tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4889581030052997492024-03-13T03:15:21.621-07:00Paul Foster BooksPaul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-21914216918764194362013-03-06T08:46:00.000-08:002013-03-06T08:46:08.476-08:00Five go mad in California. (Well, 4 get a little giddy, actually)<span lang="">I got back from my annual visit to California a couple of weeks ago and have thought several times that I must write some sort of Blog report about the trip. That is what the blog is for and as I have also been very busy over the last few months ( and have a lazy gene that would impress a sloth) I have neglected to write anything for a while. <br />
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Since my computer tells me that people actually read this stuff, and some even sign up for notification when my next pearl appears, I think it only fair to keep up my end of the deal and give some insight into the life of a bookseller while working overseas.<br />
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So, in the words of Justin Bieber (Paul Foster Books is officially down the the kids), better late than never.<br />
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I flew to Los Angeles with a three colleagues, including a chain smoker who spent the nearly 11 hours of the flight eating the equivalent of his own body weight in chewy sweets to keep the nicotine monkey off his back, a normally chirpy and confident young woman who turns to jelly the moment she steps onto a plane, and one of the North of Englands finest booksellers. These were to be my companions (the Nervous young woman only for the next week) for the next two weeks of book scouting (what the Americans call searching for books to buy, we don't have a word for it in England, but as we probably invented it we don't need one), searching out green tea, driving around California and exhibiting at two bookfairs.<br />
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California is pretty much a smoking free state these days. This included the enormous 7 seater people carrier we collected from the car hire depot at LAX (the name for Los Angeles Airport and not a brand name for constipation relief medicines), complete with its graceful electronic sliding doors for the rear passengers. Unfortunately these rear doors opend so smoothly and quietly that they couldn't be heard from the driver seat. This resulted in several near misses for our chain-smoking passenger as he would attempt to leap out of the car for a much needed cigerette as soon as he heard the bossy woman on the satellite navigation system tell us that we had reached our destination, something she usually did some 20-30 yeards before we actually got there. When people say that smoking kills I don't think that most are refering to being squashed under the wheels of a moving car.<br />
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Resisting the temptation to spend the day driving around Los Angeles on the Rastabus tour we set of to buy some books.<br />
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The first day started slowly with just 2 books bought in the first place we visited, 1 in the second and 2 in the third. We stopped for lunch and to re-think our strategy. Five books bought between four bookdealers is not a good mornings work, even though two of those books were sold on within a couple of days. The afternoon proved much more fruitful. <br />
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Oops.<br />
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We arrived back at our Ocean front hotel to find 2 other English booksellers who had just flown in sitting on the veranda sipping drinks. Our smugness at having to enlist the help of the hotel bell boys and their trolleys to help get all the boxes of our purchases from the back of our car was not dampened by the new boys pointing out that we either had to sell all those books in the next 2 weeks or ship them home. I like a challenge.<br />
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Another day of scouting and then the set up day for the first of the two bookfairs, this at the Santa Monica Civic Centre, a large and dull building just a stones throw from the beach and famous Santa Monica Pier. Probably the most interesting thing about the Civic centre is the large (about 25 feet tall) anti-nuclear sculpture, Chain Reaction, of a mushroom cloud, made out of iron chains, by the artist Paul Conrad.<br />
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War is, like, bad.<br />
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Not much to write about here. The bookfair passed off pretty much as expected with the first day being fairly busy and the second much calmer. Some of the books bought in the previous couple of days were sold and a few more were bought to fill their places in the boxes that would have to be shipped. <br />
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My Booth at Santa Monica.<br />
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After 3 days in the Civic building we were ready to hit the open road. The nervous flyer was rather cruelly left to fly back the the UK alone while the three of us headed north to Santa Barbara. After a day of buying books and experiencing the delight of lunch in a roadside supermarket with a fantastic Halal delicatessen we found a hotel for the night and headed out to get our free Margharita's at the bearest Mexican restaurant, courtesy of the hotel receptionist and her little book of vouchers. After a fairly ordinary Mexican meal, made worse by the regular interuptions from the restaurant staff to check how we were doing and if we were having a good time, we retreated to a bar for an un-interupted chat over a drink or two.<br />
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Like, bummer.<br />
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This didn't last very long. I don't know if the three of us looked like we were about to start a good old fashioned bar-room brawl (although as we were only customers in the place it would have been difficult) but serving drinks in plastic glasses is a no-no for me. Rather than debate the finer points of the glass vs plastic arguments with the miserable looking bar tender we left and found the only party in town. The Karaoke night at the James Joyce bar. I kid you not. <br />
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A "replica" of a traditional Irish pub, it even had sawdust on the floor. Now I have done many years research on the pubs of Ireland. In over 30 years (they start you early over there) I have never seen sawdust on the floor in any pub in Ireland but I regularly see it in the Oirish replica bars in every other country. I don't know who is advising the owners of Vlad O'Brian's in Hungary, Xien O'Callahan's in China or Mordechai O'Reiley's in Israel, but you could probably save yourself a respectable amount of money each year by abandoning the sawdust.<br />
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After about as much Ironic cheering and high-fiving the appalling attempts on stage as I could take, bed was calling. For some reason the droning songs of miserabalist US rock band Creed were very popular with the Karaokers (Is that a word? It is now). Cheer up Santa Barbara. It can't be that bad. <br />
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Arriving in San Francisco the next day we met up with the glamorous wife/business partner of one of our little band of booksellers who had floown in for the main event that weekend. More bookbuying took up the next couple of days and then the main reason we were all here. <br />
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The fair, the largest of all the International Antiquarian Bookfairs, is vast and by the time I had set up my booth there was little time left for scouting (there's that word again) the other dealers books. <br />
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The bookfair being in an isolated part of the city the only choice for lunch is the small decrepit Susie's cafe opposite the rear entrance. <br />
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The infamous Susie's.<br />
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Many jokes have been made over the years about Susie's and the garage next door saving money by both using the same oil, but suffice to say that the food should not be attempted by anyone with a stomach ulcer, sensitive gag reflex or without antacid tablets nearby. <br />
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This is my appetising lunch. Hmmm. <br />
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Like, Burp.<br />
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I was quite proud of myself that I managed about three quarters of it before having to take two of the antacid's that I keep in my bookfair emrgency kit, along with one sticking plaster, an empty Tic-Tacs box and a bottle opener, for some reason.<br />
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The relaxed calm of my booth during set up and before the doors opened. <br />
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The fair was busy on all three days which is a remarkable feat for a bookfair held in an old railway depot boasting 125,000 square feet of exhibition space. Many familiar faces turned up to say hello and some to buy books from me. I met several new customers as well, including one gentleman who asked how I was enjoying my first California Bookfair. When I told him that I had been at every single one of these fairs for the last 15 years he told me I must be mistaken. When I got home I checked my passports and I was definitely there. <br />
Overall I sold a lot of books at the fair, even some of the new purchases which saved having to send them home. I am now sat in my ofice with piles of the others, all safely delivered and waiting to be catalogued.<br />
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Some people just don't learn.<br />
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After two weeks away from home and hundreds of dollars in parking fines (It took someone to explain to me, after the second ticket for the offence, that you cannot park on the oncoming side of the road in California. I disputed that I was more than 18" from the curb on my first ticket but when explained to me after the second I realised that I was, of course, much more than 18" from the curb on the right side of the road) I was desperate for a proper cup of tea, conversation with people who didn't drop the work 'Like' into each sentence several times, and to sleep in my own bed.<br />
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As ever, California was a lot of fun, hard work and I even got to see the sun for a bit. Next stop on the International merry-go-round of bookfairs for me is New York in April where I will be attempting to sell some of the books I bought in California (some of my books have flown more miles than Judith Chalmers) as well as giving out copies of my new catalogue and probably sharing a joke or two with my laugh a minute neighbour at Lucius books.<br />
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If you find yourself in New York on April 11th to the 14th and want to see my new purchases, get a copy of the catalogue or hear a dirty joke/some probably untrue, but still juicy, gossip, then do stop at booth B23 and sey hello.<br />
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Paul.<br />
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</span>Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-58677055640231479122012-10-22T06:51:00.001-07:002012-10-22T06:51:50.431-07:00Hi Ho Toronto.I am just back from the third staging of the new annual Toronto International Antiquarian Bookfair. Re-started in 2010 after a 15 year hiatus it positioned itself before the well established ILAB sponsored bookfairs in U. S. A, namely Boston in November, California (alternating between San Francisco and Los Angeles) in February and New York in April. (ILAB - International League of Antiquarian Booksellers - an umbrella group formed by the Antiquarian Booksellers Associations from 22 countries to iron out any cultural difficulties between nation's bookdealers and lobby internationally on behalf of the various associations' members. A bit like the united Nations but with more Alcohol and a lot more of its time devoted to arguing with the French).<br />
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Having had problems last year convincing Canadian Customs and Immigration officers that I am not anywhere near as dangerous as I look I decided to throw them a curveball and arrive, not from London with my shiny burgundy British passport, but via the U.S.A where I hoped to go un-noticed and un-molested through the border looking like an American, a thing I am often accused of here in England.<br />
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I flew with Virgin Atlantic into Boston. After the miserable cabin crew on last years Air Canada flight direct to Toronto it was a real pleasure to be back with the always cheerful and laid-back Virgin crew. Being stuck in a seat for 8 hours can be miserable at the best of times. It is amazing how much difference a smiling, rather than scowling, face can make when serving you your camomile tea. I know, its not very rock & roll, but having experienced a plane hangover once before I no longer drink on flights. I am grumpy enough when I wake up without adding a headache and mouth like a Wombat's armpit (To avoid causing offense the previous sentence has been heavily edited. Send me five pounds and I'll tell you what I originally typed).<br />
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After many delays I arrived at my hotel for the night. A depressing chain hotel chosen for its location (a short walk from the international arrivals hall) and price (it being the Leaf Watching season in New England all the hotels in the city were charging obscene amounts of money) I decided that it would be ok for one night. I was wrong. Dinner in their restaurant was miserable. I can't work out who wanted to be there least, the staff or the guests. At least it was for only one night.<br />
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The following morning I went into Boston and bought books from the ever friendly and welcoming dealers. At my first stop, Brattle Bookshop, I was given a steaming bucket of lovely black coffee to keep me going as I scanned every shelf of the rare book room on the third floor. By the time I got to Peter Stern's office I was buzzing and turned down the offer of more coffee. Unfortunately Peter was at a bookfair in Seattle (more of this later) with much of his new stock so I carried on to Commonwealth books where I found several rare and interesting books to add to my piles (stop sniggering at the back). Realising I was running out of time I rushed back to the hotel to collect my luggage and headed to the airport for my short flight to Toronto.<br />
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Safely through the airport (my ruse worked) I settled into my hotel and planned my visits to the local booksellers the following day. On the way to my room, laden down with bags and concentrating on the door numbers, I didn't notice that I appeared to have checked into the set of a horror film. Only when I left my room in search of dinner did I notice the eerily long corridor I was placed at the end of.<br />
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After convincing myself that I wasn't about to be hacked up by a madman with an axe I relaxed and looked forward to the bookfair and, more importantly, the fun to be had over the evenings ahead.<br />
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One night, after the bookfair had closed and I had spent a polite amount of time at a drinks reception (I know, its a tough life isn't it) I declined an invitation form a couple of the team from Bauman Rare Books of Philadelphia, New York and Las Vegas, to go to the top of the CNN tower. Being somebody with a terrible fear of heights I declined and had dinner nearer to the ground with the less dare-devil book-fairies of Bernard Quaritch and Peter Harrington from London. Nobody should have to witness me screaming and sobbing like a 3 year old whose had his toys taken away, a state I can lapse into at a moments notice when elevated anything above about three feet. I have to change light bulbs with my eyes shut, using the classic If I can't see it, it's not there technique. <br />
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As a reminder of my cowardice, the tower dominated the sky-line whenever I looked out of my hotel room window. <br />
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So, to the bookfair.<br />
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This year the fair moved up from the basement of the Toronto Convention Centre to the ground floor, promising more visibilty and with it more visitors.<br />
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Alas, it was not to be. I don't know whether visitors chose the much larger and longer established bookfair being staged in Seattle, just over the Canadian/American border to the west, over the same weekend, or was there something else that kept people away. The Toronto Marathon can't be blamed as it was on sunday and the bookfair opened friday. ( I arranged to meet a friend of mine, who lives in the city, for Brunch on the sunday and sat on the metro train with a smug grin as several runners, all draped in tin foil capes and looking like a dose of flu waiting to happen, staggered onto the carriages. I probably shouldn't have been quite so proud of myself for being fast asleep in my warm king-sized bed while these folk puffed and panted through the cold and rain, but, what can I say. I'm easily pleased. Oh, and lazy.).<br />
Anyway, the fair was considerably quieter than the previous two years with several collectors finding something else to do. My own theory involves the carpet and lighting which reminded me of my brief fling with the illegal Rave scene in England in the late 1980's. Strong lights and strange patterns were all the rage back then and worked, for a while, in disused warehouses in London but not so much in a bookfair. I found myself becoming entranced by the carpet several times over the three days.<br />
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The fair wasn't a disaster. The organisation was impeccable, the other dealers great company in the long lonely hours between customers and I did sell some books on all three days, just not anywhere near as many as the previous two years, although one decent after-sale has already brightened my opinion of the whole thing. Maybe the Jet-lag hasn't lifted fully yet.<br />
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My stand at the bookfair. The view unspoilt by any customers.</div>
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So with Toronto behind me I am looking forward to the ABA annual bookfair held at Chelsea old Town Hall on "London's trendy Kings Road" (Copyright - every lazy journalist since about 1970) on Friday November 2nd (2 to 7pm) and Saturday 3rd (11am to 5pm).<br />
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Chelsea is often refered to as the friendliest event in the bookfair Calender. This is almost certainly due to it having a bar in it. A few years ago I met a customer of mine, who had asked for a ticket to the fair, a few days after it had finished. He apologised for not coming to thank me for the ticket but said that every time he tried to leave the bar he met smebody else he knew who insisted on "just the one" with him and eventualy poured himself into a taxi home without buying a single book but having spent a small fortune at the bar.<br />
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I will be bringing my usual mix of modern and old books to the fair, including the following;<br />
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<strong>A signed First Edition of Fowles classic.</strong><br />
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<span lang="EN">FOWLES. JOHN.<i> </i> THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN. <br />
<i></i><br />
<i>Jonathan Cape. London. 1969<br />
</i>FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Signed by Fowles on the title page. Fine, clean copy in a near fine original dustwrapper with just a hint of fading to the spine. A beautiful copy. Uncommon signed. </span><br />
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<strong>A Rare copy of London Types, Inscribed by WilliamNicholson to his Mistress' daughter and her future husband.</strong></div>
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<span lang="EN">NICHOLSON. WILLIAM. Illustrates.; HENLEY. W. E.<i> </i> LONDON TYPES. Quatorzains by W. E. Henley. <br />
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<span lang="EN"><i>William Heinemann. London. 1898</i></span><span lang="EN"><i><span lang="EN">FIRST EDITION. Large 4to. (13.4 x 11.5 inches). Inscribed on the front paste down endpaper by Nicholson to the Daughter, and her second Husband, of his Mistress and house keeper Marie Laquelle; "<span lang="EN">For Georgette and Norman Holder with love from W. N. who did the pictures. London. Xmas. 1916". <span lang="EN">Decorative colour printed front board, lettered and showing the illustration for The Bus Driver, plus twelve full page colour lithographs after the original woodblocks. Brown paper covered boards, printed in colour litho. Plain tan cloth spine. Some minor foxing to endpapers and the edges of the boards are rubbed and bumped but overall a very good copy of this beautiful book. Housed in a felt-lined clam-shell box. Marbled paper on boards and a black calf spine, lettered in gilt. <br />
<span lang="EN"></span><br />
<span lang="EN"> </span><span lang="EN">From about 1910 until he remarried in 1919, Nicholson's housekeeper Marie Laquelle, whose real name was Adèle Marie Schwarz, née Schiestel, was also his mistress. Nicholson painted her several times, first as Carlina in 1909; he also painted her daughter Georgette and her second husband Norman Holder’. (Colin Campbell, Merlin James, Patricia Reed and Sanford Schwartz. The Art of William Nicholson. Published by The Royal Academy of Arts, London. 2004).</span></span><br />
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<strong>The works of Gibbon in original publishers boards</strong>.<br />
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<span lang="EN"> </span><br />
GIBBON. EDWARD.<i> </i> THE MISCELLANEOUS WORKS OF EDWARD GIBBON, ESQUIRE. With memoirs of his life and writings, composed by himself: Illustrated from his letters, with occasional notes and narrative, by John Sheffield. <br />
<i></i><br />
<i>A. Strahan and T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies (succesors to Mr. Cadell); John Murray. London 1796/1815<br />
</i><br />
FIRST EDITION. 3 Volumes. 4to. (11.7 x 9.3 inches). xxv, 703pp; viii, 726pp; x, 691pp. Volumes 1 & 2 published in 1796 and the 3rd volume issued in 1815 by John Murray. The third volume was issued to allow owners of the two earlier 4to volumes to have a uniform version of the material that appeared in the second edition that was published in five 8vo volumes in 1814. Portrait frontis in volumes 1 and 3. The first in silhouette, the second an engraving of Warton's <span lang="EN">painted portrait by James Fittler. Some offsetting from both frontispieces. Errata leaf in volume two, publishers advert leaf at the end of volume three. A tall and wide margined set in original publishers blue (Strahan & Cadell) and brown (John Murray) paper covered boards. All edges untrimmed. Re-backed to style with beige paper spines, each with a printed paper label. From the library of noted scholar of 18th century literature and art, John Cabell Riely, and with his bookplate to the paste-down endpapers. Generally a clean and bright set throughout. Boards show some rubbing to the edges and a few marks but overall the set is very good indeed. A remarkable survivor and rare in the original publishers boards.</span><br />
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<strong> A First Edition of Ulysses. One of only 150 large paper copies</strong>. <br />
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<span lang="EN">JOYCE. JAMES.<i> </i> ULYSSES. <br />
<i></i><br />
<i>Shakespeare and Company. Paris. 1922<br />
</i><br />
FIRST EDITION. Large Paper. Large 8vo. (10.7 x 8.5 inches). One of 150 copies, numbered from 101 to 250, printed on Verge D' <span lang="EN">Arches paper and larger than the other issues, from a total edition of 1000 copies -- 100 copies were numbered 1-100 and signed and 750 copies, numbered, printed on hand made paper. A lovely fresh copy, finely bound in early full dark brown morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe with the original publishers blue front and rear wrappers bound in at the back. Spine with three raised bands. Compartments lettered and ruled in gilt. Boards with single gilt ruled border and gilt shamrock device to each corner. Board edges gilt ruled. Inner boards with double ruled borders. Off-white paper endpapers. All page edges untrimmed. </span><br />
<span lang="EN">A beautiful copy of this rare large paper issue in an attractive early leather binding. Considered by many to be one of the greatest and most important works of twentieth century literature. Slocum & Cahoon. 17.</span></span><br />
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If you would like complimentary tickets, please let me know and I will be happy to send you some, otherwise they can be downloaded from the Bookfair website- <a href="http://www.chelseabookfair.com/">www.chelseabookfair.com</a> .<br />
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I will be on stand number 52 at the fair. Please do stop by and say hello if you are there, and not distracted by the bar.<br />
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Paul.<br />
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Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-80738848877182842072012-08-30T04:58:00.000-07:002012-08-30T04:58:12.730-07:00
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now at the end of August, and with my
holiday over, my attention turns to the PBFA’s York National Bookfair, held
in...well...<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">York</st1:country></st1:place></st1:city>,
funnily enough, on Friday and Saturday the 14th and 15th of september.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most U.K collectors, and an increasing
number of overseas visitors, will know of this huge fair by now. Established
nearly 40 years ago it has gone from strength to strength and Blah..Blah..Blah.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is plenty written about this event
every year so if you have not encountered it before, just visit the website </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.yorkbookfair.com"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.yorkbookfair.com</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial;">and all will become clearer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My own stand at the fair is number 7, on
the ground floor, where, depending on the time of day, you will find me either;
delighting customers old and new with my impressive book knowledge,
entertaining visitors and fellow booksellers alike with my jokes and
witticisms, staring blankly out of the window, wandering about in another part
of the bookfair pretending to be busy, spilling tea/coffee down my shirt,
stealing sweeties from the ever full bowl on my brothers stand (number <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>4, just behind mine), asleep. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those lucky enough to visit the bookfair
on both days might get to see all of the above. If anyone is interested I could
produce an I-Spy type book where a sighting of each activity can be ticked off.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As well as the usual mix of English
Literature, Children's and Illustrated, Fine bindings and general rare and
antiquarian books, I will also have the following on my stand;</span></span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3141"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ANDERSEN. HANS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>WALTON. CECILE. Illustrates.</span></span></a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3141"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">HANS
ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES. Translated by H. Oskar Sommer.</span></span></a></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
T. C. & E. C. Jack. London.,1911 <br />
FIRST WALTON EDITION. Large 8vo. (9.5 x 6.8 inches). Beautifully illustrated
with 24 fine full colour plates, this is a beautifully designed book with
decorative black and gold endpapers after a design by Walton, who also designed
the gilt illustration and decoration on the front board and spine. Publishers
black cloth, gilt. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed.Some rubbing to the
extremities but overall a very good copy of this uncommon book. Cecile Walton's
first major book commission. Her work shows the influence of her native <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Glasgow</st1:country></st1:place></st1:city>
(she was the daughter of E. A. Walton, one of the 'Glasgow Boys' group), some
of her illustrations being reminiscent of Jessie M. King's watercolours.: <br />
Price: £<b>450.00</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3223"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">AUSTEN. JANE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thomson. Hugh. llustrates.</span></span></a></span></b><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3223"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. With a preface by George Saintsbury.</span></span></a></span></b><span style="color: black;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
George Allen. London.,1894 <br />
LIMITED EDITION. One of only 250 large paper copies for <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">England</st1:country>, from a total of 275 copies (there were
another 25 copies for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">America</st1:country></st1:place>)
with all the101 fine line illustrations printed onto fine tissue paper and
mounted onto the page. The text printed on Unbleached Arnold paper. Large
8vo.(10.5 x 7.2 inches). Previous owners name, dated Christmas 1896, on half
title. A fine, clean copy in a beautiful fine binding of full purple morocco,
extra gilt, by Bayntun-Riviere. Spine with two raised bands. Green label ruled
and lettered in gilt. Elaborate continous lattice design with Vases, various
plants and flowers and numerous dots, all in gilt, among the wavy lines, to the
spine and both boards. Four gilt inner ruled borders surrounding purple
endpapers decorated with gold floral design. Top edge gilt, the others
untrimmed. A lovely clean and crisp copy of this scarce limited edition. One of
the most beautifully illustrated books of the late nineteenth century in a
stunning fine binding. : <br />
Price: £<b>5,750.00<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3156"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BELLOC. HILLAIRE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Blackwood. Basil. Illustrates.</span></span></a></span></b><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3156"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CAUTIONARY TALES FOR CHILDREN. Verses by H. Belloc.
Pictures by B. T. B.</span></span></a></span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Eveliegh Nash. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">London</st1:country></st1:place></st1:city>. (No date).,1907
<br />
FIRST EDITION. Large 8vo. (9.7 x 8.1 inches). Illustrated throughout with 86
line drawings by Blackwood. Publishers grey paper covered boards with red
lettering and black illustration to the front board. Original plain grey paper
spine has the words 'Cautionary Tales' neatly written in black ink. Small chip
to the top of the spine (0.2 inch). Some minor offsetting to the blank
endpapers and a newspaper cutting, dated 1917, announcing the death of Lord
Basil Blackwood, mounted onto the front paste-down, but overall a clean and
tidy copy of this scarce book.: <br />
Price: £<b>450.00</b></span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3116"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BROWN. THOMAS.</span></span></a></b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3116"><span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OBSERVATIONS ON THE ZOONOMIA OF ERASMUS DARWIN, M. D.</span></span></a></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Mundell & Son, Edinburgh ; For J. Mundell, Glasgow; J. Johnson, and J.
Wright, London.,1798 <br />
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (8.9 x 5.5 inches). xxiv, 560pp. An uncut copy in original
blue paper covered boards, with tan paper spine. Later printed paper label.
Edges untrimmed. Neat professional repair to the front hinge. Some rubbing to
extremities and one panel of the spine has a small brown mark, but overall this
s a very good, bright copy. Scarce in original publishers boards. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thomas
Brown (1778-1820) was born in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Kirkcudbright</st1:country></st1:city>,
<st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Scotland</st1:country></st1:country></st1:place>.
He was a Philosopher, published Poet and essayist, (his criticism of Immanuel
Kant was published in the second issue of the Edinburgh Review), and Lectured
in Moral Philosophy at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Edinburgh</st1:country></st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">University</st1:country></st1:placetype></st1:country></st1:place>
alongside Dugald Stewart. : <br />
Price: £<b>875.00</b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p><a class="rowevenauthor" href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=2995&keyword=carroll&searchby=author&offset=0&fs=1"><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">CARROLL. LEWIS. (The Rev Charles Dodgson).</span></strong></a></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">Tenniel. John. Illustrates.</span></strong><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black;"><b><a class="roweventitle" href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=2995&keyword=carroll&searchby=author&offset=0&fs=1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. --- & ---THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, AND</span> <span style="color: black;">WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE.</span></span></a></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Macmillan & Co. London.,1866/72</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br />TWO VOLUMES. FIRST EDITIONS. 8vo, (Alice 7.6 x 5.3 inches, : Looking Glass 7.4 x 5.1 inches.---- Alice in Wonderland, when originally issued, was a taller book. Later editions were reduced in size to the same dimensions as Through the Looking Glass). Both volumes are beautifully Illustrated throughout, with forty-two and fifty line engravings respectively, by John Tenniel.</span></span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bright, clean copies, finely bound, by Bayntun-Riviere of Bath, in recent full deep red morocco bindings. Double gilt ruled borders on boards with circular gilt illustrations of Alice carrying the Pig, The Cheshire Cat, & both the Red and White Queens, reproducing the decorations on the original boards. Spines with raised bands, each with gilt piping. The compartments double ruled and lettered in gilt. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Turn-ins with double gilt rules and decorative corner pieces.Original gilt decorated publishers red cloth boards bound in at the end of each volume. </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Alice also has one of the original plain blue endpapers bound in. Both books are the first published London editions. Alice is the earliest state with the inverted 'S' at the bottom of the contents page and the light blue endpapers rather than the much more common dark green. </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A very attractive pair of First Editions of these classic childrens books. Housed in a purpose built, felt lined, slip case, also made by Bayntun, with a step for the shorter Looking Glass volume and red silk pull-tie. Covered in deep red cloth. Fine.: <br /> Price: </span><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> £10,000.</span>00</strong></span></span></o:p></span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3293"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CHURCHILL. WINSTON. S.</span></span></a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3293"><span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ARMS AND THE COVENANT. Speeches by The Right Hon.
Winston S. Churchill. C.H. M.P. Compiled by Randolph S. Churchill.</span></span></a></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">London</st1:country></st1:place></st1:city>. 1938 <br />
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (9 x 6.3 inches). <b>Inscribed by Randolph S. Churchill</b>,
who complied the speeches, on front blank leaf. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A fine, clean and crisp copy
bound in recent full red morocco for Asprey's. Spine with raised bands, each
with gilt piping. Compartments ruled, lettered, and stamped with Rampant Lion,
Portcullis, 2 interlocking Letter C's within a circle and a crossed feather and
Shamrock device, all in gilt. Double gilt ruled borders on both boards with the
same tools used on the spine stamped within the double ruled lines. Board edges
ruled in gilt. Double gilt rule with floral corner pieces to the inner boards.
Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. A fine copy with the bonus of being signed
by Winston Churchill's Son Randolph who complied the book. <br />
Price: £<b>1,500.00<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3256"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CLARKE. JOHN COOPER.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maguire. Steve. Illustrates.</span></span></a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3256"><span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TEN YEARS IN AN OPEN NECKED SHIRT. And Other Poems.
Original Manuscript and typescipts.</span></span></a></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Arena. Published by Arrow books. London.,1983 <br />
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (7.6 x 5 inches). Paperback. Illustrated throughout with
black and white drawings by Steve Maguire. A very good copy with some minor
rubbing to the edges but generally bright and tight. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With; </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A folder
containing five A4 typescript and partial manuscript leaves of poems by Clarke
that feature in the book, all in an early form and different from the published
version, some quite substantially so. Number 1. Spilt Beans. -- 47 line poem.
31 lines (4 stanzas) typescript and the final 16 lines manuscript in JCC's hand
in green ink. This version is very different to the published text. --- Number
2. Salome (published as Salome Maloney). 40 Line poem in 10 typed stanzas. This
version substantially different to the published version. --- Number 3. Readers
Wives. 20 line poem. 16 lines (4 stanzas) typed and four lines in JCC hand in
green ink. There is a line and arrow showing the manuscript verse belongs
between the second and third typed verses. This has some minor differences to
the published version. --- Number. 4. Psycle Sluts (part 2). 54 lines (7
stanzas) typed. This has minor differences to the published version. --- Number
5. Bronze Adonis. 74 lines (8 stanzas) typed on 2 sides of the sheet. This has
minor differences from the published version, and, more importantly, a whole 10
line stanza (the last) that was not published. Also included in the folder are
9 photographic reproductions of Steve Maguire's illustrations. Formerly the
property of Writer and Publisher Jay Landesman (1919 - 2011).: <br />
Price: £<b>3,750.00</b></span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">FLEMING. IAN</span><span style="color: black;">.</span></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></strong><br />
<strong><span style="color: black;"><a class="rowoddtitle" href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3172&keyword=fleming&searchby=author&offset=0&fs=1"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MOONRAKER.</span></a></span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jonathan Cape. London.,1955 <br />FIRST EDITION. 8vo. Black cloth with silver lettering on front board and spine. Near fine, bright, tight copy with some light offsetting to the endpapers where the dustwrapper ends. A few small spots to the fore edge but the cloth still clean and the silver lettering sharp and gleaming. Very good dustwrapper, devised by Ian Fleming and executed by Kenneth Lewis. Price of 10s. 6d still intact on both inner flaps. Spine just a little toned and one tiny chip to the to the top. Rear panel with a few faint spots. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall a bright and clean example of the third Bond title. Probably the hardest to find in collectable condition.: <br /> Price: <strong> £4,750.00</strong></span><br />
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<o:p><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">FORESTER. C. S</span><span style="color: black;">.</span></span></strong></o:p></div>
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<o:p><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></strong></o:p> </div>
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<o:p><strong><span style="color: black;"><a class="roweventitle" href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3190&keyword=forester&searchby=author&offset=0&fs=1"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THE HORNBLOWER COMPANION. With Maps and Drawings by Samuel H. Bryant.</span></a></span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Michael Joseph Ltd. London.,1964 <br />FIRST EDITION. Large 8vo. (10.7 x 8.1 inches). A fine, sharp copy in a fine dustwrapper. Immaculate.: <br /> Price: <strong> £125.00</strong></span></o:p></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3191"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GRAHAME. KENNETH.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>SHEPARD. ERNEST H. Illustrates.</span></span></a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3191"><span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS.</span></span></a></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Methuen & Co. Ltd. London.,1931 <br />
FIRST EDITION with Ernest Shepard illustrations. 8vo. (7.6 x 5.3 inches). A
lovely copy, illustrated throughout with Shepard`s beautiful line drawings and
decorative map endpapers. Publishers original dark green cloth with the front
cover showing Toad, Ratty and Mole, all stamped in gilt. Spine lettered in
gilt. Neat previous owners name on half title and at top of the front map
endpaper otherwise a fine, bright copy in the original illustrated dustwrapper.
There is some rubbing, mostly to the edges, and minor chipping to the corners
but overall it is still a very good, clean example of this scarce wrapper. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
thirty eighth edition of the book overall, this is the first to feature the
wonderful drawings by Shepard which haven't been out of print since. After his
drawings for the A. A. Milne Pooh books, these are Shepard's most enduring,
& endearing, illustrations.: <br />
Price: £<b>1,000.00</b></span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3194"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KEIGHTLEY. THOMAS. (Published Anonymously).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brooke. W. H. Illustrates.</span></span></a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3194"><span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THE FAIRY MYTHOLOGY. In Two Volumes.</span></span></a></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
William Harrison Ainsworth. London.,1828 <br />
FIRST EDITION. 2 volumes. 8vo. (6.9 x 4.6 inches). 12 full page etched plates
and several smaller wood engravings throughout the text. A clean set in fine
quality early twentieth century leather bindings of half brown morocco. Spines
with raised bands, decorated with gilt piping. Compartments with black and gilt
rules. Gilt stamped centre pieces and lettering. Tan cloth on boards. Top edges
gilt. Marbled endpapers. The spines are uniformly a little faded to a lighter
brown but still atractive with the gilt bright and gleaming. Overall a near
fine set of this scarce set. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Described in Clute & Grant's
Encyclopedia of Fantasy as "The most significant attempt to codify and
explicate British Folklore", the books are also much more, being a
comprehensive study of everything related to the Myth of the Fairy, from the
origins of belief in Fairies, and the word Fairy, to the differing mythologies
found around many parts of the world including Persia, Scandinavia, Europe, The
Celts, through to Slaves, Africans and Jews.: <br />
Price: £<b>600.00</b></span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3257"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">LEAR. EDWARD. </span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3257"><span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NONSENSE SONGS, STORIES, BOTANY AND ALPHABETS.</span></span></a></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Robert John Bush. London.,1871 <br />
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. (8.3 x 6.8 inches). A very good copy in a late twentieth
century fine leather binding by Bayntun Riviere of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Bath</st1:country></st1:place></st1:city>.
Half deep red morocco, the spine with five raised bands, ruled in blind, the compartments
lettered and decorated with gilt floral design. Marbled paper on boards and
endpapers. Top edge gilt. A lovely copy of this scarce book which includes the
First publication of two of the most famous and enduring works of nonsense
verse ever published. The Jumblies and The Owl and The Pussycat.: <br />
Price: £<b>1,200.00<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<a class="rowoddauthor" href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3288&keyword=india&searchby=title&offset=0&fs=1"><strong><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ROTHFELD. OTTO. Dhurandhar. M. V. Illustrates.</span></strong></a><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><b><a class="rowoddtitle" href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3288&keyword=india&searchby=title&offset=0&fs=1"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WOMEN OF INDIA.</span></a></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simkin, Marshall Himilton, Kent & Co, Ltd. London. No Date. [1920] <br />FIRST EDITION. (U. K.). Large 8vo. (9.8 x 7.8 inches). Illustrated with 48 fine full colour plates, each with a printed tissue guard, (except the frontispiece which has lost its guard but the colour plate is still clean and bright). Some light patches of mild foxing to a few pages, mostly to the margins and away from the text, but overall a very good copy in the publishers highly decorative cloth binding. Spine and front board decorated in yellow, red, blue, and white over green cloth. Black lettering. Prize label from the Royal Air Force's R. M. Groves Memorial Essay Prize, dated 1923, on the front free endpaper. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A portrait photo of R. M. Groves (1880-1920), in his R. A. F uniform and with his facsimile signature, is mounted onto the front paste down endpaper, as is usual with the prize books given. The cloth is bumped and rubbed to the extremities with a couple of splits to the hinges (both about 1.5 inches long and without any loss) but overall this is a very good copy of this rare first U. K. edition. <br /> Price: <strong> £750.00</strong></span><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3295"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">St JOHN. JOHN.</span></span></a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3295"><span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">TO THE WAR WITH WAUGH. With an introductory Memoir by
Christopher Hollis and illustrations by Peter MacKarell.</span></span></a></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Whittington Press. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">London</st1:country></st1:place></st1:city>. 1973 <br />
SIGNED LIMITED EDITION. First edition. 4to. (11 x 7.6 inches). 32 line drawings
by MacKarell, some full and double page. One of an unspecified number of the
total edition of 600 copies, all numbered and signed by <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">St. John</st1:country></st1:place></st1:city>,
that was bound in full off-white sheep with gilt lettering to the spine and a
gilt stamped illustration, reproducing one of the drawings in the text, to the
front board. The binding is by Hunter and Foulis Ltd, who bound the standard
cloth edition, with their gilt stamp to the inner rear board. Marbled
endpapers. All edges gilt. Housed in the original beige patterned paper covered
slip case. The glue used along the top edge of the tipped in portrait frontis
has bled through the plate and left some light offsetting to the title page
opposite, otherwise a clean and bright copy throughout. Some minor scuffing and
bumping to the spine but overall a very near fine copy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This copy is numbered
in Roman numerals, No. II, but this special delux leather issue is not
mentioned in the colophon. A review from the contemporary issue of the Evelyn
Waugh newsletter (Volume 7, Number 2 - Autumn 1973) does list this delux
option, with cloth bound copies being advertised at £5.25 and Leather bound at
£25. Because of the large price difference it is unlikely that many copies were
bound in this way and in over twenty years of bookdealing this is the first
that I have come across, despite having had several copies of the cloth bound
limited edition. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">St. John</st1:country></st1:place></st1:city> served in the
same Royal Marines Regiment as Evelyn Waugh during World War Two. They participated
in basic training, prepared to defend the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Cornwall</st1:country></st1:city> area, and joined the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Dakar</st1:country></st1:place></st1:city>
attack. Waugh related many of these activities in Put out More Flags and Men at
Arms. We learn the prototype of Ritchie-Hook, the location of Kut-al-lmara
House, and the identification of Inverary with the Isle of Mugg. There are some
interesting personal revelations, e.g., Waugh's lecture to his men about
cursing, his desire to be fighting the Russians in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on">Finland</st1:country></st1:place>, and his fear of being
treated by a Soviet woman doctor. <br />
Price: £<b>450.00</b></span></div>
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<o:p><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">WODEHOUSE. P. G</span><span style="color: black;">.</span></span></strong></o:p></div>
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<o:p><strong><span style="color: black;"><a class="rowoddtitle" href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3181&keyword=wodehouse&searchby=author&offset=0&fs=1"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">YOUNG MEN IN SPATS.</span></a></span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Herbert Jenkins. London.,1936 <br />FIRST EDITION. 8vo. A fine, unread copy in the publishers variant orange binding, with black lettering and ruled lines to the front board. Spine with black rules, lettering and publishers device. The rear board has the publishers name and device stamped to the middle. This First edition was also issued in green cloth with the same design on the spine and boards. A fine copy in the near fine original full colour illustrated dustwrappper. Price of 7'6 to the spine. </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This wrapper is either a variant of McIlvaine's 1st issue or is one of a number specially printed for a Colonial Edition, either way it is not recorded by McIlvaine. This wrapper conforms to McIlvaine's description of the 1st state wrapper in every way except on the lower inside flap where she calls for "list of 19 titles by Wyndham Martyn, the last being Spies of Peace at 7/6 net". This wrapper does have 19 titles listed by Martyn but with 2 titles, ending with Spies at Peace, priced at 7/6 at the top and the other 17 titles listed below it, ending with Anthony Trent, Master Criminal, at 2/6. </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One closed tear, without loss, to the very top of the front panel and only affecting the white area to the right of the lettering. A few tiny nicks from the spine but overal a near fine example, the colours still bright and fresh. A lovely, sharp copy. ( Eileen McIlvaine. -- P. G. Wodehouse. A Comprehensive Bibliography and Checklist).: <br /> Price: £</span><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">950.00</span> </strong></o:p></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3241"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">YEATS. W. B. </span></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=3241"><span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THE TOWER.</span></span></a></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
Macmillan and Co. London.,1928 <br />
FIRST EDITION. 8vo. A very good copy with wonderful gilt decoration, designed
by T. Sturge Moore, to front board and spine. Some rubbing to the top edge of
the spine but overall very good. Only 2000 copies were published. (Wade.
Bibliography of the works of W. B. Yeats. No. 158).: <br />
Price: £<b>550.00</b></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do have some complimentary tickets and will
happily send them to anybody interested. Just let me know if you would like one.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If there is anything seen on my website that you
would like me to bring to the fair so that you can inspect it in person, please
do let me know.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
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Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-21738182997632623032012-08-24T05:30:00.000-07:002012-08-24T05:30:20.963-07:00
<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> <strong><u>What I did in my Summer
Holidays. By Paul Foster. Aged 45 ½.<o:p></o:p></u></strong></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN;">As another summer nears its end
I wonder where it all went. This year my summer period of quiet time has been
longer than most years but seems to have passed so much quicker. </span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For me the end of the London
Olympia ABA bookfair signals the start of the regular downturn in business that
lasts until the end of August (and with Olympia being staged a couple of weeks
early this year, so my summer got longer) as people turn their attention to
holidays, the Tennis at Wimbledon, keeping bored children entertained, and this
year the Royal Jubilee celebrations, European Football Championship and the
London Olympics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OeYa70JkcC4/UDdqY5O8FzI/AAAAAAAAAG0/gHQpV8i9jD0/s1600/stourhead_garden_wiltshire_original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OeYa70JkcC4/UDdqY5O8FzI/AAAAAAAAAG0/gHQpV8i9jD0/s1600/stourhead_garden_wiltshire_original.jpg" /></a></div>
Stourhead gardens.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">At the end of July I exhibited at what
must be one of the smallest bookfairs to be held in <st1:country -region="-region" w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country>. Just 12 dealers from as
far away as Sheffield, London and Kent, housed for two days in a small hall
next to the National Trust owned Landscaped gardens at Stourhead House in Wiltshire,
all smoothly organised by 2 local dealers on behalf of the Provincial
Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA), of which I am a member. My elder Brother
Stephen (also a book dealer) was among those 12 dealers as well and we were
placed next to each other in a corner of the hall. This had the desired effect
of containing us in one small area away from the other dealers but also meant
that we could keep each other amused with the legendary Foster wit over the 2
days of the fair. We even sold some books, which took us both by surprise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">You might ask why we both booked the fair
if we weren't expecting to sell any books (my accountant did), and the truth is
it seemed like a good idea at the time. Although neither my Brother or myself
are what you would call nostalgic people, when the PBFA decided to put on the
fair we both got momentarily carried away with the idea of spending a couple of
days in this part of the world since it is where we spent many of our school
holidays when we were young. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">As soon as I got there I realised the
flaw in our plan. When we were young and foolish we would spend our days
cycling, walking, hill-climbing, fishing, exploring the many forests nearby,
and teasing our little sister (the price you pay for being the youngest of four
children) but mostly fighting amongst ourselves (we have a third brother who
was at the forefront of this part of our youth) and devising new ways to drive
our parents mad. A job we accomplished some time in the mid 1980’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now approaching middle age and foolish,
we had stupidly booked ourselves in for 2 days of work (ok, so it’s not digging
a ditch but it’s my blog and I’ll call it work if I want to) and so had to sit
in a cold hall being grown up booksellers while looking out at the many hundreds
of people enjoying the warm sunny weather outside. By the time we finished in
the evening the gardens were closed and we had to take what comfort we could
from the local pubs. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stourhead was my only bookfair
of the summer months and as many of my customers are distracted by things other
than buying books, the auction season ends and the ‘phone doesn’t ring as much it
creates a perfectly good reason for me to slow down my normally hectic work
rate and enjoy a shorter working day, long lunches with friends and this summer
I even, in a moment of madness, joined a Gym.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It started with great promise.
A perky and enthusiastic trainer showed me around and encouraged me to give everything a go to get the most out of my membership. There were rows of strange looking weight lifting and muscle toning machines that mostly
look like the weird contraptions that I saw in a late night documentary about
the seedy side of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Amsterdam</st1:city></st1:place>
on the telly a few years back. I tried them all and awoke some muscles in my
back that have been asleep for years now. I also awoke an old sports injury
that had not troubled me for years as well, and is now back with a vengeance. There
was a 50 foot swimming pool, unfortunately full of bouncing aqua aerobics
classes every time I tried to use it, a steam room (just plain wrong. If I want
to get sweaty with strangers in a confined space I’ll take the London
Underground, thank you. At least on the Tube I won’t be sat opposite a naked <st1:place w:st="on">Rugby</st1:place> player who keeps stretching out, spread eagled, on
the bench while exhaling loudly. Although, now I think about it, there was this
one time on the Piccadilly line………), ‘spin’ classes (20 people in a room, all
sat on static cycling machines and pedaling furiously while a bored instructor
shouted “come on, pedal” over and over for 40 minutes while texting on her
phone for the whole time), and, my favourite, the stretching mats. I don’t know
who had the brilliant idea of putting cushioned mats down on the floor in
amongst the machines but they should be congratulated. The chance to have a cheeky
five minute ‘power nap’ as part of a strenuous work out was very welcome. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I spent 3 weeks going 3 times a week
but then had to stop to take my annual summer holiday (<st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sicily</st1:place></st1:state> this year, since you ask. First in
the dusty heat bowl of a city that is Palermo, then 2 glorious weeks in a hill side
villa just outside the beautiful old sea-side town of Cefalu, pronounced
Chefaloo, on the northern coast).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A4TJgF9jdzs/UDdtol8gc_I/AAAAAAAAAHM/2kNe0U6pDIA/s1600/01_Cefalu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A4TJgF9jdzs/UDdtol8gc_I/AAAAAAAAAHM/2kNe0U6pDIA/s320/01_Cefalu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Cefalu town. <br />
Photo presumably taken from a helicopter or jet-pack. Or a very tall boat.<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN;">With
temperatures in the high 30's and 40's every day, keeping cool became a
priority. Luckily, with a </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">pool at the
villa and the beautiful long sandy beaches of the <st1:place w:st="on">Mediterranean
sea</st1:place> just 15 minutes drive away it was easily done. I love the sea
and particularly being in it. I am equally happy floating about on the top of
calm, flat water or swimming my way over big waves and being thrown about as
they come crashing down. I can, and often do, spend hours at a time in the
water. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The only day not spent in a combination
of Beach in the morning and pool in the afternoon, or vice versa, was a trip to
see <st1:place w:st="on">Mount Etna</st1:place>.</span> </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iaUZBngZY8A/UDdsbp-oi_I/AAAAAAAAAG8/CzsCYXBmmrU/s1600/etna.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iaUZBngZY8A/UDdsbp-oi_I/AAAAAAAAAG8/CzsCYXBmmrU/s1600/etna.png" /></a></div>
Mount Etna. Very, very big.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 5pt 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This involved lots of driving
up winding mountain roads and the most alarming road warning sign I have ever
seen. Inside the traditional red triangle was bright yellow and orange balls of
burning lava falling to the ground. You will have to take my word for this as
despite one of the passengers in my car being a photographer (albeit one who
shoots fashion rather than landscapes), complete with fancy expensive camera,
she slept as we passed the sign on the way up and on the way back down again. I
wanted to stop the car so that we could get a picture of the sign but pulling
up on a narrow mountain road with a few thousand feet drop to one side is
considered bad driving even by most Sicilians, a nation of people with the
driving skills of a drunk child, and who take extraordinary risks on the roads
every day in what seems like a constant race to get wherever as quickly as
possible while ignoring every other motorist, cyclist and pedestrian around
them. Strangely, when they get out of the cars the aggression disappears and
people are genuinely relaxed and friendly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I would recommend the <st1:place w:st="on">Island</st1:place>
to anyone keen on good food and wine, beautiful landscapes, interesting, if
sometimes brutal, history, and exploring a country not in a hurry to change,
outside of the cities anyway. (whilst chatting to the car hire rep who was
preparing my paperwork at <st1:city w:st="on">Palermo</st1:city> airport I was
asked had I been to <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sicily</st1:place></st1:state>
before. I said yes, but the last time was 13 years ago. "Don't worry,
nothing has changed" was the reply. It took me a moment to realise that it
was not a joke and that they meant it as a good thing).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Sicilian/Italian beaches mostly
operate a Lido system whereby somebody takes over a stretch of beach and builds
some basic facilities including showers, changing cubicles and a café (some
more basic than others but mostly to a pretty high standard), provides lifeguards
(one of the girls in our group spent many days flirting with one of these men
thinking, at first, that his name was Salvataggio as he had it printed on the
back of his tee-shirt), and generally takes responsibility for keeping the
beach clean and safe. In return they get to hire out sun loungers and umbrellas,
all laid out in neat lines with each lido choosing a matching patterned
material on all of their umbrellas so that even if you swim, or take a pedallo,
a long way out you can always spot your bit of beach to return to. For someone
like me that spends uninterrupted hours in the sea and often gets carried away
(and not just by the tide) it is reassuring to be able to see where my friends,
not to mention my towel, Ray-bans and cash supply, are at any given time. This system
also makes it easy to arrange to meet friends on the long beaches (‘we’ll see
you at the red and white striped lido’ ). These <st1:place w:st="on">Lido</st1:place>’s
are spread out with ‘Public’ beaches in between for those that don’t wish to
pay for the facilities.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WyLC3Y0dEzk/UDdtU_ErTGI/AAAAAAAAAHE/8egiYsT2klI/s1600/Lido%2520Eolo_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WyLC3Y0dEzk/UDdtU_ErTGI/AAAAAAAAAHE/8egiYsT2klI/s320/Lido%2520Eolo_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I'm sat under the blue and white one.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZScVDF9rv8I/UDdumLOTQyI/AAAAAAAAAHU/2bB8nQLpklw/s1600/cefalou.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZScVDF9rv8I/UDdumLOTQyI/AAAAAAAAAHU/2bB8nQLpklw/s320/cefalou.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The 3 finalists in the Biggest Sun Glasses competition.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite covering myself in factor 30 sun
block at regular intervals, I find myself back home with a sun tan. People have
commented that I look ‘healthy’, although one did qualify it with ‘for you,
anyway’, and my body clock is telling me that the hard work months are just
around the corner. Time to start setting the alarm clock a bit earlier in the
morning, and paying attention to it when it does go off. The pages with ‘Lunch,
so & so’ casually written across half the day start to be replaced with specifically
timed work appointments in my desk diary and the number of incoming emails,
telephone calls and post are increasing every day.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, well. It will be Christmas holidays
soon.</span> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-49804440120721618682012-05-01T04:42:00.000-07:002012-05-02T01:05:15.535-07:00Are we still allowed to call it Olympia Bookfair?After a very busy week in New York, both in and out of the marathon 5 day bookfair, I am back on British soil and making plans for my home fixture in the great travelling Circus (No Animals but plenty of Clowns) that is the ILAB International Antiquarian Bookfair Calendar.<br />
<br />
New York is a fair unlike any other. The Buzz, the impressive Park Avenue Armory building that houses the fair, the Customers (where else in the world might you see Chelsea Clinton, Yoko Ono, Me and Steve Martin all in the same place at the same time), and the backdrop of one of the most exciting and vibrant cities in the world make it a tough act to follow.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--JXOAVTNI4s/T5_H5OnUURI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/ysfZNcw5VVg/s1600/image24-150x150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--JXOAVTNI4s/T5_H5OnUURI/AAAAAAAAAGQ/ysfZNcw5VVg/s1600/image24-150x150.jpg" /></a></div>
(Yoko is the one on the left)<br />
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(Who's Ya Daddy)<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-59bAME0F4yc/T5_IXssMcHI/AAAAAAAAAGg/0U0N2cZRE90/s1600/Steve_Martin_by_David_Shankbone-150x150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-59bAME0F4yc/T5_IXssMcHI/AAAAAAAAAGg/0U0N2cZRE90/s1600/Steve_Martin_by_David_Shankbone-150x150.jpg" /></a></div>
(Steve "just call me Steve" Martin)<br />
<br />
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(Me, playing Hide-and-Seek, on Park Avenue)<br />
<br />
<br />
This year my Booth partners (The approachable and chirpy James, and the flawlessly elegant Georgina Hallgate from Lucius Books in York.) and I drew the short straw. We got one of the rear wall booths, right next to the cafeteria area of the bookfair. Not a popular choice with either of us as it meant that we couldn't unpack and set up until very late in the first day, we got on with it and didn't complain (too much, or to the right people it seems). <br />
To our surprise it turned out to be a good spot when the bookfair actually opened. Most visitors to a bookfair can't go a whole day without needing a sit down and a restorative drink or something to eat, so pretty much everybody who came to the bookfair walked by, and several into, our booth. I met many new customers, some known to me but who had always walked past me to get to the dealers that they knew, and many that I wasn't aware of before. I got several requests to go on my mailing list for catalogues and some of these new faces even bought books at the fair.<br />
<br />
Added to the succesful business was some great evenings in wonderful bars and restaurants, including a sublime Japanese meal in a terribly fashionable eatery (not sure why they let me in) in the East Village where we watched an ultra-skinny Model make a single portion of sushi last over an hour before declaring herself full and leaving her friends to their third or fourth courses. I'd love to know what she made of our table, which resembled Chimps feeding time at the Zoo whenever our waiter minced over with another tray of the most delicious food only to see it all gone in a minute into our hungry, but appreciative, mouths. <br />
If I can ever find it again (trendy places don't advertise, or even look like restaurants from the outside. You have to be in the know, Daahlink) I will work my way through the other half of the menu.<br />
<br />
But after New York Bookfair comes, inevitably, London Bookfair, or Olympia Bookfair as it is generally known. <br />
I am not aware of any threats from the International Olympic Committee about the name appearing on posters, adverts and websites, but maybe they haven't noticed it yet. A notoriously aggressive body when protecting their "Brand", the IOC have used their great wealth and Power recently to take on opponents like the owner of the Olympic Cafe in Stratford who was ordered to change his business name or face legal proceedings. Faced with a large bill for new signage he got his paint brush out and simply painted over the O. Presumably he will wash it off when the IOC turn their attention to the next host city at the end of the games.<br />
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This year the Olympia bookfair is moving to the bigger exhibition hall, right next door to its regular home in Hall 2 since 1998. This increase in space has also seen an increase in booth sizes and the number of exhibitors. This means that there will be more books on show this year, even allowing for the handful of dealers who only bring about a dozen books (yet still seem to take hours to set up), than ever before. <br />
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The fair is being held a couple of weeks earlier than usual this year. This is to avoid clashing with the school half term holidays and the Royal Jubilee celebrations. The bookfair is a big draw for many but the ABA knows that pitching its flagship event against the first official holiday of the summer and an old Queen (......No. Better not.), is a battle it can't win. <br />
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The fair opens on Thursday 24th of May at 3pm and closes at 8.30pm. This is half an hour earlier than usual as some of the more vocal Gentlemen bookdealers resented work getting in the way of their drinking time.<br />
Friday 25th the doors oepn at 11am until 7pm and saturday 11am until 5.30 pm.<br />
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With a series of Lectures, demonstrations of Bookbinding, Printing, Calligraphy and Engraving, Guided tours of the fair and the ABA roadshow (where visitors can bring in their own books for valuation) there is plenty to fill the three short days. There is even much hope that the dreaded catering will be vastly improved this year.<br />
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I will be on stand number 131 (just in the entrance and turn right, four stands in from the centre) so do stop by and say hello. The multi-talented Maz (Paul Foster Books is the official sponsor of the Mad French Bird) will be on hand to deal with those who choose not to talk to me.<br />
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If you want free tickets you can either download them from the official website- <a href="http://www.olympiabookfair.com/">www.olympiabookfair.com</a> , or let me know your postal address and how many you would like and I will send them by first class mail.<br />
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Paul.Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-16997630944631585882012-03-28T07:37:00.000-07:002012-03-28T07:37:20.392-07:00New York Antiquarian Bookfair. 2012.Coming hot on the heels of February's very successful Pasadena Bookfair in California, the ABAA (Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America) moves its Bookfair roadshow to New York in April for the 52nd Annual New York Antiquarian Bookfair. <br />
Held at the the impressive Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue, at 67th street, the fair has a preview evening on Thursday April 12th from 5 to 9pm and is then open friday 13th: Noon to 8pm, Saturday 14th: Noon to 7pm, and Sunday 15th: Noon to 5pm.<br />
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This is the Daddy of the international bookfairs. Over 200 of the world's leading dealers, and Me, will be exhibiting a wide range of Books, Manuscripts, Maps, Ephemera, Prints, Posters and just about anything that can be included under the umbrella of collectable printed words and works on paper.<br />
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I will be there, at booth A46, right next to the cafe area, no doubt resisting the temptation to blow any profts I might make on what must be the most expensive drinks outside of the Upper East Side Hotel cocktail bars, so I've been told.<br />
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I am sharing a booth with James and Georgina Hallgate from Lucius Books, based in York, UK. If you are passing, do stop and say hello. We are approachable (well, maybe me more than James), and will be happy to pass on any gossip that we have picked up during the set up days.<br />
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Highlights among my books at the fair will be; A very near fine copy of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. London. 1902.<br />
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A very Rare copy of T. S. Eliot's Poems, hand printed and published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press in 1919. This copy has the first state text and title Label to the front cover and is an Eliot family copy with the ownership name of his Cousin Abigail inside.<br />
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A true first edition, 1st state set of Dickens rare three volume novel, Great Expectations. London, 1861. These volumes all have the first issue title pages and text as per Appendix D of the Clarendon Edition of Dickens Works.<br />
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Finely Bound First editions of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glass. Both are the 1st published London editions, 1866 and 1872, and are lovely copies in fine full red morocco leather bindings, gilt, by Bayntun-Riviere Binders of Bath, U.K.<br />
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American Literature is covered as well, including nice copies of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, 1st edition. New York, 1929,<br />
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And Salinger's classic The Catcher in the Rye. Boston, 1951.<br />
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Among the earlier books is a copy of the rare 1608 "Judas" Bible. So called because of the miss-print "Then said Judas to the twelve, will ye also goe away" in John, Chapter VI, verse 67.<br />
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Bringing things up to modern(ish) times are some Punk items from the late 1970's. These include a full set of all 11 issues of the important San Francisco zine, Search and Destroy, 1977-1979, and 3 contracts, signed by Johnny Rotten (as John Lydon), Steve Jones, and Sid Vicious (using his real name, John Beverly), from the Sex Pistols ill-fated last tour, in which they ended up playing just 7 of the dates, in January 1978, all in the southern U.S, and then split up 3 days after the Infamous San Francisco Winterland gig, which ended with a cover version of The Stooges 'No Fun' as an encore and Lydon asking the crowd "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? Good Night".<br />
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I will also be giving away copies of my lovely new catalogue, so please ask if you would like one.<br />
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See you there.<br />
<br />
<br />
Paul.<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Paul Foster Books<br />
49 Clifford Avenue<br />
London<br />
SW14 7BW<br />
U.K<br />
<br />
020 8876 7424<br />
<br />
Email; <a href="wlmailhtml:{90C88418-21A4-4ABC-BFDD-9A36763B34FC}mid://00000062/!x-usc:mailto:paulfosterbooks@btinternet.com"><span style="color: blue;">paulfosterbooks@btinternet.com</span></a><br />
<br />
Website; <a href="wlmailhtml:{90C88418-21A4-4ABC-BFDD-9A36763B34FC}mid://00000062/!x-usc:http://www.paulfosterbooks.com/"><span style="color: blue;">www.paulfosterbooks.com</span></a><br />
<br />
Member of ABA, ILAB, & PBFA</span>Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-59430780148834551082012-01-20T05:05:00.000-08:002012-01-20T05:05:13.119-08:00If Time and Space are relative, how come they never came to any of my Birthday parties?I have spent the last couple of weeks sharing my office with an odd looking man. Look who's talking, I hear you think (?).<br />
I find myself staring at his face for several minutes at a time, and I can't quite pinpoint why.<br />
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The man in question is the Father of Modern Physics, the Nobel Prize winning, Gravity bothering, light-bending, haircut dodger himself, Albert Einstein.<br />
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I recently bought a fantastic portrait photograph, a Silver Gelatin print, taken by the Uber-Cool Austrian-American photographer Trude Fleischmann at Princeton, sometime around 1946. <br />
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Fleischmann was born in Vienna in 1895 and at a young age discovered an interest in photography. At the age of nine she was given a camera as a Christmas gift and started experimenting with it. As a young woman she studied Photographic arts at college in Vienna, among the earliest Women to do so. Her natural talent and willingness to push boundries soon made her an important part of the Viennese art scene during the 1920's and 1930's, and she photographed many of the cities cultural and intellectual elite.<br />
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Forced to leave Austria after the Anschluss in 1938, Fleischmann travelled through Europe and eventually moved to New York and set up a studio there, becoming an American citizen in 1942.<br />
Her talent for interesting portraiture and street photographs meant that her reputation soon grew and she had a very succesful career in her new homeland. She died, in upstate New york, in 1990.<br />
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The image is a fairly well known one that I was quite familiar with, after all, it has been published many times over the last 65 years, or so. What I didn't know was that this particular portrait was Einstein's own favourite.<br />
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Loosely inserted into a pouch on the back of the frame is a hand written letter, in bright red ink, on the photographers own note paper with her name printed at the top, from Fleischmann;<br />
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"April 22, 1968.<br />
<br />
Dear Karen,<br />
Thank you so much for your beautiful card. I am so glad you both like the picture so much. It was Einstein's favorit picture as his secretary wrote to me after his death. And that makes me very proud. I took the picture in 1946 (I think) at his place in Princeton. He was so sweet and encouraging, he made me feel at home with him (I was so excited, but he made me talk, <u>he</u> listened to me, I was completely overwhelmed. He was the most wonderful person in the world.<br />
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Dear Karen, enjoy the picture.I hope it will bring you good luck.<br />
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Enjoy your life and have a wonderful time.<br />
<br />
Love<br />
Trude"<br />
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<br />
Why did Einstein favour this portrait over all others? There are some wonderful photographs of him.<br />
I could bang on about the lighting, his expression, the relevance of the pipe, but I'm not going to. <br />
I have criticised pontificating art "experts" many times myself and hypocrisy is not my thing, so, I will show the image again.<br />
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</div>Just Look at it and decide for yourself if you agree with Einstein.<br />
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The boffins operating the Large Hadron Collider in their vast underground bunker near Geneva (Had the Bond villian's lease run out?) may think they have proven Einstein wrong about some of his theories, but I personally think he was spot on about this one.<br />
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I'm off to stare at it again.Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-24295363879826984022011-11-01T09:56:00.000-07:002011-11-01T09:56:48.673-07:00One Moose, One Pecker, but no Beaver, Or The Toronto International Antiquarian Bookfair.2011.The title of this blog is not just a shameless attempt to get picked up by google and the other major search engines by using often searched keywords. <br />
When I mentioned to a friend recently that I was going back to Canada to exhibit at a bookfair she challenged me to capture pictures of a Moose and a Beaver. When I pointed out to her that there is so much more to this wonderful country than those two stereotypical animals she started singing Celine Dion songs at me (Some of my friends are more enlightened than others). I eventually agreed to her challenge, just to get the singing to stop. I had no plans to even attempt to get images of either animal but , warming to her theme and finding herself hilarious, she was about to start working her way through the Bachman-Turner Overdrive back catalogue and I had to make her stop somehow.<br />
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I flew into Toronto with Air Canada. I assumed that the people working on the national airline would have some of the qualities of the many friendly, funny, kind and warm-hearted Canadian people I had met.<br />
I was wrong. <br />
I would have put it down to just plain bad luck in getting a flight crew who had got out of bed on the wrong side if the mob in charge of the return journey hadn't been even more miserable and rude.<br />
Being made to feel like a naughty school boy for eight and a half hours is not something I enjoy (although there are rumours that one particular bookdealer does and pays a lot of money to make it happen). Even when I was a naughty school boy I got to go home after less than seven hours.<br />
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So, there I was. Back in Canada. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fWe_yBRRPPE/TrAQYNlelFI/AAAAAAAAADA/6QsWGf6Rn-Y/s1600/044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fWe_yBRRPPE/TrAQYNlelFI/AAAAAAAAADA/6QsWGf6Rn-Y/s320/044.JPG" width="239" /></a></div> The CN Tower.<br />
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After being interrogated by both Immigration and Customs officers at the airport they finally let me in and I made my way to my hotel, right on the lake front and beneath the wonderful CN tower. I chose to admire it from below. Being petrified of heights I stayed on the ground to save visitors the pathetic sight of me crying and screaming for my Mummy when I got to the top.<br />
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Toronto seems to be booming and all around the Harbour front there is major building work going on and mighty sky scrapers compete to creat a new skyline.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DSTh_NNqieA/TrAUXragzbI/AAAAAAAAADI/ynAd2ioIsro/s1600/047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DSTh_NNqieA/TrAUXragzbI/AAAAAAAAADI/ynAd2ioIsro/s320/047.JPG" width="239" /></a></div> Canadian Building site.<br />
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Thursday was spent visiting local dealers and buying several nice books. Well done me.<br />
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Friday saw the serious business of set-up and the opening evening of the bookfair at the mighty Metro Convention Centre on Toronto's busy Front Street.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cqgr4qL_0Hk/TrAVaijKGjI/AAAAAAAAADQ/pvq0KSuxIdg/s1600/049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cqgr4qL_0Hk/TrAVaijKGjI/AAAAAAAAADQ/pvq0KSuxIdg/s320/049.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Metro Toronto Convention Centre.<br />
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It was while walking into the lobby of the centre that I noticed the first of several oversize animal statues dotted around the city. There it was. My Moose. The challenge wasn't to photograph a live Moose, just a Moose.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UDEIIuuABn8/TrAWKqbWtNI/AAAAAAAAADY/k3F1-ntwi-M/s1600/050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UDEIIuuABn8/TrAWKqbWtNI/AAAAAAAAADY/k3F1-ntwi-M/s320/050.JPG" width="239" /></a> </div> A well travelled Moose.<br />
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After taking a snap of the impressive multi national Moose I turned around to see a five foot high Woodpecker on a post just outside of the lobby. These People appear to like their animal statues.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_Bk3zywC708/TrAXB0EdpRI/AAAAAAAAADo/E5a6TRhO1Uc/s320/051.JPG" width="239" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A Woodpecker made of wood.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">This was confirmed by the six feet tall dog and cat positioned outside the pet entertainment centre (I am not making this up. This vast building is full of items and events to keep your pets amused and entertained and even inlcudes a 'Dine with your dog' area) which was next to my Hotel.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C8mRquYXlj4/TrAZmGEblcI/AAAAAAAAADw/2qI6-7wy29I/s1600/043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C8mRquYXlj4/TrAZmGEblcI/AAAAAAAAADw/2qI6-7wy29I/s320/043.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Big Dog.<br />
<br />
So, what of the bookfair?<br />
<br />
This event was revived last year after a fifteen year hiatus and all three days were busy with a good mixture of Collectors, Librarians, Dealers and the just plain Curious. Any doubts that, having sated their curiosity, people wouldn't bother returning were quickly proven wrong with a steady flow of visitors on the opening evening. This continued right up until closing time on sunday and many happy customer were seen walking out with bags full of books.<br />
A good mix of well, and not so well, established dealers from Canada, Usa and Europe, with a wide range of material meant that there was something for everyone and sales appear to have been good throughout the whole fair.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rQYEfPtUtLU/TrAh4NhdhOI/AAAAAAAAAD4/8_Pi0R7RZrw/s1600/055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rQYEfPtUtLU/TrAh4NhdhOI/AAAAAAAAAD4/8_Pi0R7RZrw/s320/055.JPG" width="239" /></a></div> My stand.<br />
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I sold well on all three days and came away happy with my weekend.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G_rfySt3Nl4/TrAh_-vFreI/AAAAAAAAAEA/kDE_s32__ok/s1600/052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G_rfySt3Nl4/TrAh_-vFreI/AAAAAAAAAEA/kDE_s32__ok/s320/052.JPG" width="239" /></a></div> More of my stand.<br />
<br />
On the Saturday and Sunday of the bookfair the Convention centre was hosting a major dance competition in adjacent rooms and the sounds of Hip Hop, Drum and Bass and general pop music drowned out the muzac that was playing in our room. Some felt it was an improvement on the 'elevator music' that was piped into the bookfair, some could be seen putting their fingers in their ears.<br />
One conlusion that I have drawn from this is that, on the whole, booksellers have a lot of rhythm and several could be seen busting some moves that surely would have put them in contention for the prizes on offer next door. I'll mention no names.<br />
<br />
<br />
As I have written here before, Toronto is a great city with a full range of nightlife. The evenings were well spent with friends, trying out various bars and restaurants and getting caught up in the World Series of Baseball excitement that had the whole city buzzing. Saturday night also saw the Halloween revellers out in force in a range of costumes, most far too small for the cold weather of this time of year.<br />
<br />
I look forward to exhibiting at next years event but will get there with a different airline and plan to spend some time searching out an oversize Beaver statue. I cannot believe there isn't at least one in the city somewhere.<br />
<br />
Paul.Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-39927712325061102952011-09-14T04:50:00.001-07:002011-09-14T04:50:57.413-07:00London Olympia Bookfair. June 2011.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/6lJzAPQvbKE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-14050191394947466912011-08-23T07:58:00.000-07:002011-08-23T07:58:16.682-07:00Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, Its off to York we go.It is late August. I sitting here at my desk tanned, relaxed and a few kilos heavier after my annual summer holidays. After a busy year bookselling I need my rest and most years I can be found bobbing about somehwere in the Mediterranean or Adriatic seas during Augusts hot days and devouring the local fish at various restaurants in the evening. I have, on occasion, been known to take a sip of the local wine too.<br />
<br />
This year I was lucky enough to have two holidays. One, on the beautiful Spanish island of Menorca, with very good friends of mine that also happen to be bookdealers. Amazingly enough there was little book talk during this holiday. This was partly down to the withering "Oh No. Do you have to?" looks that many bookseller's partners have perfected over the years when they hear the start of a hilarious bookselling related anecdote, but mainly because we were far too pre-occupied with the importand issues of the day, like; What time was lunch?, What time was dinner?, and trying to keep the little people amused by letting them attempt to drown me in several different ways. Normally quiet and sweet natured children can be brutal when you poke fun at their 'Hello Kitty' armbands. Be warned.<br />
<br />
My second holiday was with non-bookselling friends on the Greek island of Corfu. The Greeks discovered fishing with Dynamite in the 1970's and managed to not only kill off all the adult fish but the inafnts and the breeding grounds as well. The result is that Corfu is an island with very little fresh fish on it. It took me 3 or 4 days to get over this fact. I had been looking forward to trying new and different tastes. I got kebabs and feta cheese.<br />
This holiday was markedly different from my earlier trip in many ways, the main one being that 2 of my friends have teenage boys who spent most of the holiday mumbling, pouting and shuffling along at a snails pace behind everyone else. Only the passing of bikini clad girls and huge plates of food made them break into a smile, and then not for long. If I was anything like them when I was their age, I would like to apologise to everyone I ever came into contact with.<br />
<br />
The end of the summer means the start of the bookfair season. Traditionally the York Bookfair kicks off the whole thing in early september.<br />
The largest antiquarian and second hand bookfair in the UK, York has some 220 exhibitors spread over three floors of the Knavesmire Suite at York Racecourse, for 2 days. This years the dates are; Friday 8th (1 - 7pm) and Saturday 9th (10am - 5pm).<br />
Because of its fairly central position, York is easily reachable in a few hours from most parts of the U.K by car. The result is that the bookfair has dealers from Scotland, Wales and most of the counties of England. You will find part-time and fairly new dealers alongside some of the biggest and longest established firms that our little world has. This leads to an interesting mix of stock. All subjects, all ages and all price levels. This combination proves very popular with the bookfair customers and it is always very well attended. There really is something for everyone. Last year a regular customer of mine took great delight in showing me a couple of Edwardian postcards of his home town that had cost him just 50 pence each. Also in his bag was an early travel book that he had just parted with a few thousand pounds for. Many dealers make a point of bringing a wide range of stock to cater for this broad customer interest and there will be books, maps, ephemera and often assorted other odds and ends on paper for sale from pennies to tens of thousands of pounds.<br />
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After the lull of the Summer and with my batteries re-charged it is nice to look forward to the bookfairs again. After the June fairs in London my appetite for standing about in a brightly lit hall with a hundred other dealers for several days is very low. This follows the previous 9 months of assorted trips around the UK and overseas, from Toronto to Chelsea to Boston to Los Angeles to San Francisco to New York to Olympia. By mid June I don't want to see another shipping case again, or prepare yet another packing list to keep Customs officials quiet.<br />
Now that it is all about to start again I feel myself getting excited at the prospect of the coming months of bookfairs that will kep me busy until June 2012. What I will find to buy? What I will sell?. What interesting new people I will meet, both dealers and collectors? Then there's the new restaurants and bars to try out, and the old favourites to be re-visited.<br />
<br />
Should you want to see this glowing optimism in the flesh, I will be at stand number 7 on the ground floor for this years York Bookfair. Please stop by and say hello. If there is anything from my stock that you would like to have a look at, just send me an email ( <a href="mailto:paulfosterbooks@btinternet.com">paulfosterbooks@btinternet.com</a> ) or call me ( 020 8876 7424 ) and I will bring it along. I have a few complimentary tickets available so please do ask if you want one (or two).<br />
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See You there.<br />
<br />
<br />
Paul.<br />
Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-89663348318857721662011-06-17T08:05:00.000-07:002011-06-17T08:05:38.455-07:00What is heavy, white, and wears yellow check trousers? Rupert the Fridge.<span lang=""> The story of the 1973 Daily Express Rupert the Bear Annual is a strange one, but will, I am sure, be a familar tale to illustrators and designers the world over.<br />
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<span lang="">The artist, Alfred Bestall, provided his finished artwork to the publisher as usual. And, as usual, the cover illustration featured Rupert with a brown face and hands (Paws?), while the cartoon strips within all showed a white rupert. This was the way that Bestall designed the cover artwork, and he was the artist so that's the way it was printed. <br />
<br />
<span lang="">Bestall had been drawing Rupert since Mary Tourtell's death in 1935 and produced all the artwork for the popular annuals from the first issue in 1936 until 1965. From then on he still produced the colour artwork for the covers each year while the story strips inside were produced by Freddie Chaplain.<br />
<br />
<span lang="">Readers often wrote to the Publishers office asking why Rupert changed colour for the cover artwork. Bestall's main reason appears to be that he liked the extra possibilites it gave him for tone and colouring in the cover painting as a whole. This seemed to satisfy the Publishers for a number of years until the print run of 1973 was being prepared.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BWyjP9josi8/TftcwH0U_rI/AAAAAAAAACk/qkt5DjzTTL0/s1600/7571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" i$="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BWyjP9josi8/TftcwH0U_rI/AAAAAAAAACk/qkt5DjzTTL0/s320/7571.JPG" width="242" /></a></div><br />
<span lang="">A few copies, thought to be only a dozen or so, were printed with the artwork that Bestall had provided. These are effectively proof copies of the annual. However, after a boozy pub lunch the Publisher, Editor and Printer took the decision to change Rupert from a brown to a white bear. Why they did it this particular year is unknown. Letters about the colour difference had been written for years and not acted upon. Maybe it was a sign of the times. On British television in the early seventies (I am just old enough to remember) it seemed everyone was blacking up, from Spike Milligan's obsession with playing Indians and Pakistanis, to the Black and white Minstrel show and It Ain't 'alf Hot, Mum. Maybe the Publisher was just joining in with this bizarre trend, albeit changing the colours the other way around. Whatever the reason the Bear on the cover was changed to white for the enormous print run, without Alfred Bestall's approval.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H7DN3gYIJgE/TftehQ41YjI/AAAAAAAAACo/mKbB-gJ9nGM/s1600/rupert73.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" i$="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-H7DN3gYIJgE/TftehQ41YjI/AAAAAAAAACo/mKbB-gJ9nGM/s320/rupert73.jpg" width="232" /></a></div><br />
<span lang="">When Bestall found out he was horrified. His brown bear had light and shade and fitted in well with the light sky in the background. The white Rupert blended with the background and suddenly had no tone. He vowed to never supply any artwork for the Publishers again and wanted nothing to do with the white bear annual. In a move designed to appease him, his signature on the back cover was darkened to try and disguise it, but Bestall kept his word and the 1973 annual is the last to feature one of his wonderful illustrations on the cover.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gqmi9fSPM4A/TftevjIxrCI/AAAAAAAAACs/VlHm-6hDwKI/s1600/7571-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" i$="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gqmi9fSPM4A/TftevjIxrCI/AAAAAAAAACs/VlHm-6hDwKI/s320/7571-2.JPG" width="239" /></a></div><br />
<span lang="">Since 1973 these Brown Faced Rupert Proof annuals have been sought after by collectors, mostly without success.</span><br />
<span lang="">Occasionally copies do turn up, including the unusual occurance of two copies being offered in the same auction sale by Duke's of Dorchester back in October 2007. These copies were in the collection of Rupert writer Freddie Chaplain and sold for record prices of £26,290 and £27,485 including the buyer's premium.<br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="">I currently have a unique copy of the rare Brown faced Rupert Annual for sale.<br />
<br />
It is in fine condition and has not appeared on the market before, having been safely housed in the same collection since 1974.<br />
<span lang="EN-GB">What makes my copy unique is that it has been signed by Alfred Bestall on the title page. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjqBbBoPiEQ/TftfHHiDEbI/AAAAAAAAAC0/yXFh0GVHeLo/s1600/7571-5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" i$="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZjqBbBoPiEQ/TftfHHiDEbI/AAAAAAAAAC0/yXFh0GVHeLo/s320/7571-5.JPG" width="259" /></a></div><span lang="EN-GB"></span><span style="font-size: small;">When the Life-long Rupert fan and collector, who I got this volume from, visited Bestall in 1974 he asked the story of the famous 1973 annual. After telling him his side of the story Bestall took down a copy from the bookshelf and signed it, commenting as he did that he had given copies of this rare book to other fans and collectors but had not signed any other copy.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XNUW-rU9B8A/TftfNJzsXZI/AAAAAAAAAC4/AQdd7BAYNPw/s1600/7571-6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" i$="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XNUW-rU9B8A/TftfNJzsXZI/AAAAAAAAAC4/AQdd7BAYNPw/s320/7571-6.JPG" width="320" /></a></div></span><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">Many artists and illustrators know the frustration of Editors and Publishers making changes to their artwork, sometimes with and sometimes without their knowledge and blessing. This rare annual is part of the story of one of the most famous design changes in childrens book production.</span></span></span>Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-77714274900958389562011-05-17T07:19:00.000-07:002011-05-17T07:19:00.299-07:00Olympia Antiquarian Bookfair 2011. To be there, or not to be there?<span lang=""> Summer time is almost upon us and that means that it's time for the Olympia Bookfair again. <br />
The International Antiquarian Bookfair circuit finds booksellers converging on cities around the world at set times of the year. The California bookfair is always in February, although it does alternate each year between Los Angeles and San Francisco (even in the state of California North and South have their own agendas and view each other with some suspicion), April is split between New York early in the month and Paris at the end. June belongs to London and the ABA Olympia bookfair. Mid November means a trip to the often cold and wet North Eastern U. S. A for Boston's turn, and finally, the last few years has found booksellers enjoying the experience of December in Hong Kong. (I exhibited at the Hong Kong Bookfair two years ago. My one and only sale at the fair just about covered my taxi fare from my house to Heathrow Airport. I haven't been back).<br />
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There are other international events, but they tend to be Bi-annual, occassional, or mostly just local affairs, similar to the ABA Chelsea bookfair each November, all but 1 or 2 of the exhibitors being from the UK. On this basis, and because I don't do them, I have left them out. My blog, My rules.<br />
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Last Year the Canadian Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABAC) re-launched their own fair in Toronto during the last weekend of October, after a 15 year hiatus. This was considered successful enough to repeat again this year and looks set to become part of the calendar. I did the fair last year and was hugely impressed with the number of collectors, Librarians, Dealers and just curious onlookers that the organisers got through the door. I sold very well to many new customers and will be returning this year. Toronto is such a fun city, I would recommend anyone to visit. I had a great time and can't wait to get back there.<br />
The bookfair last year conincided with Halloween. A night that the whole of Toronto takes very seriously, if that is the right word. I had always thought that 'Trick or Treating' and dressing up in costumes on Halloween was very much an American thing but the Canadians do it bigger, louder, and better than the US. Leaving a restaurant with fellow bookdealers we were jumped on by a group of female pirates who insisted on having their pictures taken with us. While this was going on a group of giggling girls dressed as Baywatch lifeguards (a brave move on a wintery Toronto night) was chased past us by Popeye and Scooby Do.<br />
<br />
We retreated to the sanity of the nearest bar.<br />
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Anyway, I digress (Yeah, I know. I do it when speaking, thinking and dreaming, as well as writing).<br />
<br />
June. London. Olympia. <br />
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This years fair is being held on the 9, 10, & 11th of June, with a charity preview being held between 2 and 4 pm on thursday 9th, in aid of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, hence the hilarious pun in the title. (As I said, It's my blog. I can do what I like).<br />
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This years fair patron is Zoe Wanamaker, who will opening the, bookfair and making a short speech. Zoe's Father, Sam, was the driving force behind establishing the re-built Globe Theatre, on the Thames South Bank, and its many educational activities. They are celebrating receipt of the fabulous John Wolfson collection of Elizabethan books and research material that was generously donated to them last year.<br />
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There are many dealers from all around the world offering all manor of items in all price ranges. The downstairs area has many stands run by allied trades and associations. I could list a few here but risk forgetting something, or someone, so I think it is probably best to just give you the address of the dedicated Olympia Bookfair website. Here you will find all the details of the whole event, and can even download free tickets for the fair.<br />
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<a href="http://www.olympiabookfair.com/">http://www.olympiabookfair.com/</a><br />
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<img src="http://cdn2.art-and-antiques.co.uk/skins/obf/images/poster.png" /><br />
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I shall be at the bookfair. I am on stand number 62 and would welcome anyone who feels like dropping by to say Hello. I will have many new items of stock on show, including the only known signed copy of the famous 'Brown Faced' 1973 Rupert Annual. A scarce 1835 hand coloured extending Peep-show of the first Railway in Germany. A very good set of First editions of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings in dustwrappers. A very clean and tight First edition of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. Several scarce three decker novels from the 19th century, half a dozen of them not included in either the Sadleir or Wolff collections. Aside from these I will have the usual mixture of fine bindings, First editions, Childrens and Illustrated books as well as a mix of unusual, rare and interesting books from all ages.<br />
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See you there. <br />
<br />
<br />
Paul.<br />
</span>Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-1830922610491047202011-04-19T07:45:00.000-07:002011-04-19T07:45:43.191-07:00Aaaargh. My books got wet.<span lang=""> I returned from the New York Antiquarian Bookfair last week with a smile on my face.<br />
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I had sold a lot of books, met several interesting new people, bought a few nice books, & had a lot of fun in the evenings. It's not all work at these international events. Local dealers put on parties to entertain those from out of town and there are always new and exciting restaurants or bars that get recommended on each visit. The week ended with a last night visit to a comedy club late on saturday night after what was probably the biggest steak dinner I've ever eaten (No, really, I mean it). Things have calmed down from the 4am sessions of ten years ago, but we Booksellers still know how to have fun when forced away from home to city that doesn't sleep (by the way, I've finally worked out that the City actually wants to sleep, it just can't because of the constant honking of car horns all night. The street signs threatening hefty fines for Horn use are ignored more than the One-way signs in Rome and the Pedestrian Crossing ones in Paris).<br />
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<br />
The Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) New York Bookfair is held every April in the grand, in every sense of the word, Park Avenue Armory, at 67th street. It is an amazing building, taking up a whole block of prime Upper East Side Manhattan land. Because of its location, size and ease of loading, it is perfect for fairs and is used throughout the year for events of all kinds, from art and antiques shows to our humble little bookfair every spring.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IgcTPjvWuNc/Ta2YjByh9TI/AAAAAAAAACI/nNsZ25hjtAw/s1600/park+ave..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" i8="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IgcTPjvWuNc/Ta2YjByh9TI/AAAAAAAAACI/nNsZ25hjtAw/s320/park+ave..jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Good after fair sales have kept me smiling for the last seven days as I fought the inevitable jet-lag and tiredness that a week working and socialising in New York brings with it.<br />
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That smile was wiped from my face today.<br />
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Speaking to a fellow dealer in London this morning he complained that one of his many shipping trunks, delivered back from the same New York fair had leaked water in and damaged some of the books inside. Mine were alright, I said confidently, eyeing the one trunk that I hadn't yet opened, the books being sealed in re-inforced moulded plastic trunks with a gripping lock system. Surely nothing could get in them. After all, it hadn't in all the years of being sent off to various bookfairs around the world.<br />
<br />
I opened that last trunk to find the books on the top were all bone dry in their Bubble wrap protectors. Unfortunately as I got to the bottom of the trunk it became clear that some water had got in. And not just a drop or two, either. Enough to soak the handfull of books sat at the bottom. A couple of quite valuable books were protected from damage by the clam-shell boxes that I now have made for a larger part of my more valuable stock. All that money that I spend on these boxes now makes perfect sense. I was able to just wipe the water off the two boxes and the books remained unharmed inside. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cCD0SAw6nGQ/Ta2ZI7GdPgI/AAAAAAAAACM/dM2-axImQiU/s1600/DSC08664.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" i8="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cCD0SAw6nGQ/Ta2ZI7GdPgI/AAAAAAAAACM/dM2-axImQiU/s320/DSC08664.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aSKaJnTykIg/Ta2aJNSTH5I/AAAAAAAAACY/I2O5qGpSUro/s1600/DSC08663.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" i8="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aSKaJnTykIg/Ta2aJNSTH5I/AAAAAAAAACY/I2O5qGpSUro/s320/DSC08663.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(Sorry. I couldn't resist)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>An odd mix of books got damaged. An 1834 First Flugel Edition of the Koran, Two leather bound early editions of Carroll's Alice books, a 1780 book of travels in the Middle East in a wonderful contemporary full calf binding and a 1930's exhibition binding on a book of Chinese folk tales and legends.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R3T4fPa5OsE/Ta2ZZdQFYfI/AAAAAAAAACQ/PAsA7PtVU7M/s1600/DSC08667.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" i8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R3T4fPa5OsE/Ta2ZZdQFYfI/AAAAAAAAACQ/PAsA7PtVU7M/s320/DSC08667.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyERfl3dmZk/Ta2Zmmu0aGI/AAAAAAAAACU/MUMSgTYZnOw/s1600/DSC08665.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" i8="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZyERfl3dmZk/Ta2Zmmu0aGI/AAAAAAAAACU/MUMSgTYZnOw/s320/DSC08665.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(The dark area is the wet bit)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div>A couple of the books might be saveable to be cleaned up and re-priced to allow for the damage but I'm afraid the 18th century travel book is ruined for all but the biggest bargain hunter who will tolerate the large water stains and the already showing mold, at a price.<br />
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I am relieved that only a few books got damaged. It could have been far worse, but it has taken the shine off what was a great week & I will be nervous the next time the shippers come to collect for my next overseas bookfair.<br />
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Paul.</span>Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-50027616161071713292011-03-11T09:37:00.000-08:002011-03-11T09:37:51.784-08:00Paul Foster Books. Catalogue. 2011.<span lang=""> Yesterday I received several boxes, from my Printer, containing my latest Catalogue. It is always an exciting time for a bookseller. Months of hard work, buying, researching and cataloguing the books, not to mention proof reading and checking photo images, have gone into this one little volume, and it is as near to publishing as most book Dealers ever get.<br />
This latest catalogue is a selection of the more interesting items I have bought recently, listing 190 books over 48 text pages and with a sixteen page colour section full of photographs in the middle, the whole lot wrapped in colour printed, gloss finished, covers.<br />
It is a modest little booklet by some standards, but when I ccompare it to the catalogues I was producing back in the 1990's it seems a world away. My business, and my catalogues, have seen remarkable advances in Technology over the last 20 years. My first catalogue, issued in 1993, was a simple affair. I didn't have a computer or word processor. I simply piled the books up, in alphabetical order, on the table and typed out my descriptions, book by book, onto A4 sheets on an old manual typewriter. These completed sheets were than handed into a local printer, a blue card cover was decided on, and he produced, I think, about 200 copies for me. <br />
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This catalogue was simply my typed pages copied and reduced to A5, with all the missprints, Tip-ex marks and smudges intact. <br />
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I didn't have a mailing list back then, so got hold of a directory of all the book dealers in the UK and sent a copy to those that listed Children's books, Bindings and Literature as specialities. Luckily, some of those dealers ordered books and so there I was, a catalogue bookseller. I gave the rest away to customers who bought books from me either at Bookfairs, or my market stall in Ealing, West London. A couple of those customers who were given catalogue number 1 are still buying books from me 18 years later. I don't know whether either has kept a complete set of my output, or whether they are binned after ordering whatever interests them.<br />
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Later in the 1990's I started using a Computer which changed things dramatically. I bought a specialist bookselling program that arranged my stored listings in catalogue format at the push of the "Create Catalogue" button. Getting creative, I started laying out a selection of the books listed, either on the floor or on a bookcase, and taking colour photos of them. I would then take the film into the local chemist and when the negatives were ready ask for 300 prints ( I had started to develop a mailing list by then) of the best image. These were then stuck onto the front cover of each catalogue, within a plain line border I had asked the printer to include. <br />
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Each photo was manually stuck into position by me, using a glue stick. This process lasted until the 2000's when, Thankfully, colour printing, digital photography and Photoshop programs all became cheaper and easy to use.<br />
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These days the print run has grown to 1000 copies, the number of colour photos to about 80 and the paper is thicker and of a better quality, the covers with a high gloss finish.<br />
The catalogues still contain a mixture of books on different subjects and from all ages. This latest one has books from the Sixteenth century to the very end of the Twentieth, including a 1587 first edition of Polemon's Second Book of Battailes, an important Elizabethan source book used by George Peele when writing his 'Battle of Alcazar', up to a Harry Potter 1st edition from 1997. These sit alongside a selection of titles including First editions by Oscar Wilde, Beatrix Potter, Charles Darwin, Dr. Seuss, James Joyce, & Voltaire.<br />
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There are several signed works as well, including books signed and inscribed by Evelyn Waugh, Winston Churchill, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl, Joseph Conrad, and Arthur C. Clarke, among others. The books are mainly First editions of English and American Literature, Childrens and Illustrated titles, Fine leather bound books and special, signed, inscribed or limited editions, although there are a handful of other subjects covered. <br />
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If you would like me to mail you a copy, please send me your name, address, and a brief note on what kind of books you are interested in, and I will be happy to send you one.<br />
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Paul.<br />
</span>Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-494426448814288372011-02-24T10:34:00.001-08:002011-02-24T10:34:09.234-08:00California 2011<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am now just recovering from the Jet-lag that is one of the only down sides of my annual trip to exhibit at the California International Antiquarian Bookfair.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This year there were two bookfairs. The "Official" Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America sanctioned one in San Francisco, and what many refer to as a "Piggy Back" bookfair in Pasadena the week before. This was organised by an independent promoter, Sheila Bustemante, and exhibitors ranged from some of the Rare book worlds largest dealers and members of the worlds ILAB (International League of Antiquarian Booksellers)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>affiliated trade associations through to part-timers and Hobby booksellers. This gave an interesting mix of books on display. There were books priced in the Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars through to two dollar paperbacks, and everything in between.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It was an interesting trial run for the ABAA who will be holding their bookfair in the same building next year. The California Bookfairs alternate between San Francisco and Los Angeles and last years event at the Century City Regency Plaza was to be the last in the hotel.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Pasadena building is a purpose built exhibition hall. Soul-less and bland but well lit, with good facilities on site, many cafe's and restaurants nearby and significantly cheaper than the ballrooms of the Plaza Hotel.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was very pleased with my trip. I not only sold many books at both bookfairs, but I met a lot of potential new customers and bought some fantastic books as well. For many dealers, a quiet selling bookfair can be saved if enough good books are bought. To have good buying and good selling is the ultimate bookfair.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I look at the books I bought it brings home to me how much California is the home of the Modern First Edition. I found a signed first edition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a special publishers edition of Hemingway's Across the river and into the trees, one of just 24 copies, with an explanatory note, signed by Charles Scribner, A nice 1st edition of Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat, The first American printing of Alice in Wonderland, and Arthur C. Clarke's own signed copies of 2001 and 2010. These are just a few of the books bought. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The San Francisco bookfair is vast. Today I spoke to two London bookdealers who also had stands at the fair. I am amazed that over the four days of the fair I didn’t actually see either dealer, nor them me.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Luckily the organisers manage to attract enough book collectors to keep the hall full of customers from start to finish. I sold my first book within half an hour of the start on set-up day and my last while packing up my stand on the last day. San Francisco truly is a Book city. Although a large number of Europeans were there also, taking advantage of the nice weather after months of winter back home.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The impressive range of books on show mean that there really is something there for everyone, at all price levels, covering most subjects to some degree, and from all ages. I would recommend to anyone who likes books and has thought of visiting San Francisco to take a trip there to coincide with the bookfair. It is well worth the long hours on a plane from Europe to see this enormous bookfair as well as the many great attractions that the city has to offer.</span></span></div>Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-15582218542775471272011-01-20T04:15:00.000-08:002011-01-20T04:15:16.527-08:00California Antiquarian Bookfair. San Francisco. February 11th to 13th.<span style="font-family: inherit;">Each year, February sees many bookdealers from Europe heading for the West Coast of the US for the annual California Antiquarian Bookfair. This major event in the international bookfair calender, now in its 44th year, alternates each year between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Last year saw what was possibly the bookfair's last event to be held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City. The hotel complex is undergoing major renovation and the rumour mill in the rare book trade (sometimes compared to a baloon full of pessimistic politicans--Lots of hot air, moaning and lies) reports that us mere booksellers won't be able to afford the shiney new prices charged for their shiney new function rooms. This is a real shame for those bookdealers who, like me, enjoy a swim in the outdoor pool under the warm february sunshine. For many of the European Dealers attending this is the first proper sunlight that we have seen in four or five months. It is easy to spot the locals around the hotel. They wear sweaters and warm jackets, considering the 20 degrees a chilly day for them. To some of the Europeans 20 degrees is an excuse to don shorts, often ill fitting swimming trunks and those sun glasses that we didn't have much use for last summer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We await a decision about where the Los Angeles Bookfair will be held in 2012.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This year sees the bookfair taking it's turn in the huge Concourse Exhibition Centre in San Francisco. The building, at 635 Eighth street at Brannan is a vast glass, steel and wood construction covering some 125,000 square feet. An old Railway starage yard, it has been adapted to be an easy access exhibition space with easy loading, plenty of space for large display booths and its own on-site parking. The vast building is filled up by the bookfair which is the largest event of it's kind in the world. Visitors to the bookfair get a major workout walking up and down the long aisles and many return for a second or third day to ensure that they get to visit each booth. Luckily there is a good cafe area which supplies the necessary snacks and drinks to keep the determined collectors and dealers going throughout the fair.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There is always plenty for the non book buyer to do at San Francisco Bookfair. Many societies and local artisans set up tables on the upper level and you can spend your time at the fair learning about the history of the book, watching live displays of binding techniques, or getting your name written on a grain of rice or beautifully calligraphed onto a sheet of paper. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">During Saturday and Sunday there are a series of book related talks, discussions and seminars, rainging from the intruductory 'Book collecting 101' to an exhibition of rare music books and manuscripts, some dating back the the 13th century.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TjoT7CDc0-8/TTgmAHVxvqI/AAAAAAAAAA8/U6lL-V0ZrTs/s1600/poster.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="640" s5="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TjoT7CDc0-8/TTgmAHVxvqI/AAAAAAAAAA8/U6lL-V0ZrTs/s640/poster.gif" width="462" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">The bookfair is open on Friday February 11th from 3pm to 8pm.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Saturday 12th from 11am to 7pm.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sunday 13th from 11am to 5pm.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I shall be at the bookfair with a selection of my books on show at Booth 113. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Please do come by and say Hello. I'm told that I am actually a lot less scary than I look, (I think there is a compliment in there somewhere), and I promise not to wear my shorts during show hours.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you would like complimentary tickets for the show, please do let me know and I will either post them to you or leave them on the door for you to collect on the day.</span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Paul.</span>Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-2445460661963727352011-01-12T06:47:00.000-08:002011-01-12T06:47:14.850-08:00Show me the Bunny. Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit. The 3 first editions.<span lang=""> I have been asked in the past, although not often, Why are there 3 first editions of Peter Rabbit? How can that be?<br />
The answer is that there aren't really. There can be only one true first, but there can be variations in the text and then commercially produced editions, each of which lays a claim to that title.<br />
With Peter Rabbit this is the case. There are three different books that are all refered to as First Edition, although qualified with the necessary publishing details as well, so we have; <br />
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1. First edition, 1st printing, a privately printed Edition. 250 copies.<br />
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2. First Edition, 2nd printing. A privately printed edition with minor corrections in the text. 200 copies.<br />
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3. First Published Edition. A commercially produced edition by a book publishing company. 8000 copies.<br />
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The story of Peter Rabbit is fairly well established. Potter, a keen naturalist and accomplished artist, had often written, and illustrated, short stories in letters to children of friends. On september 4th, 1893 Potter wrote such a letter to Noel Moore, the son of her former Governess, Annie Moore, who was unwell. This letter contained the story of Peter Rabbit. <br />
A few years later, Potter come to the idea that the story would be of interest to other children and would make a nice book. Luckily, Moore had kept his letters from Beatrix and when she wrote to ask if she might borrow it, he returned the short Tale of Peter Rabbit.<br />
The story was re-written in a school excercise book and a watercolour frontis and 42 line illustrations, prepared in pen and ink, were added, some based on the orignal drawings in that letter. Initially the story was titled "The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor's Garden By H. B. Potter".<br />
This manuscript was sent to several publishers during 1900 by Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, a Family friend who was keen to help this new enterprise. All returned it without any interest.<br />
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In 1901 Potter had the manuscript privately printed by Strangeways and Sons of London in an edition of 250 copies. This little book, now re-named simply " The Tale of Peter Rabbit", made small enough for young children to hold and printed on durable paper, was issued, undated, on December 16th 1901, with the colour frontis and 41 of Potter's line drawings, in a plain grey/green paper covered binding with a flat spine, printed with a black line illustration and lettering to the front board.<br />
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Potter not only gave many copies to friends and relations, she also sold several at the very reasonable price of 1s2d. Unsurprisingly the book was a great success form the start and within a couple of weeks it was decided to have another edition, this time of just 200 copies, printed at the Author's expense, but this time in a better quality binding, with a rounded spine. <br />
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This new printing allowed for a few minor changes to the text and the punctuation, and it was decided to print the publication date on the title page. This second printing was issued in February 1902.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TjoT7CDc0-8/TS28R8FXTRI/AAAAAAAAAAg/C19ZXsKiFbg/s1600/7420.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TjoT7CDc0-8/TS28R8FXTRI/AAAAAAAAAAg/C19ZXsKiFbg/s320/7420.jpg" width="263" /></a></div> 1902. 2nd printing.<br />
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While Potter was producing her own editions of Peter Rabbit, She and Canon Rawnsley had been in negotiations with the Publisher Frederick Warne & Co, who had seen some potential in the story and its charming illustrations. This probably explains the decision to print fewer copies of the second printing, despite the huge success of the first. After much discussion about the cost of colour printing and how much should be charged for the book it was agreed that Warne's would publish the story, with slightly edited text, and just 31 (including the frontispiece) of Potter's illustrations reproduced in full colour from her watercolours. <br />
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This version, the first commercially published printing, was issued in October 1902 in an edtion of 8000 copies. This lovely little book, often called the First Trade Edition, was bound in either grey or brown boards with a colour illustration of Peter in his light blue jacket mounted to the front board with white lettering above and below and to the spine. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TjoT7CDc0-8/TS29LEcvw2I/AAAAAAAAAAw/mfXkVv8vdTA/s1600/prab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TjoT7CDc0-8/TS29LEcvw2I/AAAAAAAAAAw/mfXkVv8vdTA/s320/prab.jpg" width="222" /></a></div> 1902. First Trade editon.<br />
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A further 12000 copies were printed in November, and 8220 copies in December 1902. These 3 printings are identical internally. The only variation that exists is that some copies of the 2nd and 3rd printings were issued in green boards.<br />
Despite the large number of books produced, copies in collectable condition are not common and are much in demand. This has led to many collectors willing to pay a premium for the best copies, while restored, worn and damaged copies sell for considerably less. This is the way the rare book market has been going for a number of years now with the difference in prices achieved for the very best and the run-of-the -mill copies growing ever wider.<br />
Peter Rabbit's enduring success is partly down to Beatrix Potter's simple good story telling, partly her exquisite drawings, which she later water-coloured, and also her determination and good business sense. Truly a remarkable Woman and a great example of the Victorian "Can Do" attitude.</span>Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-422189938297653522010-12-20T07:50:00.000-08:002010-12-21T01:28:51.117-08:00I bet you can't become the biggest selling female author in the World. Or, Agatha Christie's The Mysterious affair at Styles.Agatha Christie apparently wrote The mysterious affair at Styles as the result of a bet. <br />
The loser of this bet, Her Sister, thought that Christie couldn't write a Crime Detective story that kept the reader guessing the identity of the Murderer until the end, despite knowing everything that the Detective knew throughout.<br />
She not only lost the bet in a spectacular fashion but in the process kick started the career of the biggest selling Female author the world has known. Shakespeare beats Christie's 3 - 4 Billion estimated books sold, but he does have 300 years head start by dying in 1616. Christie wrote "Styles" in 1916.<br />
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Originally serialised in the London Times Newspapers Colonial edition, The Weekly Times<i>,</i> from February 27 to June 26, 1920, the book edition was first published in October of that year, in New York, by John Lane. The UK Edition followed on 1st February 1921, published in London by The Bodley Head.<br />
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This attractively designed book, with its architectural design stamped in black to the spine and front board of the publishers brown cloth binding, introduced one of the most popular and enduring characters in the Genre. Hurcule Poirot, the dapper Belgian detective with a head "exactly the shape of an egg" was to appear in another 32 novels as well as 54 short stories, alongside his colleagues Lieutenant Hastings (the narrator of Mysterious Affair at Styles), and Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard.<br />
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The combination of being the Author's first book, the introduction of one of the most popular fictional characters of the 20th century, and a great read as well, have made The Mysterious Affair at Styles a much sought after book in First Edition, with copies of the London Bodley Head edition most prized by collectors . Copies in fine condition are scarce on the market. Copies in the original Alfred J Dewey illustrated dustwrapper don't turn up at all.<br />
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So, ninety years after the appearence of her first book, Agatha Christie maintains not only her place in readers affections as one of the most popular writers, but also in the Guinness book of World Records as the biggest selling novelist.<br />
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Regular broadcasts of Radio, Film and Television adaptations, including the hugely popular portrayal of Poirot by David Suchet, as well as translations of the books into over 100 languages are sure to keep her there for a long time and must even make J. K. Rowling envious.Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-12086135161992561932010-12-16T09:43:00.000-08:002011-01-13T09:45:50.426-08:00Cranford. By Mrs Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell.<span lang="">One of the most popular Victorian novels I try to keep in stock is Cranford, by Mrs.Gaskell (1810 - 1865). A gentle insight into life in mid nineteenth century England, specifically Knutsford in Cheshire, it is as popular today as it when it first appeared over 150 years ago.<br />
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Cranford was first published in book form in 1853, by Chapman & Hall of London. The work had originally been published as a series of stories in various issues of Household Words magazine between 13th December 1851 and 21st May 1853. Household words was a popular journal started under the editorship of Charles Dickens in 1850. Mrs Gaskell was a favourite of Dickens and a regular contributor, including the story Lizzie Leigh which was serialised in the first issues of March and April 1850.<br />
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The collection of these pieces into one novel was originally published anonymously, the title page just listing it as "by the Author of "Mary Barton," "Ruth," &c." . A small book (I have recently sold a copy of this First Edition. It measured just 6.9 x 4.5 inches), it was issued in an attractive green cloth binding with gilt lettering and blocking on the spine. The boards were decorated with a decorative "Blind" block. This is the term used to descibe a stamped impression without any gilt, or any other colouring, used to accent the design. It is an attractive little book, although copies in this original cloth binding are rarely found in good condition. Most copies that do turn up in the cloth have had repairs and restoration of some sort. More often than not the book has been rebound, as in the case of the copy I have at the moment, in leather. The two major collectors of 19th century fiction, Michael Sadleir and Robert Lee Wolf, both spent many years assembling large and impressive libraries of Victorian period novels and published detailed catalogues of their collections. Both collected Mrs. Gaskell but only Sadleir owned a copy of Cranford in First Edition and his copy had restoration to the endpapers.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TjoT7CDc0-8/TQpOyil-mnI/AAAAAAAAAAM/e8rdL25nzro/s1600/6682.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TjoT7CDc0-8/TQpOyil-mnI/AAAAAAAAAAM/e8rdL25nzro/s320/6682.jpg" width="165" /></a></div>So, the First Edition is a scarce book, genuinly rare in fine original condition. What are the alternatives for collectors?<br />
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There are many illustrated editions that can be found quite easily and for considerably less money that the 1853 First Edition. The first Illustrated edition was published in 1864 by Smith, Elder and featured a decorative title page and just two engraved plates by George Du Maurier. <br />
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By far the most popular editions were published featuring illustrations by Hugh Thomson in 1891 (Macmillan & Company), and Charles E. Brock in 1898 (Service and Paton). This Brock edition featured only 16 line drawings. The complete Brock edition was issued in 1904 with 25 plates , all in colour, by J. M.Dent.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TjoT7CDc0-8/TQpPee-mfLI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/HE9NrJ1MRko/s1600/6764.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TjoT7CDc0-8/TQpPee-mfLI/AAAAAAAAAAQ/HE9NrJ1MRko/s320/6764.jpg" width="157" /></a></div>Both these editions are beautifully illustrated by two of the major book artists in England at the end of the 19th century and were re-printed many times making copies affordable and readily available. The publishers made these editions available in delux bindings of cloth (and in the case of the 1904 Brock edition a full extra gilt-tooled vellum binding) with highly decorative covers to compliment the beautiful illustrations within. Many more were rebound in attractive leather bindings which make great gifts. For many, a wonderfully illustrated copy of a favourite book in a fine leather binding is irresistible.<br />
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Of the 20th century illustrated editions, my favourite is the one issued with fine wood engravings by Joan Hassall, published by George Harrap & Co. in 1940. Unfortunately most of this edition was destroyed by German bombs, while awaiting distribution in the publishers warehouse, during the Blitz. Luckily the plates survived and the book was reprinted after the war.<br />
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Various television adaptations, in 1951, 1972 and most recently in 2007, starring Dame Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton and Michael Gambon, have brought the characters to life for new generations, and in turn led to increased demand for the books. Television is often cited as a reason for the decline of literacy but as a bookseller I have noticed that a good film or TV adaptation can actually increase the readership for an author or particular title. In fact, there are several book dealers who make a good living specialising in selling books that have been televised or filmed.<br />
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To see the copies of Cranford that I have available at the moment, just type the word Gaskell in the quick search box on my home page and search by author.<br />
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Paul.Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-488958103005299749.post-80291955651827156142010-12-15T05:07:00.000-08:002010-12-15T05:07:25.032-08:00Working from home.I work from home.<br />
The important word in that statement is Work. Because I am at home all day many of my friends and colleagues think I spend my day lounging in bed, watching daytime TV and scratching myself. Okay, I do time my lunch break to coincide with the early afternoon showing of Neighbours ( for those not familiar with this Australian TV soap, it is mainly about some good looking Aussies who all live in one street and hate each other while pretending to be friends. This show helped launch the careers of Kylie Minogue & Guy Pearce and even a young Russell Crowe appeared in four episodes), but everyone is entitled to half an hour break for a cup of tea and a sandwich.<br />
I have conducted a brief study of my working hours since I closed my bookshop a while back and the results surprised me.<br />
When I had to "go to work" I averaged a 60 hour working week. Since taking the "easy option" of working from home I am averaging 70 hours a week.<br />
How does this happen?<br />
Easy. The lines between work and home life get blurred. That is why I sometimes find myself sitting at the computer answering emails still in my dressing gown at 8am, talking to a customer on the 'phone while waiting for my morning toast to pop up, or packing a parcel at 8pm while my dinner is cooking itself on the stove. When your home is where you work there is always work to be done. You can't leave it all behind by leaving the ofiice or shop at 6pm. I've lost count of the times that I look up from my work to discover that it is past midnight and I've worked into the next day, getting lost in both the task at hand, and the always playing music in my bookroom ( music is an essential part of my working day, and indeed my life, but more of that in another blog).<br />
Don't feel sorry for me. I love my job. I have a lazy streak a mile wide and can sloth it with the best of them when I'm bored, but when I'm engaged I can keep working all day long. As long as I get a couple of nights a week to go out and see friends, and a couple of weeks lounging in the Mediterranean sun each summer, I am happy to keep on working away while at home.<br />
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The point of all this?<br />
Be careful what you wish for. Many friends have told me that they envy me working at home. It's true I don't have to endure the rush hour each day, but don't think it is the easy option. Quite the opposite.<br />
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Is that the time? Neighbours starts soon. Time to put the kettle on.<br />
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Paul.Paul Foster Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12580308439444487640noreply@blogger.com2