Rick Gekoski in Conversation with Simon Brett
Our August ’23 Open Day audience enjoyed a lively conversation between Rick Gekoski, American born author and rare book dealer and our Patron Simon Brett.
Below is an outline of what was revealed in the conversation:
Rick confessed to having difficulties reading and concentrating after Covid and resorted to light reading of the Ian Fleming variety. He finds writing painful and difficult and mentioned his fictional James Darke trilogy. He had a lectureship in English at Warwick University after Post Graduate work at Oxford University on Joseph Conrad (1972). While at Warwick University he met Germaine Greer, author of The Female Eunuch, who was Amazonian in height (6’2″) and seemed to be attention seeking, making a rather crude, conversation stopping remark.
In 1984, arts courses at Warwick University were curtailed and Rick was offered early retirement as a 39yr old. He realised he was not really suited to academic life and research as this did not enable him to reveal his authentic writing voice. Simon noted that he left producing at the BBC in order to devote himself to writing. Rick found that he could earn about double the salary as a book dealer, than he earned as an academic He became interested in collecting modern first editions of D.H. Lawrence. He collected these over 13 years (referable to working on a critical book he was trying to write on DHL) and became a book dealer. He handled DHL’s personal copy of The Rainbow and copies of The Wasteland inscribed to Wyndham Lewis and Virginia Woolf. He noted that T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound collaborated on editing the text of The Wasteland He also collected 32 first editions of Ulysses and confessed that book dealing was an activity to which you can easily become addicted. With the advent of the internet, some of the fun of the ‘treasure hunt’ has disappeared, as all can now be discovered very quickly, with a few clicks.
On the question of ‘cut’ or ‘uncut’ editions Rick confirmed the value of ‘uncut’ if the book is rare or valuable. Simon’s proffered title could be safely cut, he assured Simon gravely, to chuckles from the audience.
Rick now deals in literary and cultural archives, collecting manuscripts, diaries, letters, photos and assorted publications and has a cataloguer working for him. He noted the vast shelf space taken up by some archive collections e.g. the Allen Ginsberg archive takes up over 1,344 shelf feet. He mentioned the Angela Carter and Peter O’Toole archives and noted that archives preserved in libraries provide accurate and important cultural records and that there is always the danger of fakes and forgeries appearing. An expert is needed to assess whether documents are genuine.
When asked about re-reading books he mentioned Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books and recommended Stephen King’s On Writing which really contains two books: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a tough love lesson for aspiring novelists.
On the question of censorship, “cancel culture’ and publishing the work of artists with controversial private lives or whose behaviour is less than admirable, Rick was of the opinion that the work should stand unchanged. Many authors behave badly or have questionable lifestyles but their work should still be read and revered for its artistic merit.
This was a most enjoyable finale to our Open Day activities and was followed by an invitation to tea and cake and the chance for more convivial conversation among audience members.
Rick was very happy to sign copies of his books for our attendees at the end of the conversation. There was a queue!
See below a selection, in no particular order, of Rick Gekoski’s books – possible Christmas presents for book lovers?
Guarded by Dragons (2021) Encounters with Rare Books and Rare People
James Darke Trilogy: Debut first novel short listed for Authors’ Club Best First Novel
Darke (2018), Darke Matter (2020), After Darke (2023)
Outside of a Dog (2011) “Outside of a Dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read” Groucho Marx. This book is the captivating account of twenty five books drawn from the fields of literature, psychology, philosophy and is a memoir of the reading self.
Lost, Stolen or Shredded (2014) Stories of missing works of art and literature.
Tolkien’s Gown: and other stories of Great Authors and Rare Books ( 2004) Based on the very successful BBC 4 Radio series Rare Books, Rare People – memorable encounters and stories about twenty famous authors.
Lois Coulthart