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Second-Hand Stories
Every second-hand book tells two stories: one within its pages and another of the life it lived before changing hands.
Whether mundane or extraordinary, on a grand scale or intensely personal, every second-hand book conceals the story of its past life. Lives filled with love, loss, scandal and conflict, these are the intimate and incredible stories that author Josh Spero uncovered after tracking down the previous owners of twelve of his second-hand books…
Tom Dunbabin, a Classics scholar who became a spy, leading the resistance against the Germans in Crete in the Second World War.
Peter Levi, a priest who fell in love with his friend’s wife.
Belinda Dennis, a contrary Latin teacher, and Emilie Vleminckx, an equally contrary Latin student.
And James Naylor, a boy the author once loved.
Combined with stories from the author's own life – from growing up in London as a poor boy at a public school to becoming a scholar Oxford and later a tutor in Hampstead – and his lifelong love and pursuit of classical education, Second-Hand Stories is a unique memoir that celebrates not just one life, but all the lives connected through second-hand books.
It will make you reconsider your own second-hand books, the people who owned them and what stories they have to tell.
Whether mundane or extraordinary, on a grand scale or intensely personal, every second-hand book conceals the story of its past life. Lives filled with love, loss, scandal and conflict, these are the intimate and incredible stories that author Josh Spero uncovered after tracking down the previous owners of twelve of his second-hand books…
Tom Dunbabin, a Classics scholar who became a spy, leading the resistance against the Germans in Crete in the Second World War.
Peter Levi, a priest who fell in love with his friend’s wife.
Belinda Dennis, a contrary Latin teacher, and Emilie Vleminckx, an equally contrary Latin student.
And James Naylor, a boy the author once loved.
Combined with stories from the author's own life – from growing up in London as a poor boy at a public school to becoming a scholar Oxford and later a tutor in Hampstead – and his lifelong love and pursuit of classical education, Second-Hand Stories is a unique memoir that celebrates not just one life, but all the lives connected through second-hand books.
It will make you reconsider your own second-hand books, the people who owned them and what stories they have to tell.
- GenresBooks About Books
304 pages, Hardcover
First published October 22, 2015
2 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 19, 2023
Very niche. Whilst the title is not untrue, it is perhaps misleading. This is not a book about 2nd hand books in general, but about 2nd hand Classics books largely purchased and owned by people from Oxford. If that is your cup of tea then great, otherwise you may find little of interest.
I was one of those who did the Classical Civilisation a-level, as mentioned by Josh, which I used to go to a red-brick (Liverpool) where I did a year of Greek. Having worked at the University of Oxford for 3 years though, I have some affiliation with the place I found much of interest in the thought of Classics life there.
Be warned, the final chapter is heartbreaking.
I was one of those who did the Classical Civilisation a-level, as mentioned by Josh, which I used to go to a red-brick (Liverpool) where I did a year of Greek. Having worked at the University of Oxford for 3 years though, I have some affiliation with the place I found much of interest in the thought of Classics life there.
Be warned, the final chapter is heartbreaking.
July 27, 2022
Moving, charming, exceptionally good book about books, their previous owners and so much more. In the absence of new or second hand bookshops I am grateful that in London we still have reasonably good public libraries because without them, and in the absence of bookstores, I would never make serendipitous discoveries like this book. I am so glad I discovered it and hope others will find and enjoy as much as I did.
June 22, 2016
Moving, evocative and very funny. I don't have any interest in classics but I still loved the stories about the owners of classics books and of Spero's own engagement with the texts. Not really one for book historians but lovely nonetheless.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews