Lou Morris, 86 *Bookseller became a legend

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Lou Morris, 86: Bookseller became a legend TheStar.com - HtoM - Lou Morris, 86: Bookseller became a legend

Louis Morris could find what customers wanted
Store grew to be largest of its kind in the country

November 26, 2004

Catherine Dunphy
OBITUARY WRITER
The legacy of Lou Morris includes but is not limited to the more than half a million books he left behind in the nine rooms of his bookstore, the shed out back and warehouse down the road.The legendary owner of the beloved — and peripatetic — Toronto bookstore called Old Favorites always said he dealt in used books. Not for him the mantle of the rarefied world of the antiquarian bookseller or those book purveyors specializing in arcane first editions, although of course he sought and sold those as well."Lou wasn't that kind of guy. He didn't talk rarity and dust jackets," says Steven Temple, a bookseller who does specialize in first editions, out of print and rare books. Temple was an American draft dodger low on prospects when Mr. Morris gave him a job more than three decades ago. "He just ran a great old-fashioned used-book store."Yet he owned a bookstore that attracted the rich, powerful, influential and famous. Northrop Frye was a close friend; Pierre Berton a friend and customer. Prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau would stop by to browse. Actor Don Francks counted on Mr. Morris finding him books on boxing and racing cars. Joey Smallwood would come to the store, always in a trench coat, seeking books of political criticism and about Newfoundland. And they had to be cheap. He refused to pay more than a couple of dollars.Conrad Black used to haunt the store looking for books on Cardinal Newman. Author Morley Callaghan loved to buy beautiful illustrated books from the 19th century. And billionaire Ken Thomson has a standing order for any and all copies of The Thomson Empire by Susan Goldenberg. It is believed he gives them to friends of the family.More recently actor Whoopi Goldberg left with an armful of books and when writer Kurt Vonnegut came by, he autographed his books with his name and an asterisk, the explanation for which is contained in Breakfast of Champions, he said.But Mr. Morris was the sort of man who sometimes forgot to tell his family the prime minister had been in the store."Oh, Pierre was in today," he'd say, almost as a postscript.Mr. Morris died last month at 86. Ill from Parkinson's disease, he had spent his last years in a nursing home, but for a few years before that he could be found in the store ensconced in the old wing chair near the cash register by the door, a three-legged cat named Damian on his lap, reading. A decade ago, his daughter and grandson, Joy and Philip Saunders, had moved the Old Favorites book store from its last location in downtown Toronto into an historic general store in the hamlet of Greenriver northeast of the city, taking with them a staggering inventory of books."My grandfather was well known for selling a book for $2 that was worth $50," said Philip Saunders. "He was like that. If he paid $1 for it, then he felt $2 was fair."He loved books. Any book. All books. The family has a photo of him reading Jail Notes by LSD guru Timothy Leary. His personal rule of thumb was to give every book 50 pages — only then would he set it aside.His daughter, Joy, said she and her sister, Monty, grew up in homes filled with books. "They were everywhere. Under the beds. In the furnace room. There were bookshelves on both sides of the stairs leading down to the cellar. There were bookshelves in the bathroom," she recalled.Mr. Morris and his wife, Kay, a former English and music teacher who died 11 years ago, opened their first bookstore in 1954 at 36 Yonge St.The Old Favorites store quickly became known as a gold mine for used, rare and out-of-print books. When the Yonge St. location became too small, the store moved around the corner to 30 Front St. West, and later when the building was slated to be demolished for a parking lot, to 150 University Ave. in the basement of the old Regal card building. At 10,000-plus square feet, it was their largest location, and they had become the largest used, out-of-print and antiquarian book dealer in the country.But most Torontonians remember the store at its last Toronto location — 250 Adelaide St. West where the Old Favorites did business for 24 years until 1994. Although he had been retired for years by then, Mr. Morris felt he was letting down his customers."He felt the store belonged to the city," said Joy Saunders. He kept index cards noting the books people were seeking. He owned at least 10 wooden cabinets full of these cards, said his grandson, more than 10,000 of them. He called them "the wants" and it could be 10 years down the road, but he would always remember to call the customer when he found the book."He was always finding a book for someone," said Philip Saunders. "He had the knack.""Dad wasn't interested in rare books; he was interested in supplying books to people," said Joy Saunders. "He was the kindest, most generous man."