Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed was a science fiction book store and comic book retailer in London during the 1970s; the largest of its kind in Europe. Specializing in science fiction, occultism, and Atlantis, London's central store also plays a key role in bringing American underground comics to the UK. It also sells an American edition of a mainstream science fiction book that is not easily obtained elsewhere.
The store was named after a short story by Ray Bradbury.
Video Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed (bookshop)
History
The store was started by Derek "Bram" Stokes, who previously runs fanzine Gothique but has gone on to start a science fiction order book service. Diane Lister (later Diane Stokes) joined Stokes in 1969. The store is run by fantasy writer Stan Nicholls, who once worked with Stokes at Gothique. The store was originally located in Bedfordbury before moving to 10 Berwick Street in Soho.
Nick Landau, who later became the founder of Forbidden Planet and Titan Entertainment Group, was also a customer, and produced a fanzine in the hand-held duplicator. Stokes and Landau are important forces behind the annual British Comic Arts Convention, which ran, mostly in London, from 1968-1981. Stokes was the main organizer of the 1969 and 1971 editions of the so-called "British Comics."
It was also a semi-official correspondence address for the Fortean Times magazine from 1978-1981, and the magazine team met every Tuesday afternoon in a room above the store. (The store was advertised in # 28 of the Fortean Times ; the ad was drawn by Bryan Talbot who then drew it for 2000 AD .)
Comic artist Brian Bolland drew some of the earliest ad artworks for Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed, which includes various fanzines, convention programs, and magazines such as Time Out, and commissioned by the future - Titan Distributors and Founder of the Forbidden Planet, Mike Lake, who "worked there at the time" c. 1978. Illustrator and author James Cawthorn also produced advertisements for stores in 1977; they appear in Time Out and other magazines. The illustrations are also displayed on the paper carrier bag used by the store. (The graphic novel Cawthorn was published by David Britton Savoy Press in Manchester.) The ad was later made by Rod Vass, who designed and illustrated the poster and carrier bag for the store.
The store then moved to a larger underground floor and underground building at St Anne's Court on Wardour Street in Soho. It closed in 1981.
Maps Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed (bookshop)
Legacy
Paul Hudson, later of the London Comic Showcase comic, was hired on Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed. Illustrator and designer Floyd Hughes worked in stores in the late 1970s. The store was a major influence on three bookstores in Manchester run by David Britton and Michael Butterworth: House on the Borderland, Orbit in Shudehill, and Bookchain on Peter Street.
In popular culture
Famous customers from the store include Alan Moore; the second issue of Moore and Kevin O'Neill's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, volume 3 ("Century: 1969") presents a tribute to the Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed: a comic/science fiction/Forteana store is named after Bradbury's short story "There Will Come Soft Rains."
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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