The Bibliophilia Thread

[Yithian]

Another H.E. Bates book on nature with gorgeous prints to join the others upthread. This was published in 1941, and the first page I have supplied here very much sets the tone: the war intrudes here and there, but it's soon subsumed within the rhythm of the seasons and the natural world that will long outlast it.

The dustjacket has a little damage but is still in superior condition, and it's done a wonderful job of keeping the cloth beneath immaculate. There's a good deal of foxing to the top-edge, but remarkably little has seeped onto the leaves themselves. Strangely, none of the paper here is wartime economy; on the contrary it's thick and starchy.

Again, the prints. There are fifteen full-page illustrations and not one I wouldn't be happy to hang on my wall.

Happy with this: £35.

 

[Ascalon]

Not sure where else to put this gem, but suffice to say, beware the reviewers' blurbs on books!

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1691421000196390912

 

[ramonmercado]

Not sure where else to put this gem, but suffice to say, beware the reviewers' blurbs on books!

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1691421000196390912

Hmm...this page doesn’t exist. Try searching for something else.Search

 

[Ascalon]

Hmm...this page doesn’t exist. Try searching for something else.Search

Damn, that's not entirely unexpected.
It was a broadsheet book reviewer pointing out how their overwhelmingly negative review was selectively quoted on a book fly cover to appear positive. It was done by the publisher for a controversial author.

 

[Kondoru]

At any rate it sounds a dull book.

 

[Yithian]

@escargot

This came through on the slow boat. A slightly foxed top-edge, but for a 1985 first edition that cost less than a tenner, I have no complaints.

The old collector's dilemma arose: there is a second edition with more content but a far less evocative dust-jacket that I eventually passed over.

The tales are very short—often no more than capsule retellings of the alleged events. I probably shouldn't copy the whole book, but if any of the titles on the index page ring interesting bells, I am happy to upload the pages here or on the Railway Ghosts thread.

 

[escargot]

@escargot

This came through on the slow boat. A slightly foxed top-edge, but for a 1985 first edition that cost less than a tenner, I have no complaints.

The old collector's dilemma arose: there is a second edition with more content but a far less evocative dust-jacket that I eventually passed over.

The tales are very short—often no more than capsule retellings of the alleged events. I probably shouldn't copy the whole book, but if any of the titles on the index page ring interesting bells, I am happy to upload the pages here or on the Railway Ghosts thread.

View attachment 69266View attachment 69267View attachment 69268View attachment 69269View attachment 69270

Can remember taking this out of library and excitedly reading it while waiting for a taxi.
In fact, the 'Dwarf's Apparition' chapter reminds me of this post of mine from 2004 -

My kids and I would walk to the library, pick books, do the shopping and then start the books while waiting for a lift home.
There's a spot on Asda car park where, to this day, I always feel a thrill of fear, as that was where I read about a ghostly dwarf rising up through the floor of a railway carriage!

I've since decided that the ghostly dwarf (dressed as a stereotypical mediaeval court dwarf, with a pointy hat etc) was probably a cheese dream induced by nodding off on the train.

You should copy/post away. Think of it as for posterity.
I'm considering doing that with The Restless Ghosts of Lady Place. It terrified little Me beyond the capacity for rational thought back on the day. It'd be rude not to share.

 

[Floyd]

No. 34; The Return of the Diligent Signalman would by my choice, although all of them would be better of course.

 

[Yithian]

Does this count? Perhaps just about.

I must have first bought Issue Six when living in London for the only spell in my life for a few months back in 2005. This attractively compact little magazine caught my eye in a bookshop (back when I was reading the Idler, too, though I was far from idle at the time); just the right size to slip into a backpack and produce on the Tube (or a steamy windowed nightbus). The contents are are real miscellany of prose, poetry, evocative photography (I favour the black & white editions) and, generally, city narratives and glimpses at the overlooked and transient ephemera of lives lived in the palimpsest that is the Big Smoke.

View attachment 62429

Back Issues sent worldwide (excluding Issues One to Four) here at an extremely low price:

https://uncharteredstreets.co.uk/unchartered-streets-shop/#smokeshop

Another haul of attractive magazines.

These ones will likely be known to many members already.

 

[Yithian]

No. 34; The Return of the Diligent Signalman would by my choice, although all of them would be better of course.

With apologies for the sub-optimal lighting.

It's quite a good one!

 

[Floyd]

With apologies for the sub-optimal lighting.

It's quite a good one!

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Brilliant! Thanks very much for that.

 

[Cochise]

@escargot

This came through on the slow boat. A slightly foxed top-edge, but for a 1985 first edition that cost less than a tenner, I have no complaints.

The old collector's dilemma arose: there is a second edition with more content but a far less evocative dust-jacket that I eventually passed over.

The tales are very short—often no more than capsule retellings of the alleged events. I probably shouldn't copy the whole book, but if any of the titles on the index page ring interesting bells, I am happy to upload the pages here or on the Railway Ghosts thread.

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I have the later edition. I have to say I find most of the stories unconvincing and vague, but there are a few that maybe could use further research.

 

[Yithian]

I have the later edition. I have to say I find most of the stories unconvincing and vague, but there are a few that maybe could use further research.

I've done a bit of digging.

The first book in the series is the 1985 one I have pictured above.

The follow-up is Phantoms of the Railways (David & Charles, 1988)

There was a large print editon with a far more attractive cover (Chivers Press, 1990)



And then came two near-identical compendium editions in 1989 (Guild Publishing) and 1992 (Book Club Associates):

 

[JamesWhitehead]

My copy is the Guild one. The book is mentioned in the Railway Ghosts thread, back in 2010.

I just dug out my book and it had several papers within, used as bookmarks, from which I gather it must have been bought around March, 2011, possibly for the £1.50 pencilled in the front. One of the sheets is a supplement to the cinema programme of the late-lamented Cornerhouse, from early March that year. They are early in the book, so I don't think I read much of it.

The other is curious and spooky - a set of Sortes, random dips into books for divinatory or prophetic clues. This is dated and timed 2.47 am, Sunday, 6th March, 2011. I'm not sure what brought on the urge. The traditional Sortes used the Bible or Virgil, so there might be a lot of smiting in the readings. My own choice of volumes was curious but driven, I think, by the fact that were all small format, India paper editions on one handy, small shelf. They were The Anatomy of Melancholy, John Buchan's Prester John, the Confessions of an English Opium Eater and Carlyle's French Revolution. I will look at the quotes in detail, when I get a moment, to see if they can be related to anything else happening that year. This random rediscovery belongs with my contemporary notes, which are filed away, no doubt somewhere inaccessible!

 

[cycleboy2]

I've done a bit of digging.

The first book in the series is the 1985 one I have pictured above.

The follow-up is Phantoms of the Railways (David & Charles, 1988)

View attachment 69773

There was a large print editon with a far more attractive cover (Chivers Press, 1990)

View attachment 69774

And then came two near-identical compendium editions in 1989 (Guild Publishing) and 1992 (Book Club Associates):

View attachment 69775 View attachment 69776

I'm pretty sure my late father had a copy of one of the later versions, which is among the 40-plus boxes (including 300-400 railway books) that have gone to Oxfam and a local homeless charity.

Yes, I could probably sort through and sell some of the books, but I've got his coin and stamp collections to sort first. I have picked out a very few obviously more collectable books that I will sell separately, but generally I'd rather the charities benefit.

The locomotive on the second version of the book, with the mainly green cover, is a Somerset and Dorset 7F, quite possibly at the southern entrance of Midford Tunnel, which is now part of the Two Tunnels Cycle Way near Bath. It certainly looks similar, though I doubt it's unique.

It was one of the longest unventilated tunnels in the UK, which resulted in a fatal crash in 1929, when a driver and fireman were overcome by smoke and the resulting runaway train crashed in the goods yard at Bath Green Park Station, killing the driver and two railway employees.

 

[Yithian]

The other is curious and spooky - a set of Sortes, random dips into books for divinatory or prophetic clues. This is dated and timed 2.47 am, Sunday, 6th March, 2011. I'm not sure what brought on the urge. The traditional Sortes used the Bible or Virgil, so there might be a lot of smiting in the readings. My own choice of volumes was curious but driven, I think, by the fact that were all small format, India paper editions on one handy, small shelf. They were The Anatomy of Melancholy, John Buchan's Prester John, the Confessions of an English Opium Eater and Carlyle's French Revolution. I will look at the quotes in detail, when I get a moment, to see if they can be related to anything else happening that year. This random rediscovery belongs with my contemporary notes, which are filed away, no doubt somewhere inaccessible!

Ah, and the fact that they have resurfaced now could be relevant!

As to the books, of course, I folded almost at once and ordered a first edition of the second volume.

Can't resist a set.

 

[Yithian]

Not sure what to make of this. Design is elegant, layout is good, photos are inspiring (there's a stunning one of Pentre Ifan), but despite the practical guide element, it's slightly too large and heavy to be lugged around, and at the same time slightly too small to be considered a coffee-table book.

I like it, but my soul cries for a hardback with proper binding and more full-page images.

 

[Yithian]

I first became aware of Wooden Books (the publisher) in 2002 at the Canterbury Fayre festival when I bought two of their titles from a man named Kozmik Ken who ran a New Age stall of sorts: music, books, magazines and paraphernalia.

I'm sorry to say that a search of the Internet reveals he passed away a few years ago.

Anyway, back then, these miniature books were actually wooden-boards and printed on lovely (faintly laid) paper for the princely sum of £6.99. I'm pleased to say I still have them and an excellent read they are, too: fifty-five pages of condensed information with superbly drawn illustrations.



Their books today are paperbacks, narrower and slightly thicker, but equally enchanting. You can assemble your own sets and receive a discount on bulk purchases of 12 or 24 titles--the great preponderance covering the ancient and classical world:

I really would say there is a massive amount on offer that will appeal to Forteans. If you're not convinced you can read all of the texts online for free here!

https://woodenbooks.com/index.php

Here's my selection (and, yes, I now have two of the Leys book since I wasn't at home to check my shelves when I ordered!)

 

[Yithian]

@escargot

This came through on the slow boat. A slightly foxed top-edge, but for a 1985 first edition that cost less than a tenner, I have no complaints.

The old collector's dilemma arose: there is a second edition with more content but a far less evocative dust-jacket that I eventually passed over.

The tales are very short—often no more than capsule retellings of the alleged events. I probably shouldn't copy the whole book, but if any of the titles on the index page ring interesting bells, I am happy to upload the pages here or on the Railway Ghosts thread.

View attachment 69266View attachment 69267
View attachment 69271
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View attachment 69269View attachment 69270

I now have the follow-up and I can see why the publisher decided to release the combined edition subsequently: it's identical to the first book in every way apart from the inferior cover art.

I'm still digesting the first little by little on breaks.

 

[Yithian]

Have not had a chance to read this yet, but there are many beautiful full-page photos on lovely thick glossy paper—recommended to all here.

 

[Yithian]

I am, perhaps, disproportionately excited about this one.

A few of you know I'm an admirer of Algernon Blackwood, so it's not that surprising that I've long planned to get a copy of the only biography of him ever written.

(He wrote an autobiography, but only up until the age of 30, and he omitted his deep interest in the occult).

Of course, as a collector, I was hoping for a first edition in tidy condition—signed if available—so this is a treat.

And then I quietly drop the almost inconsequential fact that it's the late Christopher Lee's copy!



The Michael Pointon mentioned was a friend Christopher Lee's:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/nov/12/michael-pointon-obituary

 

[Yithian]

Masefield's "Midnight Folk" (I may have retreived a later edition replacement, must check)

Is this a good read?

I've read and enjoyed The Box of Delights.

It's a prequel to that, isn't it?

 

[Ermintruder]

Is this a good read?

For me, it's beyond being a good read, and I cannot be in the least bit objective about the book (because I just loved it so much...I maybe read it first at 7yrs of age?). It was an intrinsic strand of my earliest awareness of knowing I was able to think, and to wonder. I'm actually scared to re-read it (haven't done so for nearly 30 years). I think 'Midnight Folk' is what took me (probably much too early) into Alan Garner's "The Owl Service" in the early 1970s.

I've read and enjoyed The Box of Delights.

I believe it is, yes, set before 'The Midnight Folk', but I've not read it (semi-subconscious evasion, not deliberate omission). I will now add it to my 'Cleared To Read' list, thanks!

ps my latest arrival adding to my challenging piles of unread books (looks to be very good...it will have to overtake a few others)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dominion-The-Making-of-the-Western-Mind-Tom-Holland

 

[Yithian]

Another haul of attractive magazines.

These ones will likely be known to many members already.

View attachment 69437

Another plug for this fine publication, Issue 7 having just arrived with me after a slightly elongated journey over Christmas. Themes are trees, stones, memory, music and cheese, and the consistently excellent photography and graphic design have this time been augmented by some watercolour landscapes.

The tone, if I had to nutshell it:

It's somewhere around tea-time on a chilly Sunday in October 1978. A slightly odd programme is on TV in the other room, and you can hear the Speaking Clock leaking from the receiver in your grandfather's hand as the wind rustles the dwindling leaves and the sky turns to iodine outside.

It's all good—I can't think of a publication beyond the Fortean Times more likely to be appreciated by Forteans—but of particular interest is 'That Old Stone Feeling', an appeal for the acceptance of a phenomenological strand in archaeology that considers the sensory and emotional aspects (both contemporary and ancient) of encounters with megalithic sites.

 

[Frideswide]

Is this a good read?

I've read and enjoyed The Box of Delights.

It's a prequel to that, isn't it?

It's a very good book. I actually prefer it to Box of Delights but they are pretty close.

I can imagine you reading it aloud to Miss Yith as well as enjoying it yourself.

 

[Yithian]

I haven't read them all, but I like having these on the shelf as a set of sorts ('The Compass Series' plus a few odds). A set of early editions of Biggles books with jackets could (not joking here) buy you a house. These are Oxford 'Pyramid' Editions from the late 30s and early 40s and a lot of decidedly non-pc fun.

View attachment 7077 View attachment 7078

First of these I've bought in a long time (hard to find in decent condition).

For over eighty years old, this one looks quite nice.

The first run of so-called 'Pyramid Editions' is odd since the books appear to use the 1936 (first edition) pages, but in these new uniform covers from 1941 onward.

As a result, they're often mistaken for first editions by casual booksellers.



A rich businessman called Felix Marton visits Biggles. Marton's son, Harry, has disappeared on a solo flight to South Africa and Mr. Marton wants to hire Biggles to go and try to find either him, or his body. Flying in a Dragon aeroplane down to a remote aerodrome at Insula in Central Africa, Biggles, Algy and Ginger start their search. Insula was the last aerodrome where Harry Marton was seen. Here they meet the villainous Luke Sarda, the manager of the hardly used aerodrome, who immediately does his best to put them off staying. The next morning Biggles finds a deadly Mamba snake in his cockpit. Algy hears Sarda talking in his hut and they realise that Sarda has a telephone. Investigating this, Ginger speaks on the telephone to Harry Marton! Hiding himself at the aerodrome whilst Algy and Ginger conduct an aerial search, Biggles sees a mysterious man arrive in Harry Marton's aeroplane...
Continued:
http://www.biggles.info/Details/11/

 

[Tunn11]

First of these I've bought in a long time (hard to find in decent condition).

For over eighty years old, this one looks quite nice.

The first run of so-called 'Pyramid Editions' is odd since the books appear to use the 1936 (first edition) pages, but in these new uniform covers from 1941 onward.

As a result, they're often mistaken for first editions by casual booksellers.

View attachment 73219

A rich businessman called Felix Marton visits Biggles. Marton's son, Harry, has disappeared on a solo flight to South Africa and Mr. Marton wants to hire Biggles to go and try to find either him, or his body. Flying in a Dragon aeroplane down to a remote aerodrome at Insula in Central Africa, Biggles, Algy and Ginger start their search. Insula was the last aerodrome where Harry Marton was seen. Here they meet the villainous Luke Sarda, the manager of the hardly used aerodrome, who immediately does his best to put them off staying. The next morning Biggles finds a deadly Mamba snake in his cockpit. Algy hears Sarda talking in his hut and they realise that Sarda has a telephone. Investigating this, Ginger speaks on the telephone to Harry Marton! Hiding himself at the aerodrome whilst Algy and Ginger conduct an aerial search, Biggles sees a mysterious man arrive in Harry Marton's aeroplane...
Continued:
http://www.biggles.info/Details/11/

Puts pedant's hat on. Given the description, the illustration of what looks like a Bristol F2b flying over the pyramids may be inaccurate! Good condition for an eighty year old children's book though.

I've a couple of Biggles books but none in that good a condition. I do have a set, in varying states of the Martian books. Cracking stuff, inhabited asteroids, Martian flying saucers and flying back to Mars to get a shovel to bury someone who died in space!

 

[Kondoru]

No old ones like that, but the few W. E. Johns I have read were well worth it.

 

[Yithian]

No old ones like that, but the few W. E. Johns I have read were well worth it.

I've said elsewhere, he does his homework. The little details of geography, history, flora and fauna he scatters throughout his stories really do give the armchair traveller a sense of location. All he need do then is add a mystery and pour Biggles, Algy and Ginger into the locale and you've got the makings of an adventure.

 

[Analogue Boy]

This should be right up our poltergeist-infested street. Has anyone read this?