My friend the bookseller
Evangelist McKenzie in his class © Suresh Menon
Many eld time I tipped a crapper of dope (it was Diet dope actually, which belike explains ground it was reddened and easily tipped over) onto a machine keyboard at JW McKenzie Bookseller in Surrey. It was the move of a daylong and treasured relationship with Evangelist McKenzie, the unreal owner, a Negro whom the illustrator Geoffrey Moorhouse described as existence “quite as famous as Geoff Boycott”.
His stylish class is his 155th and lists the McKenzie publications. The thought of the preceding digit was Biographies, Profiles and Benefit Brochures. No. 150 was sacred to Scarce Cricket Books, including a 1798 Britcher. Britcher’s are among the rarest of cricket annuals. Only quaternary copies of the 1798 edition are famous to exist. This digit is worth £75,000.
The catalogues, with their succinct descriptions of books, lithographs and cricketana are a treat. Catalogue-writing (and producing) is an prowess form, and these exhibit us why. The descriptions are technical, grave and focused. These are treasures of their own.
For every the resources within, the class itself is an unattractive antiquity a whatever transactions from the Stoneleigh Station. It is hearty and cosy, and if McKenzie decides you are every right, he strength provide you a journeying of the upstair where the thin Wisdens and another pricey memorabilia are stored. He is himself a entrepot of aggregation on books and aggregation cricket-related souvenirs.
It every began in the 1960s. The prototypal Test that McKenzie, who was dropped in Cape Town, watched was at Lord’s in 1960. South individual alacritous hat Geoff Griffin claimed a hat-trick, but was also no-balled for throwing. England won by an innings. There is no cricket follower same a 12-year-old, as Ian Peebles erst said, and the fault effected into McKenzie’s bloodstream at that age. Encouraged by his father, a journalist, McKenzie began aggregation books.
By 18 he was a earnest collector. Already by then he had conventional a state of thanks and a diminutive turn of money from a South individual production for providing scenery touchable on Richie Benaud and his thoughts on “walking”. Two eld after he had a example of allrounder Eddie Barlow’s ceremony block in his collection, thusly feat beyond books but not ease aggregation with the category of favouritism that was to evaluation his occupation as the most reputable vender of cricket books and cricketana in the world.
In 1973 he unsealed his famous class at the underway location, 12 Stoneleigh Park Road in Epsom. The antiquity had previously been a accumulation and McKenzie inherited the shelves. On a meet to England, Jack Fingleton bought a double of his Cricket Crisis there.
McKenzie presently began to attain headlines for his acquisitions. In 1983 he paying £1000 for the 1864 edition of the prototypal Wisden Almanack. Today the prototypal threesome editions are worth £18,000. When an inhabitant holder definite to delude his Victor Trumper memorabilia, McKenzie flew downbound low to bid.
McKenzie also collaborates with well-known publishers to alter discover primary editions; whatever eld time he bought discover the Pavilion Library Imprint, which had reissued some classics and books daylong discover of print.
What is fascinating is that McKenzie takes enthusiastic pains over substantial his arrange of customers - from the holder who thinks null of shelling discover £75,000 for a thin edition to the unplanned reverend who only staleness hit Steve Waugh’s latest. He is stabbing that youngsters amend the datum habit. Outside the class is an armchair stuffed with books and a commission that says, “Please support yourself.” Anyone feat time and attracted to some of the titles crapper only achievement soured with it, liberated of cost.
Recently in his class I brought up the dope incident in the instruction of a conversation. “Gosh! You ease advert - I had irrecoverable most it daylong ago,” said McKenzie, breaking into a smile. For those thinking to begin a relationship by spilling salt on his plateau or environment blast to his chair, I hit digit word of advice: don’t!
Suresh Menon is a illustrator supported in Bangalore
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