Episode 24. “Life with Books” (Interview with John Windle)
March 25, 2026 in Announcements, Event Registration, Interview, Manuscript Studies, Research Group Episodes for The Research Group Speaks
“The Research Group Speaks”
Episode 24 (Saturday 9 May 2026)
“Life with Books”
An Interview with
John Windle, Antiquarian Bookseller
For Episode 24 (rescheduled from April), we invite our friend John Windle to reflect upon his life with books and share stories about experiences with them and their readers, makers, collectors, and devotees. We plan an informal interview, with opportunities for conversation.
See:
- John Windle, Antiquarian Bookseller
- About John Windle
- Sheila Markham in Conversation: Interview with John Windle for The Bookdealer (August 2010), with an Afterword of June 2017
As an indication of range, dedication, and expertise, the scope of John’s antiquarian bookshop, based in San Francisco (About), demonstrates clear focus:
We buy and sell books and manuscripts in all fields, especially medieval illuminated and text manuscripts; material on California, Hawaii, and Pacific voyages; illustrated books and fine bindings from the 15th through the 20th century; children’s books from 1750 to 1950; and fine press printing. William Blake, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Thomas Frognall Dibdin remain special interests.
We hope you will contact us for any of your book needs: restoration and repair of books and manuscripts; bibliographical information and up-to-date retail and auction prices; informal valuations to formal appraisals of single items or entire collections; auction purchases worldwide (including eBay); and of course, purchases for and sales of your own collections. We guarantee every transaction unconditionally and, as members in good standing of the ABAA, ILAB, and PBFA, we subscribe to the code of ethics endorsed by reputable antiquarian booksellers worldwide.
About the person and the life, we quote from his website (About John Windle):
John Windle was born in England in 1945. Educated at St. Ronan’s, Wellington College, the Université de Poitiers à Tours, Sussex University (B.A. hons. English and European studies), and the University of California Berkeley (Ph.D. fellowship in the library school — incomplete with honorable withdrawal), he moved to California after training with Bernard Quaritch Ltd. in London. He worked for John Howell-Books in San Francisco from 1971 to 1974, and opened his own business at 68 Post Street in partnership with Ron Randall to form Randall and Windle on April 1, 1975. That business later moved to 185 Post Street before Ron left for Santa Barbara in 1980 (where he ran Randall House until 2020) and John took the decade off to move to Venice CA, write and publish two bibliographies, travel around India studying Tibetan Buddhism and traverse America (on foot), finally reopening his shop in 1989 in San Francisco where he maintains his bookshop and gallery to this day. He has published or contributed to numerous books and articles including studies of William Blake, Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Frognall Dibdin, William Morris, and the Grolier Club “100 Books Famous in Children’s Literature”, along with two slim volumes of poetry from his own press. . . .
We look forward to learning more.
