:41:13
To all at 84 Charing Cross Road:
:41:18
Thank you for this beautiful book.
:41:20
I've never owned a book with pages
edged in gold.
:41:24
Would you believe it arrived
on my birthday?
:41:29
Too bad you were so over-courteous
and put the inscription on a card...
:41:33
...instead of on the flyleaf.
:41:35
It's the bookseller in you all.
You were afraid you'd decrease its value.
:41:40
You'd have increased it for this owner...
:41:43
...and possibly for future owners.
:41:46
I love inscriptions on flyleaves
and notes in margins.
:41:50
I like the comradely sense
of turning pages someone else turned...
:41:54
...and reading passages someone long gone
has called my attention to.
:41:59
Why didn't you sign your names?
:42:01
I expect Frank wouldn't let you.
:42:03
He probably doesn't want me
writing love letters to anyone but him.
:42:13
Dear Heart:
It's a lovely shop, straight out of Dickens.
:42:17
You would go absolutely
out of your mind over it.
:42:20
There are stalls outside...
:42:22
...and I stopped to establish myself
as a browser before wandering in.
:42:43
It's dim inside.
:42:45
You can smell the shop before you see it.
It's a lovely smell.
:42:48
It's hard to describe,
but it combines must and dust and age...
:42:53
...and walls and floors of wood.
:42:56
At the back of the shop there's a desk.