Eva Collet Reckitt

Eva Collet Reckitt (28 June 1890 – 24 September 1976) was the founder of the left-wing bookshop Collet's on Charing Cross Road, London, UK, in 1933.

Biography

Eva Collet Reckitt was born in Beverley, Yorkshire, England, on 28 June 1890, to Arthur Benington Reckitt (secretary of the starch manufacturers Reckitt and Sons) and his wife, Helen Annie, née Thomas. After the family moved to St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, Eva developed an interest in socialist and progressive politics, and went on to study Philosophy at University College, London, in 1921, earning a BA degree with first-class honours in 1924.

Reckitt's left-wing political affiliations put her at odds with her elder brother, the Anglo-Catholic writer and editor Maurice Benington Reckitt. She was described by one MI5 officer as "the Communist Party's milch-cow", and was under surveillance from 1923 to 1953.

She died, aged 86, on 24 September 1976 at the Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead, London. In her obituary in the journal History Workshop, to which she had lent her support, Raphael Samuel described her socialism as "a living thing, a matter of thought, criticism and conviction", and built upon "personal loyalties nourished by a lifetime's activity". In 1993, Collet's was acquired by Tybex Ltd (the holding company of Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd). Olive Parsons was then aged 101.

According to the Radical Bookshop History Project, Eva Collet Reckitt "had a broad policy on stock but drew the line at 'those mysterious world religions' and 'phoney psychology'." The entry for Collet's in Driff's Guide to All the Secondhand & Antiquarian Bookshops in Britain (1985–86) says: "Colletts 52 Charing X Rd ...sml stk on s/h penguins ... there is also a small bsmt rm of political bks in the Collets [sic] two doors along but rumoured to be closing".

Collet's bookshop went bankrupt in 1993 and closed, although the nearby Russian Central and East European Bookshop, which purchased Collet's stock, remained open until 1997.