Jonathan Privett at floating bookshop Word On The Water in King’s Cross

JONATHAN Privett had a dream, and he fulfilled it on his own terms and in his own time.
Jon, who has died aged 58, sold books and made a home on canal boats. Combining his two loves, he created Word On The Water, the floating bookshop in King’s Cross.

He had been born in Bedfordshire and spent time as a young man in Brighton before enrolling at Brunel University, where he gained a masters in American literature. It was here that a fellow student introduced him to the book trade and it was to become a way of life.

He created a pitch in Upper Street, selling books from bread crates, while weekends found him under Hungerford Bridge at the Thames-side book fair. It wasn’t easy: he would have stock confiscated by the police for illegal street trading.

Later, he took on a stall at the Chapel Market, and then Archway Market. Jon would visit charity shops, sort through rooms full of books and hand over wedges of cash for job lots. It gave charities a pay day and got the words back out there.

He had lived for many years in Hackney squats but as squatting became harder in the early 2000s, he moved on to a canal boat. Jon loved it and soon Word On The Water was born. While the barge carved a place in bibliophiles’ hearts, Jon was not interested in financial success. As his partner Justine recalled: “He was always super-skint but he would never give up. Some days, in the past, he would take a fiver all day and that was it, but he was a born optimist.”

The bookshop began with a cruising licence, its location on the Regent’s and Grand Union canals found online or via a walk on the towpath. In recent years, he was given a permanent berth in King’s Cross.

Jon had said he did not want to have children due to the state of the planet. Justine, who met him as a neighbour in Stoke Newington squats, wanted another child to join her son, Zed. “I decided I would find a sperm donor instead,” said Justine.

This attempt to get pregnant did not work. Jon then said he would help, but warned Justine he was due to embark on a three-year USA road trip.

“He came to my three-month scan,” said Justine. “He saw two little feet and turned to me and said: ‘I’m not going anywhere’.”

His daughter Megan, 20, and Zed, 32, were a central part of his life.

His friend Stephanie Smith said: “He was possessed by written words, formed into glorious sentences by authors. He was a born bookseller.”

Jon was not keen on police or council officers and Stephanie, who manages Archway Market, quickly worked out the best way to manage his pitch was to tell him to take as much space as he wanted, where he wanted.

Music was a passion – from punk to Elvis – and the speakers on Jon’s barge provided a soundtrack to his bookselling.

He was often asked if there was a philosophy behind books he stocked, and would reply: “It’s every great book I have read, and every great book I have wanted to read.”

Jon had become a vegan over 40 years ago, but it didn’t stretch to him being interested in cooking: his diet was chips and black coffee.

He was politicised: he had read Angela Davis as a teenager and agreed that in a racist world it was not enough to be not racist, you have to be anti-racist.

Treating everyone as equals was his approach to life: he always had time to speak with people who came on to the boat, and no matter who they were, they were treated with the same respect and courtesy.