Business is slow at the provincial bookshop owned by young Michael Ransome, which suits him fine, since he'd rather be asleep or drunk than at work anyway. Unfortunately, there's the small problem of earning a living, but Ransome thinks he's found a solution. Sir Jeremy Etchingham's library is set to be auctioned off, and there is a legend that a unique and priceless bibliographical rarity is among its books, a legend which Ransome thinks he alone knows. He is determined to get his hands on this treasure through fair means or foul, but he hasn't reckoned on 'the Ring', an illegal conspiracy of powerful London book dealers, who have their own designs on the book. . . .

Knock or Ring (1957) was the first novel by Michael Nelson (1921-1990), who was more famous for his second book, the gay classic A Room in Chelsea Square (1958). A very funny and entertaining story of the unexpectedly shady world of antiquarian bookselling, Knock or Ring was well received on its initial release but has never been reprinted until now. This edition includes an introduction by London bookseller John Saumarez Smith.