Henderson's, better known asThe Bomb Shop, was abookshop at 66Charing Cross Road, London known for publishing and selling bothradical left and anarchist writing andmodernist literature. The shop was founded in 1909,[1] and was a father and son operation run by Francis Riddell Henderson, formerly the London representative ofWalter Scott Publishing.[2] The shop was bought byEva Collet Reckitt, and became the first of the Collet's chain of left-wing bookshops.[1][3]
Few records exist of Francis Henderson's early life, but he had connections with Russian émigrés and developed a passion forRussian literature, especially the works ofTolstoy. This drew him into the circle ofVladimir Chertkov, a prominentTolstoyan and a pacifist anarchist, and from there into London's radical scene. Henderson demanded that Walter Scott publishLouise Maude's translation of the Tolstoy novelResurrection in thepublic domain with the legend "no rights reserved" – when Walter Scott refused, Henderson left to start his own printing press which developed into a bookshop for radical writing.[4]
The advertising potential of the shop's nickname was quickly recognised, and both adverts andimprints proudly bear the text 'The Bomb Shop'.[5] This boldness extended to the shop itself, which was painted in a red and goldArts and Crafts style byWalter Crane and prominently featured the names of past rebels – a target forvandals politically opposed to the Bomb Shop, who would repaint it in blue and white and sometimes break in and destroy the interior.[6] There were many rooms above Henderson's, and these proved to be excellent hiding places for fugitives. The suffragistHugh Franklin hid out at Henderson's for two months after setting fire to a railway carriage in protest forwomen's suffrage.[7]
The shop also proved to be radical in its acceptance of technology. The firstPenguincubator, an early bookvending machine developed byAllen Lane ofPenguin Books, was installed at the shop.[8]
Henderson's publishing press began when Francis Henderson took over the Brotherhood Publishing Company (an organisation run by theBrotherhood Church). In Henderson's hands, the Brotherhood's profits and donations became a source of income to fund his ownimprints. Henderson claimed his press ran at significant losses due to his copyright-waiver, but his refusal to pay authors their royalties or to repay the Maudes' loans to the press caused significant trouble in the Tolstoyan community and fed the growing schism surrounding Chertkov.[9] Henderson eventually lost the rights to Maude's translation ofResurrection, and Chertkov took greater control over Tolstoyan publishing.[9]
Self-publishing through Henderson's provided an outlet for suppressed voices and for many respected writers who were unable to publish their more radical writing through their usual channels. Authors published by Henderson's includeMiles Malleson, who wroteCranks and Commonsense in defence ofconscientious objection as well asTwo Short Plays: Patriotic and Unpatriotic, which was later confiscated by the police in a raid in 1916;[10]Osbert Sitwell, whose first poetry collectionThe Winstonburg Line was submitted to Henderson's bySiegfried Sassoon;[11][12]Louis Golding[13] andLouis Esson.[14]
Outside the world of politics, Henderson's also contributed to the then-burgeoningmodernist movement through publishing the periodicalCoterie, a quarterly journal of poetry, prose, literary criticism and art from authors and artists includingT. S. Eliot,Aldous Huxley,Amy Lowell,Richard Aldington,Douglas Goldring,Edward Wadsworth,William Roberts,Henri Gaudier-Brzeska,André Derain,Amedeo Modigliani,Nina Hamnett, andMoïse Kisling,[15] as well as publishingThomas Moult'sVoices anthologies.[16]Russian Ballet byDavid Bomberg, the only survivingVorticist book, was published by Henderson's after Bomberg and his wife were expelled from a performance ofBallets Russes for attempting to sell a self-published edition.[17]
Henderson's had close ties to the publisherVictor Gollancz, under whom theReptonschool newspaperA Public School Looks at the World (generally known asPubbers) was co-published by and sold at Henderson's – an act that cost Gollancz his job.[18] Gollancz went on to be founder of the left-leaning publishing houseVictor Gollancz Ltd, and later described Henderson's book selection thus:
They must be rebel. Rebel a thousand years ago, rebel yesterday, rebel since lunch: not yet rebel at all, but likely to be rebel next week: rebel in politics, rebel in sex, rebel in religion – anything anyhow or anywhere rebel, anything smelling or tasting of rebel (even if a bit anachronistically) at once qualified for inclusion.[3]
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