84, Charing Cross Road is a charming record of bibliophilia, cultural difference, and imaginative sympathy. For 20 years, an outspoken New York writer and a rather more restrained London bookseller carried on an increasingly touching correspondence. Helen Hanff, in search of obscure classics and British literature titles she had been unable to find in New York, first contacted the shop in 1949. It fell to Doel to fulfill her requests. In time, a long-distance friendship evolved, not only between the two, but between Hanff and other staff members as well, with an exchange of  birthday gifts, and food parcels to compensate for post WW II food shortages in Britain. Their letters included discussions about topics as diverse as the sermons of John Donne, how to make Yorkshire Pudding, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the coronation of Elizabeth II. Many of her letters are laugh-out-loud funny, made more so when juxtaposed with Frank Doel’s typically proper and reserved English responses. The book went on to become one of the most unlikely New York Times bestsellers ever. It was adapted into the 1987 film directed by David Hugh Jones. Now almost 50 years later, 84, Charing Cross Road has achieved a sort of cult status, with early printings and signed copies highly sought after

Description: INSCRIBED BY HELEN HANFF on the front free end page “To Alan’s Aunt Pearl from Alan’s neighbor Helen Hanff”. Hard bound with price clipped dust jacket. Stated 7th impression January 1983. Some foxing to end pages, and some very minor sheld wear to dust jacket, otherwise very good. A rare inscribed copy of the now classic tale about the twenty-year correspondence between her and Frank Doel, chief buyer of Marks & Co, antiquarian booksellers located at the eponymous address in London, England.

Bookseller Inventory # 29820

SOLD

84, Charing Cross Road
by Hanff, Helen

· Category: Sold ·