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Morley must have been thinking of a sequel by late 1918 when The Bookman
magazine began printing "essays / interviews" with the mythical Roger Mifflin, after
he has opened a brick and mortar bookshop in Brooklyn. The series of stories
was originally subtitled Parnassus at Home, but soon became The
Haunted Bookshop, in allusion to the thoughts and wisdom floating in
a bookshop, waiting to be caught by an attentive reader.
Mifflin believes that post-war civilization will be saved from ruin when the
population turns to the "right kind" of books to stabilize their mentality.
These four mellow stories were incorporated into the novel The Haunted Bookshop, (1919)
which is primarily an anti-German suspense story.
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BOOK OF THE DAY
"The Haunted Bookshop," by Christopher
Morley, of this city and
elsewhere, is in a sense a sequel to
"Parnassus on Wheels," but this only means
that it deals with the principal hero
of that stimulating and enjoyable
narrative, who, having married a wife,
settles down to selling second-hand books
in Brooklyn. It is here that he is
ferreted out by a newspaperman in
the advertising business in quest of
certain information and the atmosphere
is so agreeable that he returns
and the more often because a beautiful
girl, daughter of a rich patron of
the firm, has undertaken to learn
literature by the intensive method of
selling it.
There is a plot which involves a
work of Thomas Carlisle, a devilish
scheme of a German chemist, in which
the young man appears as the protagonist
of patriotism, but, unfortunately,
suspecting the book dealer of
complicity. This part of the story serves
only to give structure to it, so that
it may be considered a novel and
appeal to those who will read nothing,
however good, unless there be love and
jealousy and passion and crime, etc.,
all of which will be discovered in this
volume.
The real charm of the book lies in
its excellent characters and especially
in that of the book seller who talks
of literature and books in a way which
will prove a liberal education to many
who haven't read anything published
before they were born. Mr. Morley
keeps up that ineffable charm, that
delightful atmosphere and quaint conceit
which made his first books so popular.
It is a perfect joy to the book lover
and the lover of life and good sentiment.
Incidentally there is an excellent
chapter dealing with this city in
which the action centres in the alley
alongside Leary's, on Ninth street, and
wherein one of the urbane men of that
delightful resort comes in for fame.
This is a book which will make you
chuckle and will be worth several
readings — more than which could not
easily be said. Published by Doubleday, Page & Company.
— The Philadelphia Inquirer
(1919-jun-25) p12
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