The Versatile Master Artist

The red double-decker bus passed in front of Kelly, who looked across the street through the glass.

A long queue had already formed in front of the Waterstones bookstore with the black facade bearing the white English letter W sign.

”So many people! This book signing event has actually gathered so many readers?”

Even the blonde girl, whose anticipation for ”The Little Prince” was already at its peak, was startled by the bustling scene in front of her.

There’s an English proverb.

The traditional life of an upper-class gentleman always revolves around three Oxfords — the University of Oxford, Oxford shoes, and Oxford Street.

They study at the world’s oldest educational institution, the University of Oxford, wear the most proper Oxford shoes with intricately designed wing-tip patterns to attend formal banquets, and spend weekends shopping with their wives on the busiest business street, Oxford Street.

The commercial street in front of Kelly is the representative shopping street of the United Kingdom.

The Sun Never Sets Empire has long since collapsed.

But the pedestrians standing on this commercial street can still feel the remnants of the old empire as depicted in the works of George Eliot and Conan Doyle.

The statues of gods on the building facade are vividly lifelike, the high-ceilinged rooftops are adorned with intricate decorative patterns, and large columns are surrounded by various beautiful reliefs. Outside the large lattice window display, tourists from different countries and of different skin colors are conversing in various languages.

The architectural styles of neoclassicism and romanticism complement each other beautifully.

Twenty meters diagonally opposite the flagship store of luxury brand Burberry is the branch location of the largest chain bookstore in the entire United Kingdom, Waterstones.

Oxford Street ranks alongside Paris Fifth Avenue and Beijing Wangfujing as a top-tier shopping street, where store spaces of this size are conservatively estimated to have an annual rental cost of over eight hundred thousand Pounds.

Used for opening a bookstore.

Rather than a profit motive, Waterstones is looking to showcase its power by creating a physical signboard visible to passersby.

There’s even media coverage showing notable figures like King Charles III, Beckham, and David Bowie, entering the store under the black sign as ordinary readers.

Traditionally,

The most significant and highly anticipated book works in the United Kingdom and even the global English-speaking community are the ones whose book signings are held in this Waterstones bookstore.

In terms of rank.

The last fairy tale writer to hold a signing event here was Allen Garner, the author of the 2022 Booker Prize-nominated work ”Syrup Walker.” He is one of the most important fairy tale writers in British history, having just broken the world record for nomination age at this highest award in English literature at the age of 87.

The reissued ”The Little Prince” is not truly a new book and is somewhat lacking in qualification.

Fortunately, Osborne has indeed been very helpful.

He managed to leverage many connections through the group’s network channels to arrange the first significant commemorative book signing event for ”The Little Prince” project group on Oxford Street.

Regardless of whether sales succeed or fail, the results of this book signing event will be magnified severalfold.

It counts as a small gift within his authority range to Anna, who is currently under great pressure.

Inside the darkened glass doors that were tightly shut.

Staff dressed in bookstore uniforms hung ribbons and prepared small souvenirs and promotional posters for the readers attending the signing event.

For the afternoon reader meet-and-greet and signing ceremony for the renowned English scholar and translator Dean Hawke.

Already by noon,

The Oxford Street Waterstones bookstore briefly closed its doors to begin setting up the venue.

It wasn’t until 5 minutes before the start of the signing event that arrangements were made for outside readers to enter.

By the time Kelly and her best friend arrived, the queue in front of the store was conservatively estimated to have over a hundred people.

The queue snaked from beneath the black sign of Waterstones all the way to the neighboring Hermes store.

Everyone was chattering away as if they were at a party.

”What did I say! It’s not even 1:10 yet, and so many people have already gathered. If we’re late, there’s a chance we won’t even make it to Detective Cat’s new book launch.”

Kelly breathed a sigh of relief, quickly pulling her best friend to line up at the end of the crowd.

”It’s a book by Saint-Exupéry, and the signing is by translator Charlie Hawke. In terms of importance, an illustration author like Detective Cat can only rank third. Just with her, she’s not qualified to hold a reader event on Oxford Street.”

Her best friend corrected her from the side.

”It’s different. Unlike other books, ’The Little Prince’ is a fairy tale that has been illustrated ever since its birth. Even Saint-Exupéry himself publicly stated that illustrations and text are equally important in the content of this book.”

Her best friend pouted, unable to find words to counter this time.

She looked around at the crowd in confusion.

Even for a top-tier shopping street, there are twice as many people here as she expected.

The scene of people lining up outside store facades on Oxford Street for purchases is not unusual; it happens every day.

When Takashi Murakami and LV released their collaboration bags, the queue set by various scalpers and buyers was over two hundred meters long overnight.

What’s surprising is that this is a bookstore!

It’s not a place selling bags, shoes, cosmetics, or perfumes.

When did people become so passionate about knowledge?

Her best friend noticed professional journalists photographing the queue crowd.

Even at the front were two female police officers wearing green reflective vests and silver badge-styled tall helmets, commonly seen in British dramas, who came down from a patrolling special vehicle and stood beside the Waterstones bookstore.