Behind the Bookshelves

We interview Lisa Grimm, who collects books about ghostlore, general folklore and weird fiction. Her shelves are filled with ghosts, hauntings and nasty things going on in the woods. Lisa, a former librarian, describes her collection and the inspirations behind it.

Lee Israel was a run-of-the-mill author of non-fiction books, who became an exceptional forger of literary letters by the rich and famous. Melissa McCarthy plays Israel in a movie adaptation, released this week, of her 2008 memoir. Discover the story behind Israel's journey from author to criminal.

Sons who have followed in their literary fathers' footsteps and become authors are surprisingly common. Perhaps it’s the genes? We look at 1o pairs of fathers and sons who wrote, visiting France, the UK, Canada and the United States along the way.

He's looking good for a bear from Darkest Peru who is now 60 years old. Paddington Bear is much more than just a hero of a children's book series. His introduction was inspired by wartime evacuees, and there are several other aspects to his bear that make him exceptionally lovable. Discover the story behind Paddington.

Rockwell Kent had three special talents – art, writing and adventuring. Best known for his Art Deco illustrations, Kent was also shipwrecked off the coast of Greenland and he described the experience in a 1930 book called N by E. Learn about this remarkable artist with a passion for traveling.

We all make them but mistakes in the publishing world can come back to haunt you. From Harry to Carrie and le Carré, discover how some of the world's bestselling books were initially rejected by publishers who thought they were not good enough.

Many of you will be familiar with the dark Netflix crime drama Ozark. But did you know Ozark has sparked interest in a 1929 first edition by Thomas Wolfe worth thousands of dollars? Listen to the show and we'll unravel the mystery.

The Voynich Manuscript has been confusing clever people since the 15th century. It's an illustrated document written in an unknown language that has defeated all efforts to decipher it. Herbology and pharmacy, astronomy and cosmology, and human biology appear to be the main subjects. Join AbeBooks as we consider this on-going mystery.

The Hobbit was published on 21 September, 1937, and only 1,500 copies were printed. It was a landmark day for modern literature. Learn how the original version was altered after JRR Tolkien realized he had written a book that was going to become immensely popular.

In 2015, AbeBooks sold an original, Russian-language copy of Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak for $11,000. The bookseller's description read: "Original blue cloth. The true first edition in Russian, one of 1,160 copies, which was printed as part of a covert CIA publishing and propaganda program for distributing banned material to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe." A dramatic claim but it's true. Learn about this epic story of love, loneliness and the CIA's desire to destablize the Soviet Union.