“Cheshire’s was great, for a number of reasons. You went down the stairs into the building’s basement, where you discovered a badly ventilated magic world. The thing that first caught your eye was the system of cables that connected the different parts of the shop with the cashier. If you bought a book, you’d give your money to one of the assistants, who would then put it into a small bucket that would then be attached to a wire above his head. A lever would be pulled and the bucket would whizz across the room to the cashier, who sat in a type of raised stockade in the middle of the room. She would then put the shop’s copy of the receipt and any change into the bucket, which would begin its journey back to the point of purchase. The female cashiers looked down on the world below. One of them, Jenny, had a look of permanent boredom while there was another, Joan, who was blonde and lovely. The cables weren’t really that high, so if you were tall you were in danger of being hit by a flying bucket. There were tales that a number of lofty customers had received direct hits; the most famous incident was with a local wrestler known as ‘Killer’ Kowalski, who had angrily chased a previous manager around the shop. The bruiser’s professional name was later bestowed on a member of staff who had frogmarched a drunk up the stairs and into Little Collins Street – Ian Kinnane, who was a big guy and, although mild-mannered, probably Cheshire’s toughest employee, became known (not to his face) as ‘Killer Kinnane’.”

I’m starting on ‘Inland’, and so far it reminds me of Flann O’Brien. Do you remember the flying buckets in the magic basement that was Cheshire’s?

David

Just stumbled across your great website, whilst looking for info on Gerald Murnane.

I worked at Cheshire’s Bookshop in Melbourne in the late ’60s when I was a teenager. The most interesting group of people I’ve ever worked with, and a part of my life that is always with me. I’m always on the lookout for any literature from Australia, especially anything set in Melbourne – so it was great to find ANZ LitLovers.

Best wishes from Norway,

David Glass