Closure of famous books outlet marks the end of an era

THERE is a scene in the original Ghost Busters where an old lady in a New York library shrieks at seeing some apparition floating in front of her.

The 30 seconds of footage sends me spiralling backwards in time, to around 1958/1959, when I was about 13, to a second-hand bookshop on the first floor of the same building where that famous CTC Bazaars, in West Street was located.

I lived those days only to read books and comics. A friend had made me wise to the fact that this “secret” bookshop sold all the extra stocks of new books from some famous outlets in the area, as well as second-hand publications, bought from the public.

Some of the public just happened to be foreign seamen who sold their old books and comics to this “library in the sky”. This created a loophole for otherwise then-”banned” publications like Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Hangman, Dick Tracy and other “violent” American publications to enter the country. (There was, albeit unverified, an embargo on these, just in case the majority in this country got ideas.)

Regular visits to this mysterious place, and soon I was a favourite customer of an old white lady who kept the best comics and books aside for me. In retrospect, she looked a lot like that lady in the Ghostbusters movie.

I was told by my elder brother that this bookshop/ library was a small subsidiary of Adams Books. There was also another bookstore in the area called TWG Griggs. I am uncertain if the two stores were later amalgamated and their names changed to Adams and Griggs.

Exactly how much of the above is authentic, is not really important. News that yet another famous outlet for books is about to close forever is like hearing that the grey-haired old woman has just died, again. The angel who represented, for me, the idea that all books are holy and all comics are good reasons to live. Gone.