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pp. 421, “From his drug-hazy, book-happy years at the Beat Hotel in Spain and throughout his career as antiquarian book dealer, David Mason has led a storied life. He spent two nights on the floor in William Burroughs’ hotel room, quivering in an amphetamines-soaked fever. At a Spanish book binding factory he gilded a volume in white morocco for Pope John XXIII. He’s owned five antiquarian shops, exhibited at the most prestigious fairs in the world, and once blackmailed the head of the Royal Ontario Museum. Yet whether he’s regaling us with stories of cross-country hitchhiking or sharing industry wisdom about auctions and scouting, David Mason’s humour and expertise is everywhere apparent – making The Pope’s Bookbinder a must-read memoir for Beat buffs and bibliophiles.”