The Remarkable Martin Stone: Remembering the Celebrated Rare Book Dealer and Blues Guitarist (Limited edition)

Many in the book trade knew and admired the late Martin Stone, who died in November 2016 in France. His knowledge and personality made him one of the most memorable personalities in the rare book trade, his obituary appeared in the UK’s Times and Telegraph.

Bookseller Nigel Burwood of Any Amount of Books wrote in November 2016:

"Martin was a wonderful book seller/ runner /scout and a loveable human. We miss him badly already at our shop where he would so often leave his suitcase when he came in from Paris on the Eurostar. Customers and old staff members are all saddened. I knew him for 30 years. When I first met him he had a lot of rock and punk connections (1977) and was known as a great guitarist. I remember when he came out of rehab in the 1990s all his confidence as a book scout was gone and he ran us books from Oxfam shops in Ealing and beyond– just paperbacks and Everymans at first but fairly soon he got his mojo back and when he found a £10K Baum he was back better than before and soon selling to much posher shops than us… Who can forget his wonderful stalls at the June Fairs? And his charm and smile? There was a legendary quality about him built up by people like Peter Howard and Iain Sinclair, Eric Korn and various Canadian dealers — he was dismissive about it but I knew he enjoyed it. He will not be forgotten.”

Rare book blog Booktryst has just announced the publication of its newest book and first fine press edition, The Remarkable Martin Stone: Remembering the Celebrated Rare Book Dealer and Blues Guitarist.

The book honours and remembers the life of Martin Stone with contributions from colleagues in the book trade, writers, actors, friends and book collectors.

Stephen J. Gertz, publisher of Booktryst, who has compiled and published the Festschrift writes in his introduction:

“What Martin sought in all of his pursuits was transcendence and enlightenment. And that, ultimately, was what attracted so many to him. He brought light to all who came in contact with him. Martin Stone was an eccentrically enlightened man in a darkening world, a place now dimmer with his absence. He now illuminates the Great Bookshop in the Sky – his Happy Hunting Ground – and has finally found the paradise he longed for.”

The edition is limited to 150 copies (of which 25 are hors commerce w/o hand-numbering), binding designed and text designed and printed by Alastair Johnston at Poltroon Press on Hahnemühle Ingres paper with type composed in Monotype Bell. It is bound by John DeMerritt , and it features an engraved frontispiece portrait by Frances Butler. Each copy is signed by the designer/printer, binder and artist on the colophon.

To buy a copy of this collector’s item, please contact Stephen via Email.

"I truly appreciate how utterly unique Martin was. I miss him, miss catching sight of him at a nearby cafe, standing against the bar, dark- dark coffee at his lips, his talking about Jean Rhys and all the other literary characters that haunt the streets of Paris. Now he is one of them”

(Sylvia Beach Whitman, proprietor of iconic Paris bookshop “Shakespeare and Company”)