Which brings me on to a third factor. And this is key: he is very hard to complete. And that implies the chase, the hunt, the quest. For what on earth is the point of being a collector of something easily obtainable? Then you’re not a collector, you are merely a buyer. So with Greene – you could search for years and only hear whispered mentions of After Two Years, or For Christmas. Mercy – even I’ve only seen those two books twice! And then even the best heeled collectors have to wait for their chance of a fine dust jacket on A Gun For Sale, of a beautiful Journey Without Maps, or the correct first (in the right jacket!) of Stanboul Train!

All these factors are true to a lesser or greater degree for all species of book collecting. And that brings me back to the milk. It would be easy – seeing how often you find milk in every store – to imagine it never sells. Whereas the truth is that like books, they come and go in droves. You buy a bunch and they sell and you look round and they’ve gone. Right now we happen to be on the upswing, having lately acquired a few runs of his works and some especially good inscribed works. Real ones! With real associations. And soon, if the trend continues they will have gone. Just saying!’

Discover more: Graham Greene