Rickaro Books, Horbury
Yesterday was UK Bookshop Day, the annual event which celebrates the huge contribution made to civilised life by all British bookshops, especially independents. It also marks the beginning of the current year’s ‘Books Are My Bag’ [BAMB] initiative for the run-up to Christmas and beyond.
The whole BAMB drive was conceived of and masterminded by the UK Booksellers Association, which now administers it. Authors and readers alike are very fortunate to have, working on our behalf, this imaginative, dedicated, hard-working and amazingly small team of people led by Tim Godfray, its long-term CEO. I was lucky enough to attend, on 11th September, the BA’s annual conference and there to get a sneak preview of some of this year’s BAMB marketing material, which includes beautiful mugs and book bags designed by Orla Kiely.
I always visit at least one bookshop on Bookshop Day. Yesterday I headed for Rickaro Books in Horbury, one of my favourite bookshops, which is run by my (very) long-term friend and colleague, Richard Knowles.
Richard Knowles
Richard was my first boss after I left university – I won’t mention how many years ago! His bookshop, situated in a small Yorkshire town of great character, is a veritable jewel. As well as stocking new books (including all the Christina James titles – he has kindly agreed to distribute Fair of Face postcards and to supply copies of the book for purchase at my event in Wakefield One on 18th November), he is an accomplished antiquarian bookseller, with an enviable vintage stock. He provides a world-class service by selling antiquarian books on a limited range of topics and does indeed attract customers from all over the world.
Richard always engages in BAMB festivities. Yesterday, he had decorated his windows with promotional bunting and was offering discounts on new books. His dog Tilly
Tilly
(the inspiration for the Tilly Club that Rickaro Books runs for children) entered into the spirit of the day by sporting a Books Are My Bag T-shirt. Richard said that he’d suggest that Sophie, one of his booksellers, should wear the same T-shirt on Monday morning. I’m assuming that this was one of his lugubrious and slightly macabre jokes, but, just in case, I shall send the link to this post to Sophie!
I bought three books, two for myself (The Greatest Knight, by Thomas Asbridge, and The Idea of North, by Peter Davidson) as well as, for a young person of my acquaintance, a book which I won’t describe here, as it’s intended to be a surprise. Instead of the Orla Kiely bags, Richard had others featuring Christopher Robin – appropriate for a shop which is a magnet for child readers. Several of them came in while I was there, including a screaming toddler whose tears turned to smiles as soon as she crossed the threshold. Such is the power of a good bookshop!
One of the charms of Rickaro Books is that it doesn’t change very much from visit to visit. However, as soon as I walked in yesterday, I was struck by a very significant new addition to the furnishings. Richard has acquired the striking and quite famous portrait of Thomas Gent, the eminent eighteenth-century Yorkshire historian, poet and printer (and therefore, like all printers of the time, also a bookseller), painted by Nathan Drake in 1770, when Gent was seventy-seven. (He lived for another eight years after this, dying in 1778 at the ripe old age of eighty-five.)
Thomas Gent
Gent was highly respected in his own day, but was, as his Wikipedia biography laconically states, ‘financially unsuccessful’. I wonder what he would have made of Books Are My Bag? I think it’s likely he would have approved of it and I’m certain that he would have loved to have had the opportunity to obtain support from an early version of the Booksellers Association.
Christina James, crime novelist 
Rickaro Books is my local bookshop. I did a reading there, as part of A Firm of Poets on a rain-soaked day in 2014. To my surprise, a copy of my novella, ‘Escape Kit’ was on display. I mentioned it during the reading. A man who looked strangely familiar picked it up, and leafed through it. That man turned out to be my high school English teacher, Christina James’s husband.
And we remember the occasion well, too, William, and have also enjoyed your contribution to another poetry evening in Morley. Wishing you well… and a warm hello to all of those other lovely members of A Firm of Poets! Putting their title into this site’s search engine will come up with my blog about the Rickaro Books evening with you, William, and them. 🙂
Reblogged this on iamhyperlexic and commented:
The wife of my high school English teacher is a long time friend of the proprietor of my local, independent bookshop.
I too visited Rickaro bookshop yesterday. It was good to see the support that Richard gives to local authors (Waterstones are you reading this?) but on this occasion I was looking for a collection of short stories, The Best Short Stories of 2017 published by Salt. As it happens the book was not in stock but an order was placed for it and I was told it would be available on the next working day. Marvellous, why would you use the tax avoiding Amazon when this sort of service is available? Well done Rickaro. Long may you run.
Thank you, John, and I am much struck by the coincidence of this comment of yours on the subject of Salt’s ‘Best Short Stories’, as I understand from William Gaskill, the previous commenter, that one of his stories is to appear in the 2018 edition. Additionally, thank you for joining me here to celebrate Richard’s achievement as an independent bookseller. You will have gathered from this post that I am well aware of his expertise on the customer service front! And thanks to Richard, too, for your warm welcome yesterday!
Good to see you both and Tilly sends a bark!
See you again soon! Woof! 🙂
What a great initiative, BAMB 😀
It is, Luciana! Thank you very much for dropping in! 🙂
A lovely bookshop and a wonderful dog! Tilly looks a sweetheart! Christina, I’ve been up to my eyeballs in boat black and still haven’t finished tidying up…long story, but I’ve put in an order for Fair of Face and hope it will arrive before Christmas! My holiday reading sorted 🙂
Yes, Valerie, the bookshop is lovely. You’d better not ask the postman what he thinks of Tilly, but she’s fine with everyone else! Thank you very much indeed for your very real and very wonderful support for DI Yates. Very best wishes to you and Koos. 🙂