iread

Here in the last three days of the last Duthie bookstore with the sad staff diaspora and the final dispersal of effects, discussions often turn to the future of the book, sparking messianic futurisms, dogmatisms and ‘anti-new’ ‘we will never switch!’ attitudes. Relax, no-one is going to take away or burn your books; reading will not cease. Though Duthies is now gone there are still a few independents left, and librairies and book clubs and the amazing internet -- global public access to almost everything and much of it free!

Books will not stop being published though maybe publishers will become more discerning about what is published in hard copy. Millions of units of books are shredded every year, textbooks are quickly out-dated, read-once-only magazines go to recycling and papers for firestarter.

There will be lots of very cheap remainders soon.

The Kindle is becoming more noticeably ubiquitous but I am waiting for the ipad. The Kindle’s grey background looks grubby, even if they do say it’s easier on the eyes. I read some Proust, Dumas, and even Lucy Maud Montgomery, on the iphone while travelling last year; they were instantly downloaded, completely legible, read-in-the-dark, saves-your-place, complete books with classic Apple fine design for page layout and navigation tools. The pages actually turn and rustle!!! The ipad will be the book killer app. I embrace it enthusiastically.

Max and the White Phagocytes by R.B. Kitaj 1932

Robin Blaser

The most beloved customer at Duthie Books was the poet, Robin Blaser.
Sadly he died last year and while everyone mourned the passing of a great poet, Duthies lamented the loss also of a great customer.

Through his 33-year career as a professor and poet he collected books -- many of which were purchased at Duthies. (His collection is now housed at SFU library.) In the latter 10 years he bought books as if he alone could keep Duthies going. We adored him. Michael Varty was his dear friend; they lunched regularly and Michael sat vigil for him in the last weeks.

Robin’s partner David said it was ‘probably good that he died last year; the news that Duthies was closing would have carried him off.’

Red Snow

This is a tribute from a Vancouver author, whose horrific Olympics scenario (Red Snow) did not, fortunately, come to pass.

Dear Cathy & Celia,

It's with a heavy heart that I hear the news that Duthie Books is closing shop. I was there in 1957 when the doors opened, and spent every Saturday for years standing under those Paperback Cellar glass squares in the sidewalk above, choosing the perfect mystery to buy for my 35 cents.

Every Saturday, after the movies, I haunted Duthie Books. The legendary local booksellers Bill Duthie and Binky Marks were my literary gods. The week I finished Volume One, I waited till Bill was free, then I slapped 13 TOMBES down on the counter and said, "Mr. Duthie, I've written a book." He called Binky Marks up from the Paperback Cellar to see my work, and they asked if I'd leave it with them for a week to read.

The following Saturday, I returned, heart in my throat, to get my first review. In the interim, they'd taken my pages to a bookbinder and had them put into hardcover with the title and my name in gilt on the spine. I was stunned. Bill handed it to me and said, "It's in a limited edition of one copy, but here's your first published book. Promise me that one day your novels will be for sale in my store."

I promised.

And they were. 

It's no overstatement to say that Bill and Binky created Michael Slade (though both might feel like Victor Frankenstein if they saw their Monster today.)

The only time I was ever threatened with contempt of court was when a provincial court judge refused to adjourn a trial so I could attend Bill's funeral. I told the judge that I was leaving anyway, and he could do what he wished, but that he should think long and hard about the fact that I expected mourners from the Court of Appeal would be there. He relented.

Fifty years have passed since Bill and Binky encouraged that young writer (do you think that goes on today in the big box stores? Ha!)

Best of luck in the future. All good things must come to an end, and yours was a fine run indeed!

Jay


Thank you to ‘Michael Slade’, one of surprisingly and disappointingly few authors!! or publishers!! to pen a fond farewell. Ingrates.

I Sat Down and Wept

In the 4th Avenue store dozens of small paintings of authors by Shirley Legate, Cathy’s mother-in-law, and atmospheric black and white photographs by Alex Waterhouse-Hayward of Brian Moore, Elizabeth Smart, William Gibson and others. The store was designed and well-lighted by Bruce Haden, (winner of the Governor General’s Award 2008), whose architectural hand was present in 10 different Duthie bookstores over 17 years. Frank Brzek of FB Interiors built and rebuilt bookstores over 30 years with Duthies and constructed kilometers of bookshelves. When the books were all gone, the fixtures looked in pretty good shape after 16 years of use. They’re going to a 2nd hand bookstore in West Vancouver and to Oscars and other stores. Everything will be gone by the end of this month. The staff at 4th at the end: Cathy Legate, Michael Varty, Ria Bluemer, Nick, Alex, Jane, Susan, are all going somewhere else too. Good-bye and good luck to everyone.

Elizabeth Smart, author of By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, photograph by Alex Waterhouse-Hayward

Michael

During the past 10 years Duthie’s motto has been - ‘proudly independent’ - evoking the kind of singular free-thinking bookstore that Bill Duthie started in 1957, where the staff were encouraged to read and recommend freely the latest, most important, original, stylish, compelling, hilarious, horrifying, intriguing, local, must-read books. All the hundreds of staff, over the years, from part-time students to lifers, (and the millions of customers) created an energetic and knowledgeable reading culture with something of a ‘moral imperative’ to persuade the public to read more and better and local books.

Michael Varty has been at Duthies since 4th Ave opened in 1993. He is a lovely guy and a great reader and his recommendations are always reliable. He knows in advance what’s being published, has always test - read the new season and can recommend with the expertise of his wide reading - good, pertinent, important books; when he knows a reader’s tastes and interests he is infallible in finding the right book. His recommendation of Post War by Tony Judt (2005) led to one of the best and most illuminating books of the decade. Travels with Herodotus by Riszard Kapuscinski was another impeccable recommendation. This reader will always be grateful.

last store

The letters and emails and comments on the news blogs and facebooks are sad, kind, elegiacal. People come by the last Duthie’s store on 4th and stare sorrowfully into the empty store. They mime crying. Some do cry. It’s a sad loss for the city and the street; the regulars will miss it sorely. We are sad too, of course, but we have struggled for the past couple of years and it's clear it is not going to get better. The current climate for small independent bookstores is harsh; the old ‘gentlemanly era’ of bookselling and publishing is long gone, and the future is uncertain; the digital book killer app is upon us.

The closing of this last store is the end of the long ending of Duthie’s book empire. From 1957 to 1999 Duthies colonised Vancouver with bookstores; you could hardly go a block (downtown) without running into a Duthies. At the height of everything (1999) with 10 Duthies around town, there were 3 locations on Robson Street: the old main store at 919 Robson, Manhattan Books & Magazines, the French and foreign language store at Robson and Thurlow, and one in Library Square at Robson and Hamilton. Vancouver was a great book town then, not much of one, sadly, now.