New old books!
Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Although our blog has been quiet for a while, we have been busy adding new stock to our offering of second hand, collectable and rare books. In this post we take a look at some of the newly added books which we have lovingly gathered over the summer months and during our travels around Europe.
We've been trying to increase the range of vintage travel guides we offer, as the historical insight and delight they offer when touring around an area is second to none (and yes, we confess, in part the inspiration for this must be credited to Michael Portillo and his Bradshaw-inspired train journeys). The star among our recent editions in this area, for me at least, is a beautifully leather-bound visitors and pilgrims guide to Canterbury. Published as part of Blackie and Sons 'Beautiful England' series in 1910, it provides details and artistic pictures of Canterbury and its surroundings which are now over 100 years old. How different the visitor's experienced was then! The volume focuses most on Canterbury cathedral and other monastic buildings in the city but has a goodly covering of other historic and interesting sights.
We've added a range of vintage books, from Biggles adventures to Just William stories, and from beautifully leather bound poetry books to a selection of modern fiction firsts.
For the horse-lovers and riders among you, there's a newly refreshed catalogue of equestrian related books, including some titles which will guide you through that all important BHS stage one examination as well as some more general books that might appeal to the horse-obsessed. Have a look at our full Horses and Riding books catalogue.
More to come of course, as we keep cataloguing new additions to our stock, but that's me signed off for the day. Happy reading, happy book hunting.
Original manuscript of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo (1831) (C) BNF[/caption]
Copies of the novel, in its various different editions, hit on line best-sellers lists in the days after the fire, rather as Ernest Hemingway's reminiscences of his time roving the bars and cafes of the French capital became France's top-selling book in the weeks after the Paris terror attacks of 2015, suggesting a tendency among the French to seek solace in literature amid national anguish.
Hugo's novel, set in the 15th century, tells the story of Quasimodo, Notre-Dame's deformed, half-blind and half-deaf bell-ringer who falls for Esmeralda, a beautiful gypsy street dancer. But critics have long argued that the cathedral itself is the central force of the classic masterpiece. Hugo's purpose in writing the novel was in part to highlight the importance of Notre-Dame's Gothic architecture and the neglect and abuse the building was suffering at the beginning of the 19th century. “As much beauty as it may retain in its old age, it is not easy to repress a sigh, to restrain our anger, when we mark the countless defacements and mutilations to which men and time have subjected that venerable monument." Some have argued that The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and its enormous success, were key factors in triggering the cathedral's restoration in the mid-19th century and its positioning as the beating heart of the French nation.
Originally published in 1831 to both critical and popular acclaim, Notre-Dame de PAris ran to 11 volumes. Hugo's manuscript is now held as a national treasure by the French National Library. Some publishers have rushed to print more copies of the book to meet the demand. Le Monde reports that Folio is printing 30,000 paperbacks and Livre de Poche have a new version out, with both publishers promising to donate to the cathedral's renovation fund.
Want to join the trend and have your own copy of 
First State Dust Jacket which appeared on 1st to 3rd impressions[/caption]
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2nd State Dust Jacket, with telescope redrawn the right way round[/caption]
For the fifth impression, which was released in 1951, a few further subtle changes were made, including shifting the image up slightly, showing less sky and more thigh!
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3rd State jacket on the 1951 fifth impression of Five on Kirrin Island Again[/caption]
For the sixth impression, later in 1951, a completely new dust jacket design, with a new illustration also by Eileen Soper, was introduced, stylistically consistent with other Famous Five stories.
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4th State Dust Jacket in uniform Famous Five style[/caption]
We frequently add vintage and collectible Enid Blyton titles to our stock, not just Famous Five titles, but they rarely linger on our shelves long. Have a look at which Enid Blyton Books we have in stock at the moment here - or 
The beauty of Linwood Barclay - and I have read and enjoyed most of his books - is that he does exactly what he promises. He takes his readers on a cleverly scripted and compulsive journey, full of intrigue, dead ends and shocking cliff-hangers towards a sometimes gory but satisfying ending. Each book, including Parting Shot, is an engrossing page-turner which swivels and swerves down numerous, overlapping, lines and there's never a loose thread left at the end. But this is also the weakness: there is no more than that. Having been highly entertained, when you put the book down at the end, the lasting memory is having had fun along the way, but on the way to what, I'm not sure. If you've loved his previous books, I'm fairly sure that you will love this one too. It is great, action-packed, fast-moving crime and detection, at times reminding you how cruel and callous man can be to man, and at others offering the salvation of decency and soft affection. Just what is needed for relaxing evenings or long train journeys. But the sensation is a little like eating fantastic chocolate after an already satisfying meal: all the fun is in the moment.
PS. This is the fourth book which Barclay has set in the town of Promise Falls, New York, a place that seems blessed with the quality of its police officers and public officials but deeply unfortunate in its history and inhabitants. I am relieved it is fictitious.
Historiated Initial from the Winchester Bible[/caption]
One of four volumes of the Winchester Bible[/caption]
The book, which most members thoroughly enjoyed even if they did find the premise quite chilling and disturbing, resulted in a fabulous discussion & exchange of views on topics as diverse as spying, the cold war, Brexit, the Gun Powder Plot and family life. Wilson's style was thought to be quite cold and remote, distancing the reader from events, adding to the sense of exclusion and powerlessness of the ordinary individual and thus fully fitting for the narrative.
Votes up as a great read, with a good balance between pace and intrigue and a great book club choice as it's very thought-provoking and rewards a bit of research and reflection.
Wimbledon Village Reading Group is a book club that's been meeting on the last Thursday of each month since 2012. If you're interested in joining in, check us out and join 
Neal Ransome's Wimbledon Village: A history told through its street names is exactly what the title says it is. It explains how and why some 140 streets in the village acquired their names, and charmingly admits that in just a few cases, the origins of a street name remain elusive. It is a admirably thorough and has enough fascinating detail and colourful stories to draw in even those with only a passing interest. Who can resist the speculation that the famous Crooked Billet inn, on a street of the same name, was once owned by Thomas Cromwell's father, or the romanticism that its name harks back to the days when shepherds tended their flocks on the nearby Wimbledon Common with the aid of their crooked billets, or staffs? Or the amusing anecdote that Kinsella Gardens is an erroneous name - it was intended to be Kinellan Gardens, in recognition of the fact that the road lies upon what were once in the grounds of Kinellan House, the former home of the 1887 Wimbledon champion, Herbert Fortescue Lawford. Lawford, Ransome tells us, had Scottish connections and may well have named his London home after the picturesque Loch Kinellan in the Highlands. But when the road was laid in the late 1990s, the developer got the spelling wrong and Kinsella replaced Kinellan. The origin of Wilberforce Way is obvious to anyone who knows that it spreads over the grounds of the former Lauriston House, once the retreat of the 19th century anti-slavery campaigner, William Wilberforce. The real joy of this book, though, is that it goes so much further, weaving the stories of local people and local events into a narrative web which tells the story of Wimbledon from a perspective that has a tangible link to today.
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Leopold Road Street Sign. Ransome identifies Leopold Road as one of the three streets in Wimbledon Village to be named after royalty. One of my own photos, 2009![/caption]
Fellow literary lovers may find it particularly appealing that at least two streets in the Village are named after once popular novels. Windy Ridge Close recalls Willie Riley's 1912 story, Windy-Ridge, which tells of a young lady who escapes London for the Yorkshire Dales. Cranford Close, which came into being in the 1960s, was so named because it ranges over ground once occupied by Cranford House, itself named for Elizabeth Gaskell's 1851 classic novel Cranford. And here's an example of where Ransome goes further: he tells us of two links between the novel Cranford and Wimbledon, which may have been in the mind of whoever named Cranford House. Elizabeth Gaskell's daughter, Marianne, lived in Wimbledon after her marriage to her second cousin, Edward Thurston Holland. But even more intriguing is the direct link with the novel. Hugh Thomson, one of the foremost book illustrators of his time (who designed and illustrated the famous 'peacock' edition of Pride and Prejudice) provided the drawings for one of the most enduringly popular editions of Cranford. These portrayed the fictional village of Cranford, which is identified with Knutsford in Cheshire, and attracted much praise. This amused Thomson greatly, and Ransome relates his retort: "as a matter of fact I had never seen it, having really done my country sketches from the studies I made on Wimbledon Common".
The directory-style entries of street-names are preceded by a general overview of the history of the Village, from its earliest hill fort settlement which, despite being called Caesar's Camp, appears to have no connection whatsoever with any Caesar, through medieval times and 18th century Wimbledon's gentrification, the era of grand houses, its transformation from village to railway suburb of the metropolis and on into the 20th century. An illuminating and engagingly-written book which quietly showcases the author's deep knowledge of the locality and solid research.