Calder Bookshop looks for buyer

Advertisements for both are due to appear side by side in this week's edition of trade journal The Bookseller.

Unless a buyer is found willing to stay in The Cut then John Calder expects the small theatre at the back used for Thursday evening readings to have to move elsewhere.

He announced the closure of the shop earlier this month due to a pending rent increase. It is remaining open until the end of March thanks to the help of friends and actors but he says the business needs someone to invest in it.

Calder Publishing, started almost sixty years ago, has more Nobel prize winners on its list than any other UK publisher.

John Calder published Lord Altrincham's controversial Is The Monarchy Perfect? which led to the author being attacked in the street. Henri Alleg's The Question was banned in France but is credited with helping to bring down the French government and return de Gaulle to power.

John Mortimer defended Calder Publications at the Old Bailey during the prosecution of Last Exit to Brooklyn.

But Calder is still best known for publishing Samuel Beckett's work.

*Calder Bookshop is at 51 The Cut (020 7633 0599/7620 2900).