查令十字街８４號（節選）

各位讀者，你有否曾因為一個封面、一句話而愛上一本書？又或者自詡是“書蟲”、“書癡”？小編自愧離“書蟲”還差得很遠，但卻曾因一句話愛上了一本書，而且也相信，看到這本書很多“書癡”會汗顏。

小編說的正是這本《查令十字街84號》。此書記錄了上世紀中葉紐約女作家海蓮和倫敦一家舊書店書商弗蘭克之間的書緣。雙方通信達20年之久，卻未曾謀面，至弗蘭克去世也無緣相見。之后，海蓮把往來的信件匯集成冊，以書店的地址作為書名出版。書出版后深受讀者喜愛，被譯成多種文字流傳，被稱為“愛書人的《圣經》”。海蓮也最終去到倫敦。但那時人去“店”空，她只能望門興嘆：“我來了，弗蘭克，我終于來了?！?/p>

此書多次被改編成舞臺劇、電視劇和電影。1987年的同名電影獲得有英國“奧斯卡”之稱的英國電影學院獎多項提名。1998年的熱門電影《電子情書》也取材于改編自該書的電視劇。

時至今日，書店舊址依然釘著一個銅牌，寫有“查令十字街84號，馬克斯與科恩書店舊址，因海蓮·漢芙的書而聞名天下”，仿佛慰藉海蓮那句感動萬千書迷的話：If you happen to pass by 84， Charing Cross Road， kiss it for me? I owe it so much.

9th April， 1951

Dear Miss Hanff，

I expect you are getting a bit worried that we have not written to thank you for your parcels and you are probably thinking that we are an 1)ungrateful lot. The truth is that I have been chasing round the country in and out of various 2)stately homes of England trying to buy a few books to fill up our sadly

3)depleted stock. My wife was starting to call me the 4)lodger who just went home for bed and breakfast， but of course when I arrived home with a nice piece of MEAT， to say nothing of dried eggs and ham， then she thought I was a fine fellow and all was forgiven. It is a long time since we saw so much meat all in one piece.

We should like to express our appreciation in some way or other， so we are sending by Book Post today a little book which I hope you will like. I remember you asked me for a volume of 5)Elizabethan love poems some time ago—well， this is the nearest I can get to it.

Yours faithfully，

Frank Doel

For MARKS CO.

April 16， 1951

To All at 84， Charing Cross Road:

Thank you for the beautiful book. I’ve never owned a book before with pages edged all round in gold. Would you believe it arrived on my birthday?

I wish you hadn’t been so over-6)courteous about putting the 7)inscription on a card instead of on the

8)flyleaf. It’s the bookseller coming out in you all， you were afraid you’d decrease its value. You would have increased it for the present owner. (And possibly for the future owner. I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in 9)margins， I like the 10)comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned， and reading passages someone long gone has called my attention to.)

And why didn’t you sign your names? I expect Frank wouldn’t let you， he probably doesn’t want me writing love letters to anybody but him.

I send you greetings from America—faithless friend that she is， pouring millions into rebuilding Japan and Germany while letting England starve. Some day， God willing， I’ll get over there and apologize personally for my country’s sins (and by the time I come home my country will certainly have to apologize for mine).

Thank you again for the beautiful book， I shall try very hard not to get 11)gin and ashes all over it， it’s really much too fine for the likes of me.

Yours，

Helene Hanff

September 10， 1951

Dearheart—

It is the loveliest old shop straight out of Dickens， you would go absolutely out of your mind over it.

There are stalls outside and I stopped and leafed through a few things just to establish myself as a

12)browser before wandering in. It’s dim inside， you smell the shop before you see it， it’s a lovely smell， I can’t 13)articulate it easily， but it combines must and dust and age， and walls of wood and floors of wood. Toward the back of the shop at the left there’s a desk with a work-lamp on it， a man was sitting there， he was about fifty with a 14)Hogarth nose， he looked up and said “Good afternoon?” in a North Country accent and I said I just wanted to browse and he said please do.

The shelves go on forever. They go up to the ceiling and they’re very old and kind of grey， like old oak that has absorbed so much dust over the years they no longer are their true color. There’s a print section， or rather a long print table， with 15)Cruikshank and Rackham and Spy and all those old wonderful English 16)caricaturists and 17)illustrators that I’m not smart enough to know a lot about， and there are some lovely old， old illustrated magazines.

I stayed about half an hour hoping your Frank or one of the girls would turn up， but it was one-ish when I went in， I gather they were all out to lunch and I couldn’t stay any longer…

Love，

Maxine

April 11， 1969

Dear Katherine—

I take time out from housecleaning my bookshelves and sitting on the rug surrounded by books in every direction to 18)scrawl you a 19)Bon Voyage. I hope you and Brian have a ball in London. He said to me on the phone: “Would you go with us if you had the fare?” and I nearly wept.

But I don’t know， maybe it’s just as well I never got there. I dreamed about it for so many years. I used to go to English movies just to look at the streets. I remember years ago a guy I knew told me that people going to England find exactly what they go looking for. I said I’d go looking for the England of English literature， and he nodded and said: “ It’s there.”

Maybe it is， and maybe it isn’t. Looking around the rug one thing’s for sure: it’s there.

The blessed man who sold me all my books died a few months ago. And Mr. Marks who owned the shop is dead. But Marks Co.[注] is still there. If you happen to pass by 84， Charing Cross Road， kiss it for me? I owe it so much.

Helene

1951年4月9日

親愛的漢芙小姐：

我猜您大概已經開始有點擔心了，我們竟然這么久都沒寫信謝謝您寄來的包裹，您心里頭一定正在嘀咕：真是一群不知好歹的家伙。事實是，我一直在鄉間轉悠，到處拜訪英格蘭的私人宅第，搜尋待售的藏書，努力補充店里捉襟見肘的庫存。我太太已經開始把我喚成房客了——我總是只回家睡覺，一吃完早餐又不見人影。不過，當然，當我帶著（您送的）一大片肉——雞蛋粉、火腿就更不用說了——回到家里，她就會覺得我人還是不錯的，所有的不是也就隨之煙消云散。我們已經太久沒能見到這么一大塊肉了。

我們總得想點兒法子，表達我們對您的感激。于是，我們今天將通過書刊郵寄寄上一本小書，希望您會喜歡它。我記得您不久前想買一卷伊麗莎白一世時期的情詩集——噢，這是我所能找到的盡可能符合您要求的了。

您忠實的

弗蘭克·德爾敬上

馬克斯與科恩書店

1951年4月16日

致查令十字街84號全體同仁：

謝謝你們送我這本美麗的書。我從沒擁有過這么一本三邊頁緣都燙上金的書。你們知道嗎？我竟在生日當天收到這本書！

你們另外寫了一張卡片，而不直接題簽在扉頁上，我真希望你們不要這樣過分拘謹。這一定是你們的“書商本性”使然吧，你們擔心一旦寫了字在書上，將會折損它的價值。你們如果真能這么做，對我這個該書的現時擁有者而言，增添了無可估算的價值。（甚或對未來的書主也如此。我喜歡扉頁上有題簽、頁邊寫滿注記的舊書；我愛極了那種與心有靈犀的前人冥冥共讀，時而戚戚于胸、時而被耳提面命的感覺。）

還有，為什么大家都不簽上名字呢？我猜一定是弗蘭克不準你們簽的，他大概怕我會撇下他，一一給你們大家寫情書吧！

我在美國遙寄我對你們的祝?！懊绹?，好一個“堅定的盟邦”！她一擲千金幫助重建日本、德國，卻眼睜睜看著英國同胞飽受饑饉！蒼天為證，總有一天我要親自去英國，當面代她向你們道歉。（等我回國后，我會叫她加倍向你們賠罪！）

再次感謝你們送我這本美麗的書，我一定會格外小心，免得讓它濺到酒滴、沾了煙灰。這份禮物對我這種人來說實在太厚

重了。

你們的

海蓮·漢芙上

1951年9月10日

甜心兒：

這是一間活脫脫從狄更斯書里頭蹦出來的可愛老鋪子，如果讓你見到了，不愛死了才怪。

店門口陳列了幾架書，開門進去前，我先站在外頭假裝隨意翻閱幾本書，好讓自己看起來像是若無其事地逛書店。一走進店內，便暗了下來，最先撲鼻而來的是書店奇妙的氣息。我實在不知道該怎么形容：那是一種混雜著霉味兒、積塵和久遠歷史的氣息，加上墻壁、地板散發的木頭香。書店最里面的左手邊有張書桌，上面有一盞工作燈，旁邊坐著一位年約五十、長著一只賀加斯式鼻子的男士。他抬起頭來，操著北方口音對我說：“日安。”我回答說我只是想隨意逛逛，而他則有禮地說：“請。”

極目所見全是書架——這些書架高聳直抵到天花板，樣式古舊，泛著灰色，像是經過漫長歲月洗禮的老橡木，已經不再呈現出原來的真實顏色了。接著是印刷區，或者應該說是一張長的印刷臺。上頭有克魯克香克、拉克姆、斯派和許許多多我叫不出名字的英國老漫畫家、插畫家的作品；另外還有一些漂亮的很舊、很舊的畫刊。

我在店內待了約莫半個鐘頭光景，期待著你的弗蘭克或是哪個女孩兒翩翩現身。不過，因為我到達時已是一點鐘左右，我猜他們全都外出用餐去了，而我又不能待太久?！?/p>

愛你的

瑪克辛（譯者注：海蓮在倫敦的朋友）

1969年4月11日

親愛的凱瑟琳：

我從整理書架中抽出時間，坐在四周都擺滿書籍的地毯上給你寫送別信。我希望你和布萊恩在倫敦過得快樂。布萊恩在電話中對我說：“如果你手頭寬裕，有足夠路費，會和我們一道去嗎？”我一聽，眼淚差點要奪眶而出。

但是我不知道，或許我從不踏足那片土地也不錯。我巴望著去那里那么多年了。我曾經只是為了瞧倫敦的街景而看了大量的英國電影。記得多年前我認識的一個朋友對我說，那些去英國的人總能在那兒找到他們最想要的東西。我說，我要去找尋英國文學，他點點頭，告訴我：“就是那兒了。”

或許在那兒，或許不在?？纯吹靥核闹埽ㄉy的書籍），有一樣東西我可以肯定：就是那兒了。

賣這些好書給我的那個好心人已在數月前去世了，書店老板馬克斯先生也已不在人間。但是，馬克斯與科恩書店還在那兒。你們若恰好路經查令十字街84號，代我獻上一吻吧？我虧欠它良多。

海蓮