4 THE ART OBSERVER July 2010 Tributes to Eric J Morten v By Wendy J Levy ERIC JAMES MORTEN  came into the world on 2nd June 1929 and, sadly, died on 13th April 2010, just a few weeks short of his eighty first birthday. His long, successful career as a respected antiquarian bookseller began on Shudehill market and progressed to premises in Warburton Street, Didsbury in 1958. He was a grafter; he was astute and never missed an opportuni- ty. He also had a good head for figures and often enjoyed dis- playing his skills in mental arith- metic. Eric was a force to be reckoned with; he was strong- willed and determined. But most of all, he was an exceedingly kind and generous man who made a difference to people’s lives - because he cared. As a big supporter of the John Rylands Library, belonging to the University of Manchester, Eric helped the Library financially as well as being involved with the planning of the building’s recent extension. He has always worked closely with the staff of Manchester’s other university, Manchester Metropolitan University, and given a lot of help in the development of its art library. Eric was a great storyteller; he had tremendous recall and could remember dates and details with- out hesitation. It is not surpris- ing he was often asked to give talks to Probus, Rotary and vari- ous other organisations. Nor is it surprising that, in his typical generous fashion, the payments he received for his talks would be passed on to Stoke Minster, formerly the Bishop Stamer School, where he was a gover- nor. The help he gave the school was acknowledged by the nam- ing of their new library as the Eric Morten Library. Eric’s widow, Shirley, recalls an incident that really sums up Eric: “Someone was using a piece of land that we owned to park his car, without permission. Eric said that if the man wanted to park his car there, he would have to pay rent. He refused and argued that we didn’t own the land anyway etc etc. After some months of dispute, Eric proved ownership of the land, but also increased the asking price for rent, pointing out that the man had caused us a lot of bother and that he would have to pay more to compensate for this. The car-owner VERY reluctantly agreed and handed over a cheque. Eric went to play golf, heard that a fellow-player (a stranger to him) had a handi- capped child for whom an Independent Living Fund had been set up, and immediately passed the money over to the fund.” John, Eric’s son, remembers another occasion when he found Eric filling the boot of his car with books he was taking from the shop. John asked where he was taking the books and Eric told him that he was giving them, free of charge, to another bookseller. When John asked why he was giving them free of charge Eric replied “Because I know what it is like to be skint”. Eric was very proud of what he had achieved and he always tried to help others achieve as well. He was very proud of Warburton Street and defended