A lifelong antiquarian bookseller’s memoir describes the trade from the factotum’s perspective—and in doing so reveals its ticklish underbelly.

A memoir of a life in the antiquarian book trade, A Factotum in the Book Trade 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, A Factotum in the Book Trade 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.

Marius Kociejowski was born 1949, in Kemptville, outside of Ottawa. He has published three collections of poetry in England: Coast (Greville Press, awarded the Cheltenham Prize, 1991), Doctor Honoris Causa and Music's Bride (both Anvil Press). He has also published essays on various topics, mainly on people, travel and literature. Recently he completed The Street Philosopher & the Holy Fool, a travelogue based on five journeys he made to Syria. He lives in London, England

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Praise for A Factotum in the Book Trade

"A Factotum in the Book Trade is memorable because a) it’s well-written, and b) it’s close in touch with the books. [...] It's an account of a life well, happily and grouchily lived."—Dwight Garner, New York Times

"A Factotum in the Book Trade displays the prose style of someone who takes inordinate delight in the unlikely conjunctions afforded by such places. Kociejowski pinpoints the joys of bookstores for readers and booksellers both, while sketching a miscellany of the personalities he has encountered throughout his career."—Literary Review of Canada

"A representative slice, a core sample, of the rich and partly vanished world of bookselling"—The New Yorker

"A dizzying diversity of books and authors strike against each other, creating sparks of insight. In the space of a few pages, he mentions Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry Green, Emily Dickinson, William Hazlitt, J.L. Carr and Patrick Leigh Fermor, offering concise assessments of each. Frequent footnotes, rendered as chatty asides, deepen his memoir’s digressive charm."—The Wall Street Journal

"A Factotum in the Book Trade is an extraordinary work that will give all readers an increased appreciation for what books are and the many intricate roles that books play in our lives."—Ottawa Review of Books

"[A Factotum in the Book Trade] is cranky, obscure, charming, ... and illuminating. It reads like a used bookstore smells."—Globe & Mail

"Bibliomaniacs will find much to warm their hearts as author Marius Kociejowski shares his love of books, travel and name-dropping anecdotes of those famous in the arts and in the antiquarian book trade in England."—Ron Robinson, Winnipeg Free Press

"An accomplished poet and beguiling essayist [...] [Kociejowski is] spiky and forthright in his views.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

"Eccentric, meandering ... fascinating"—The New Criterion

"It is a witty tribute to a disappearing niche industry, and its wistful reflections complement its sense of passion for unexpected troves"—Foreword Reviews

"Full of humour, and gossipy in a good way, A Factotum is also tinged with an autumnal sense of loss and the self-examination of a man looking back on half a century in the trade. From start to finish the book is a delight."—The Spectator

"Kociejowski is eloquent about the magic of books, their bindings and associations."—Times Literary Supplement

“[I]n the book’s swirling opening chapter [...], we find him reflecting on a working life (mostly in the antiquarian book trade) [...] Mortality sets off this reflection [...] then books [...] and bookselling [...] It is this interplay between books (Kociejowski has authored books of poetry and travel writing) and bookselling (a staging ground into which enter books, employees and casual customers, but also literary archives, personal libraries, collectors and celebrated authors like Patti Smith, Robert Graves and Bruce Chatwin) where the magic happens." —Michael Turner, The British Columbia Review

"An absolute 'must' for the personal reading lists of all authors, publishers, booksellers and dedicated bibliophiles, A Factotum in the Book Trade is an absorbing, entertaining, informational, and inherently fascinating combination of memoir and book trader insights and commentaries. One of those life stories that will linger on in the mind and memory of the reader long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf ... A Factotum in the Book Trade should be on the Biography/Memoir shelf of every community, college, and university library."—Midwest Book Review

"There are guaranteed pleasures in Kociejowski’s writing for any lover of books and bookshops."—Amphora

"He awakens in me that first understanding I had about books and literature when I was young ... a wonderful read."—Antanas Sileika, author of Underground

Praise for Marius Kociejowski

"Kociejowski draws on all the aspects of his life in these engaging, idiosyncratic personal essays ... [that] proffer the reader equal measures of autobiography, insight and quirky charm." —Michael Dirda, Washington Post

“Here the charm is deep, the splendour unlaboured; the colours of history, reckoned afresh, saturate singular people, in whom passion is lucid again...here is one who collects his extraordinary resources, and strides.”—Christopher Middleton

“It is a testament to the power of this superb book that I felt not despondency, but ... elation."—Adam Thorpe, Times Literary Supplement

"Treasures are revealed ... with a formidable erudition, and at their best they gleam with an enameled splendour."—Ken Babstock, Globe and Mail

"Kociejowski writes beautifully ... unusual, poetic, and thought-provoking."—Library Journal