The Christopher Priest Collection at Abbey Books Paisley

Every book collection tells a story, and none more so than that of Christopher Priest, as Brian Hannan of Abbey Books has discovered

It’s taken us the best part of a year to open all the 50 boxes containing about 2,000 books that were donated by the widow of novelist Christopher Priest who lived in Bute. And in tribute to him, we’re devoting our largest window to a display of the Collection, not just his novels but books that formed the main part of his extensive interests.

The best part of my job is discovering that every book collection tells a story about its owner and I get to delve into worlds I never knew existed or about which I only had peripheral knowledge. In the past I’ve been lucky enough to discover about life as a sea captain in the South China Seas, to read in full The Official Enquiry into the Titanic, to learn in enormous detail about the American Civil War. Recently, we welcomed a huge donation regarding Napoleon. But it might equally be about dogs, sewing, birds, ships, aircraft, Manga, fishing or football.

Christopher Priest had an overwhelming interest in H.G. Wells and George Orwell. I inherited virtually a complete collection of  H.G, Wells first editions  as well as over 30 books about the author’s life. Similarly, regarding George Orwell, we received first editions of Animal Farm and The Road to Wigan Pier as well as two dozen books on Orwell’s career.

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“I was just gobsmacked when a lorry, not a van, drew up outside and men started, apparently endlessly, carrying boxes of books into the shop. For a long time half a room in the bookshop was piled high with boxes with others stashed under tables or jam-packed in our storage cupboard,” said Abbey Books manager Brian Hannan. “There’s always a feeling of Xmas when you get this size of donation. You never know what you’re going to find and for months on end, as was the case here, your days are littered with surprises.”

Some of the collection relates to books Priest acquired doing research for his novels. Tesla appeared in his most famous work, The Prestige, filmed by Christopher Nolan starring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johannsson, so there are biographies of him. Rudolf Hess featured in The Separation, so there are multiple books on the German high-ranking official as well as countless works on the Second World War.

Priest had immense curiosity about his own business. Not the art of writing, but publishing. He amassed a collection relating to every significant outfit in British and American publishing such as Victor Gollancz, Faber and Faber and Fredric Warburg of Secker & Warburg. He owned the autobiography of Curtis Brown, the most famous literary agent of all time, and Robert Gottlieb the New York editor known for shepherding to fame Catch 22, The Stories of John Cheeverand Robert Caro’s momentous biography of President Lyndon B. Johnson.

He struck up a friendship with fellow author John Fowles (The French Lieutenant’s Woman) so that author’s books and journals pepper the collection. They shared a love of trees, so we now have an unusually large number of books in that category.

Priest was fond of the theatre and we now have an entire portfolio of Tom Stoppard plays on our shelves, as well as many other playwrights. He loved poetry, so our already large poetry section was expanded to accommodate his donations. He was intrigued by crime novelist Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr Ripley) and owned every biography about her.

He wrote his name on the frontispiece of every book he possessed so that distinctive signature might carry special meaning to readers more familiar with his novels. In his earlier years, in the manner of teenage boys the world over. he would also add his address, so you can trace the history of his reading from books he purchased in the 1950s and 1960s.

He was a big friend of fellow sci fi author Brian Aldiss and had a large collection of his novels, many signed by the author. Judging from the number of signed books he received, he was also a huge help to fledgling authors.

And given his own genre, you won’t be surprised to learn he had a massive collection of science fiction novels. But he was as interested in pure science, or at least those aspects which could conceivably find their way into science fiction or went some way to explain the paranormal. He built up a collection of books on magicians as research for the background to The Prestige.

The display also includes first editions of all his novels and many of those of his wife Nina Allen, who was the one who chose to pass on his library to Abbey books, so many thanks to her.

It would be remiss of me not to mention Paul Dickson of Mill Magazine who kindly designed the poster that adorns our window.

To view the Christopher Priest Collection, check out the window of Abbey Books in Wellmeadow Street. But that’s only a taster for what lies inside. For more information on Christopher Priest, visit the website.