Eva Collet Reckitt
Eva Collet Reckitt | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 28, 1890 Beverley, Yorkshire, England |
| Died | September 24, 1976 (aged 86) Hampstead, London, England |
| Occupation(s) | Bookseller, company founder |
| Known for | Founder of Collet's bookstore |
Eva Collet Reckitt (28 June 1890 – 24 September 1976) was the founder of the leftist bookstore Collet's, established in 1933 on Charing Cross Road, London.
Biography
Eva was born in Beverley, Yorkshire, as the daughter of Arthur Benington Reckitt, who served as secretary for the starch manufacturing company Reckitt and Sons. Her family later relocated to St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex. She cultivated an interest in socialist ideology and achieved a first-class BA degree in Philosophy from University College, London in 1924.
By 1927, Reckitt had become part of the executive committee at the Labour Research Department. As an inheritor of the Reckitt family enterprise (which eventually became part of Reckitt Benckiser), she was a supporter of the Communist Party of Great Britain from the 1920s until the 1950s. Her philanthropic efforts included holding shares in Plato Films Ltd, created in 1951 to distribute films from Socialist nations to Leftist and Communist audiences.
Her political views were notably different from those of her older brother, Maurice Benington Reckitt, an Anglo-Catholic author. An MI5 agent once described her as "the Communist Party's milch-cow," and she was monitored by intelligence services between 1923 and 1953.
Eva Collet Reckitt passed away at age 86 on 24 September 1976 at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London. Raphael Samuel, writing for History Workshop, characterized her socialism as "a living thing" deeply rooted in enduring dedication and personal allegiance.
Collet's
The bookstore Collet's was owned by the Eva Collet Trust, which Reckitt founded in 1934 with the purpose of importing communist and radical literature. The shop evolved from Henderson's radical bookshop located at 66 Charing Cross Road. After F. R. Henderson died in 1934, Eva Collet Reckitt took over the business, appointing Olive Parsons as a founding director. In 1936, Collet's acquired the inventory of Arcos, a London-Soviet trading agency. Following World War II, it expanded its presence with branches in Manchester, Glasgow, Moscow, Prague, and New York City. By 1965, its main office had relocated to Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, while continuing to operate two stores on Charing Cross Road alongside a Chinese-themed shop near the British Museum. In 1993, Tybex Ltd—parent company of Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd—purchased Collet's; at this time Olive Parsons was aged 101.
Eva Collet Reckitt maintained an extensive range of stock but deliberately excluded materials on "mysterious world religions" and "phoney psychology." According to Driff's Guide (1985–86), Collet's offered a limited selection of secondhand Penguin books and featured a basement room dedicated to political literature; rumors circulated that it might soon close.
Collet's ultimately declared bankruptcy and ceased operations in 1993. Nevertheless, the nearby Russian Central and East European Bookshop, which acquired much of its inventory, remained open until 1997.