Fred Bason: a short biography
FREDERICK THOMAS BASON
Born 29 August 1907, died 3 July 1973
Fred Bason always considered himself a cockney, having been born in Walworth in south London. A bookish child, the only son of elderly parents, he began work in a barber’s shop and later with a carpenter. Then he found that he could buy books for pence at jumble sales and the like and by selling them on to the book trade in London’s West End, could make more money than doing a regular job. His own collecting started with cigarette cards and autographs.
His Diary starts in 1921 when he was only 14, opening with the scene of him getting the autograph of Marie Lloyd, a famous musical artiste of the time. As he grew older he graduated from book running with a sack over his shoulder, to a barrow (which he called ‘selling from the gutter’) and thus to a tiny bookshop. During this period he made the acquaintance and occasionally the friendship of Arnold Bennett, G.K. Chesterton, James Agate. Noel Coward and above all, Somerset Maugham. His bibliography of Maugham was published in 1931 and included fifty de luxe copies signed by Maugham himself. This, along with an irrepressible personality and his books on Collecting Cigarette Cards and ’Toys for Nothing’ brought him a large fan mail (always replied to) and a worldwide following.
By giving talks to Literary Societies, Rotary Clubs, Lunch Clubs and Institutes, he found his voice for what he called ‘chatting’ to an audience, always without notes lest he became boring.
He was bombed out in WW II, with most of his stock of books and autographs being destroyed. He worked as an air-raid warden and after being injured, found himself convalescing in various colleges in Oxford and Cambridge.
His books ‘Toys for Nothing’, published in 1942 - which sold 90,000 copies at 9d apiece - brought him to Alexandra Palace to perform in front of the cameras with two child actors to express amazement at his creations. This set him going and towards the end of the war, radio, television and film companies became interested in him. That he became something of a celebrity is evident from a promotional postcard he had made in the 1960s which had as its strapline, ’65 times on BBC, 16 Times on T.V., Author of 11 Books’.
His diaries appeared in four volumes in the 1950s, the first two being published by the tiny London publisher, Wingate. By force of his winning personality, he got well-known figures to puff him with a preface: L.A.G. Strong, Michael Sadleir and Noel Coward. The dust-jacket of the third volume was designed by Len Deighton in his distinctive ‘black outline’ style.
Fred never married and died in 1973. He’d lived in council property all his life, written up a diary to the end, and made sure to keep his earnings just below the minimum wage to avoid paying income tax. In his will, he left all his money to a benevolent fund for writers. It amounted to a total, considerable for those days, of £25,000.
Here then is the Diary of Fred Bason, which The Book Collector is presenting in twelve episodes at fortnightly intervals.
The reader is Clive Farahar, the well-known bookdealer whose tripping tones will be familiar to many from the Antiques Road Show. We spoke to him at Firsts London 2021 in an interview captured on film by Blazej Miluka. You can watch it here >
Our sponsor is Adrian Harrington Rare Books of Tunbridge Wells, the world leader in works by and about Ian Fleming. They also stock a wide range of modern first editions, fine bindings and general literature in all fields. Their shop is open Monday to Saturday. If buying or selling, please contact them at rare@harringtonbooks.co.uk.
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