The Bibliophilia Thread

[Yithian]

I often like to read about nature before bed. Here are two nocturnal reads I recommend--both lovely publications, too. Chris Yates is a famous angler, but he casts his net more widely here and narrates his trek until dawn. The language is simple and well chosen and it's easy to picture yourself at his heel. I found that it was good to read at night as I didn't have to think overly hard to conjure the images or hear the sounds.



This poetry collection was bought on a whim having seen the name on a random blog. It's not the thing to read from cover to cover, but half a dozen in the small hours, little crystalline structures with a crackle, will set the mind wandering. As you can see for the last example, they can get a little 'Zen'. They are about the most Norweigian thing you can imagine--the only writing I've read that has evoked an almost physical chill like this were some parts of Snow Country by Kawabata.

 

[Coal]

I often like to read about nature before bed. Here are two nocturnal reads I recommend--both lovely publications, too. Chris Yates is a famous angler, but he casts his net more widely here and narrates his trek until dawn. The language is simple and well chosen and it's easy to picture yourself at his heel. I found that it was good to read at night as I didn't have to think overly hard to conjure the images or hear the sounds.

He's that rare thing, a good writer who writes about fishing. He's an engaging fellow in the flesh and makes a decent cup of tea.

 

[Nemo]

A last one, one that I suspect at least a few other forum members own.

Yep, I've got a copy somewhere.

 

[CarlosTheDJ]

I'm reading a few entries in this before bed each night at the mo...

Quote from Wikipedia:

The book is an esoteric look at some of the wild characters emanating from the United Kingdom and has been described as "a work of maniacal genius".

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewer's_Rogues,_Villains_and_Eccentrics

About to learn all about 'Baker, Colonel Valentine'.

 

[Coal]

I recommend "the Fruit, The Tree and the Serpent", a nice work proposing and convincing how primate vision evolved to make us especially good at spotting and avoiding snakes, the results of which is our almost unique vision system. Very neat, nicely put together and not too dense a read.

 

[Yithian]

Found on eBay for less than ten squid! It's a school prize from 1921 and although the leather needs a clean it is nicely bound and vividly marbled. The content is pleasantly picturesque, too.



Split-infinitive...

 

[Yithian]

I didn't pay any attention to this when it was first released--and the price-tag is somewhat toe-curling, but if anything this edition looks even nicer that my Beowulf (above). I'm not really interested in the other three 'special editions' (well, Unfinished Tales a bit...), but this I want.

Details:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Peri...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=TN88DCGAHCH0TZFMYZ4V

Pictures not mine as I haven't (yet) bought it.



Blurb:

This de luxe collector's edition includes the first edition text and features an exclusive colour frontispiece illustration on a fold-out sheet. The book is quarterbound, with a specially commissioned motif stamped in three foils on the front board, and is presented in a matching slipcase.The five tales are written with the same skill, quality and charm that made The Hobbit a classic. Largely overlooked because of their short lengths, they are finally together in a volume which reaffirms Tolkien's place as a master storyteller for readers young and old.* Roverandom is a toy dog who, enchanted by a sand sorcerer, gets to explore the world and encounter strange and fabulous creatures.* Farmer Giles of Ham is fat and unheroic, but - having unwittingly managed to scare off a short-sighted giant - is called upon to do battle when a dragon comes to town;* The Adventures of Tom Bombadil tells in verse of Tom's many adventures with hobbits, princesses, dwarves and trolls;* Leaf by Niggle recounts the strange adventures of the painter Niggle who sets out to paint the perfect tree;* Smith of Wootton Major journeys to the Land of Faery thanks to the magical ingredients of the Great Cake of the Feast of Good Children.This new collection is fully illustrated throughout by Oscar-winning artist, Alan Lee, who provides a wealth of pencil drawings to bring the stories to life as he did so memorably for The Hobbit and The Children of Hurin. Alan also provides an Afterword, in which he opens the door into illustrating Tolkien's world.World-renowned Tolkien author and expert, Tom Shippey, takes the reader through the hidden links in the tales to Tolkien's Middle-earth in his Introduction, and recounts their history and themes.Lastly, included as an appendix is Tolkien's most famous essay, "On Fairy-stories", in which he brilliantly discusses fairy-stories and their relationship to fantasy.Taken together, this rich collection of new and unknown work from the author of The Children of Hurin will provide the reader with a fascinating journey into lands as wild and strange as Middle-earth.

 

[David Plankton]

Thought this video might fit in nicely here. I'm guessing it's from the early 1970's.
Bookbinding in Dublin.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Sadly, bookbinding is dying out (it seems). Not enough business and not enough young people training to go into the profession.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

not enough young people training to go into the profession.

We have vacancies!

 

[Yithian]

Here's another Chis Yates book I own. Somebody I know was meeting him at a book launch/talk and I asked him to get a copy inscribed for me. I asked him to tell Chris that I was a Man of Kent stranded far from home, who dreamt of the countryside.

He came up with: The willow warbler is singing on the banks of a green English tench pond as I write this...

 

[Dr_Baltar]

Sadly, bookbinding is dying out (it seems). Not enough business and not enough young people training to go into the profession.

As with much else, the rise of the machine (and the market for cheaply produced books) has put paid to the majority of the craftsmen in the trade.

 

[Yithian]

As with much else, the rise of the machine (and the market for cheaply produced books) has put paid to the majority of the craftsmen in the trade.

Books are very cheap considering the work that (often) goes into producing them, but unlike with ephemeral newspapers and magazines there are signs of a resurgence in sales of physical books--and nice hardback editions never really went out of fashion... Fingers crossed and all that.

A last post from me here today--one that can be taken as a ringing endorsement of this publisher and their range of Then & Now Books. This is the heaviest book I own. It's a fifth edition (Mark V!) and each edition just got larger until now, when it's pushing towards 900 large-format and heavily packed pages. It contains literally thousands of photographs and some of the veterans accounts are magnificent.

The introduction I have reproduced here gives the tone.



I quite fancy a look at their 'East End' book (page two here: https://www.afterthebattle.com/books/books.html)

 

[Yithian]

A great new acquisition I am very happy with. It's in smashing condition for a 1951 first edition and some of the cartoons are--as the title suggests--deliciously dark. They aren't all St Trinian's, but all of my favourites from the selection are.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I had a 1950s edition of Down With Skool! I may still have it somewhere.

 

[Yithian]

I had a 1950s edition of Down With Skool! I may still have it somewhere.

Post!

 

[maximus otter]

...Down With Skool!.

Excellent! l self-identify as Nigel Molesworth.

maximus otter

 

[maximus otter]

...a ringing endorsement of this publisher and their range of Then & Now Books....I quite fancy a look at their 'East End' book...

They are superb. l have “Battle of Britain”, “Glenn Miller” and “Panzers in Normandy”.

The coverage of Jack the Ripper in the “East End” volume makes it a desirable addition to any Fortean’s library. The identification of the exact - and l mean exact - body deposition sites alone is fascinating.

Highly recommended.

maximus otter

 

[Mythopoeika]

Post!

It's buried away in a box somewhere, if I still have it.

 

[GNC]

It's buried away in a box somewhere, if I still have it.

Chiz, chiz!

 

[Mythopoeika]

Fotherington-Thomas! Is that you?

 

[GNC]

Hullo clouds hullo sky hullo sun

 

[Yithian]

This arrived today. Condition not quite as nice as the one above, but it's the first St Trinian's book and it's hard to come by a not-falling-apart first edition/impression.

 

[Yithian]

Another today, the nicest of the bunch. Break to replenish funds.

 

[Yithian]

I have an interest in Expo '70, which was hosted in Osaka, ever since visiting the city and seeing an exhibition about the artistic design and architecture. Meeting all the clichés, I was alone in Japan with not a word of Japanese, wandering, half comprehending, and watching everything with wonder.

It has been said that Expo '70 was the last occasion on which avant-garde architecture that sought to reinvent the way we live was a public concern that existed in the awareness of those beyond academia. I don't feel qualified to be the judge of that, but Japanese Metabolism is fascinating to me, and Kenzo Tange of that school was the leader and guiding artistic light behind Expo '70. And lead he did--everything was thematically integrated and that endless variation and permutation within a unifying theme leaves an indelible mental impression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_'70

This book is not actually physically that well constructed--and the vast majority of the text is in Japanese--but the images are fabulous: The Jetsons meets JG Ballard.








More of this kind of thing here:
http://pinktentacle.com/2010/03/photos-expo-70/

 

[Yithian]

Is anybody else here a Biggles fan?

I posted a few 'Pyramid Editions' earlier, but this later one (1946) is also nice (a bit of browning notwithstanding). This was pretty much the last gasp at cover decoration and colour frontispieces--everything that followed was in plain boards and with black and white illustrations. The story's a good 'un, too; although, as the preface warns, Biggles himself has a relatively minor role. The setting--as ever--is respectably credible and Johns has clearly either visited or done his homework.

 

[GNC]

I was inspired by Captain Johns to name my pet rabbit Biggles...

 

[Yithian]

Thanks to a nice lady in Canada it's Bingo!

 

[Yithian]

I was also bought this as a gift for my birthday. I'm interested in the work of Kisho Kurokawa and the Metabolist school of architecture and this book of photography is beautiful. I shan't wax intellectual, but notice the recurring structure, repeated inside and out, and think of the structure of organic life and you're on the right track. The modules are theoretically replacable and moveable, allowing the building to 'evolve' to suit need. You'll want to expand these to full-size to get the full impact.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakagin_Capsule_Tower

 

[Spookdaddy]

I am currently a resident of Barcelona, and yesterday, as well as being St George's Day in the UK, it was Sant Jordi in Catalonia - on which day it is traditional for couples to go out and buy a rose for the female, and a book for their partner. In reality these days each gets a book, although there are a hell of a lot of roses flying about too.

I kind of knew it was a big thing - but not as big as it turned out to be.

Man...it's HUGE!! Plaça de Catalunya and all the major thoroughfares leading onto it were lined with bookstalls and the entire area was absolutely rammed with crowds of people all day long. Many of the stalls have long queues for the author signings, which go on into the evening. The bookshops have queues reaching from one end to the other. Everyone in the mass of people milling about seems to be carrying a bag with books in it.

I'm not one of those travellers who instantly falls in love with and lionises the place they are currently living, and uses it to downgrade the place they come from; neither Spanish nor Catalan culture is perfect. But what a fantastic thing to have in your diary.