Chapter 6 October 1949

I saw your ad in the Saturday Literary Review saying that you "specialize in out-of-print books."The other word "ancient bookseller" always discourages me, because I always think that since it is "ancient", it must also be "expensive".And I'm just a poor writer with an "old" appetite for books.Where I live, I can't find the books I want to read, either rare books with exorbitant price tags, or those sloppy ones at Barnes & Noble that have been scribbled over by kiddos. New York City 14 East Ninety-fifth Avenue October 5, 1949 Max and Cohen Bookstore

U.K. West Central London 84 Charing Cross Road Gentlemen: I saw your ad in the Saturday Literary Review saying that you "specialize in out-of-print books."The other word "ancient bookseller" always discourages me, because I always think that since it is "ancient", it must also be "expensive".And I'm just a poor writer with an "old" appetite for books.Where I live, I can't find the books I want to read, either rare books with exorbitant price tags, or those sloppy ones at Barnes & Noble that have been scribbled over by kiddos.

Enclosed is a list of the books which I am most eager to read at the present time, but which I cannot find anywhere.If your store has books that match the list, and the books are not higher than five dollars, can you just treat this letter as a purchase order and send the books to me? your faithful Helene Hanff (Miss) Max and Cohen Bookstore 84 Charing Cross Road, West Central London October 25, 1949 Miss Helene Hanff United States New York City, New York 28 14 East Ninety-fifth Avenue Dear Madam: I am hereby replying to your letter of the 5th of this month.We are honored to be able to solve two-thirds of your troubles.The three Hazlitt essays you list are included in this exemplary publication, Selected Essays of Hazlitt; Stevenson's work is found in To Girls and Boys.We have selected two books of good quality and sent them to you. I believe they will be delivered to you soon, and we hope you will be satisfied.Please check the invoice attached with the book.

As for the essays of Leigh Hunter you mentioned, they are not readily available, but we will be on the lookout to see if we can find a well-collected and well-bound edition, and will send it back to you in due course.As for the Latin Bible you described, there are no books in our store at present, only the Latin and Greek "New Testament" published recently in plain hardcover on cloth. I wonder if you are interested? Max and Cohen Bookstore Sincerely, FPD