy.”
Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb: “A modernized Chaucer "has the schoolroom smell of Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare."”
Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: “Quotes its description of "every book and treatise which had ever been wrote upon the subject of great noses" and demands a copy; a Robb-illustrated edition is later sent.”
Memoirs of the Duke de Saint-Simon by Louis de Rouvroy, Duke of Saint-Simon: “She reads it in the Arkwright translation and has Marks & Co. buy her the six-volume set one book at a time.”
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer: “"Is there such a thing as a modern-English version of the Canterbury Tales?" A 1934 Longmans modernization by Hill, then a cheaper edition, are sent.”
The Common Reader by Virginia Woolf: “The two volumes of Virginia Woolf's Common Reader are on their way to you.”
The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton: “A nice copy of "Walton's Compleat Angler" is bought from a private library for her; she praises its woodcuts.”
The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield: “"We have just managed to obtain a copy of E. M. Delafield's Diary of a Provincial Lady," a 1942 Macmillan edition.”
Four Socratic Dialogues by Plato: “"We have also acquired a copy of Plato's Four Socratic Dialogues, translated by Benjamin Jowett"; she later asks after "plato's minor dialogues."”
A House Is Not a Home by Polly Adler: “She recalls a New York Times review of "a book called A House Is Not a Home by Polly Adler, all about whorehouses."”
The Oxford Book of English Verse by Arthur Quiller-Couch: “"Where is the Oxford Verse?" she demands; the shop later reports it "in stock" and sends it.”
The Oxford Book of English Prose by Arthur Quiller-Couch: “Requested, and later consulted in her hunt for an uncut Donne sermon passage.”
The Pilgrim's Way by Arthur Quiller-Couch: “"The Quiller-Couch anthology, The Pilgrim's Way, has been sent to you by Book Post" — she calls it "the Q anthology."”
The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele: “She requests these; the shop sends an Austin Dobson-edited volume of eighteenth-century essays including a selection of them.”
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame: “Brian introduced me to Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows and I have to have this—with the Shepard illustrations.”
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: “I finally got round to Jane Austen and went out of my mind over Pride & Prejudice.”
Journey to America by Alexis de Tocqueville: “Have you got De Tocqueville's Journey to America? Somebody borrowed mine and never gave it back.”
The Book-Lovers' Anthology by R. M. Leonard: “A Christmas gift from the shop: "easily the most beautiful book I own including the Newman first edition."”
Donne's Sermons: Selected Passages by John Donne: “The Logan Pearsall Smith-edited selection she cross-checks, page-hunting for the uncut Jezebel passage from Sermon XV.”
The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus by Catullus: “Sent in "an edition which contains the Latin text with a verse translation by Sir Richard Burton and also a prose translation by Leonard Smithers."”
Sappho (poems) by Sappho: “"We had about thirty volumes of Loeb Classics come in ... but alas, no Horace, Sappho or Catullus" — named among the volumes she wanted.”
The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England by Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon: “Frank reassures her the shop hasn't been using good stock as wrapping: "old books such as Clarendon's Rebellion" were just two worthless odd volumes.”
Vulgate (Latin Bible): “She rages at a mistakenly sent Anglican-revised Bible and demands "the Vulgate Latin"; a Vulgate New Testament and dictionary are later sent.”
Johnson on Shakespeare by Samuel Johnson: “Sent "in the Oxford Press edition with introduction by Walter Raleigh."”
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary: “Frank apologizes that "two days after offering you the Shorter Oxford Dictionary for your friend, a man came in and bought it."”
The Works of Bernard Shaw (Standard Edition) by George Bernard Shaw: “A friend collects the Standard Edition, "bound in the rust-coloured cloth," and Marks & Co. supplies him missing volumes.”
Books that mention 84, Charing Cross Road (1)
Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry: “A general reader named Helen Hanff tapped these sentiments in 84 Charing Cross Road”