Friday 18 November 2011

Royal Warrant Holders Banquet Nov 17th 2011

 
No pictures allowed in the Banqueting Hall, so here's one from the Ladies'!
We sat at Top Table with the Duke of Edinburgh. On being introduced, he announced that he uses Bibliophile a lot and how long our newspaper is. That's what keeps me busy I replied.

Thursday 17 November 2011

Meeting royalty

Very excited today as tonight we are attending Guildhall for the Royal Warrant Holders annual Banquet. It is a white tie affair - tailcoats and tiaras.

Friends and colleagues in publishing have been thrilled that we are meeting royalty. HRH The Duke of Edinburgh is guest of honour and as the only Grantee this year from him we are being introduced have been and asked to sit on top table! Only 900 guests watching... Below with husband Martyn.

 Ready.




Tuesday 16 August 2011

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Friday 8 April 2011

Lost Buildings

The Woodbook

SHAH 'ABBAS: The Remaking of Iran

http://www.bibliophilebooks.com/epages/BibliophileBooks.storefront/4d9f347b00063b5c273fc361fd0805ff/Product/View/66797

Saint Exupery: Art, Writings and Music

http://www.bibliophilebooks.com/epages/BibliophileBooks.storefront/4d9f347b00063b5c273fc361fd0805ff/Product/View/66665

Wednesday 9 March 2011

'Kandinsky' Bibliophile You Tube Video Book Review

'Sylvia Edwards' You Tube Bibliophile Video Book Review

ROBERT'S RULES OF WRITING book review


66227
Title: ROBERT'S RULES OF WRITING:
Author: ROBERT MASELLO
There are actually 102 rules, but who is counting? You already have a million books about how to write. You know the principles, the lectures, the 'expert' techniques and you have, of course, discovered that sometimes 'tried-and-true' just equals tired. In this breath of fresh air for writers, a successful author stomps out status quo writing advice and delivers 101, well, OK, 102, uninhibited techniques to improve your writing. They include: Strip down to your briefs or knickers. Spend time gossiping. Skip the Starbucks and take up whittling. Whether you are a fiction writer, freelancer, memoirist or screen writer, this book gives you unorthodox advice on how to transform your writing life and get published. With a table listing the rules so they are easy to access.
Published Price: £9.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £4

Tuesday 8 March 2011

WHY JESUS DIDN'T MARRY MARY MAGDALENE Book review


66543
Title: WHY JESUS DIDN'T MARRY MARY MAGDALENE
Author: JOHN VAN SCHAIK
Subtitled 'A Short History of Esoteric Christianity', this book is an antidote to the vague theories and fantastic claims that have long surrounded the question of the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Dan Browne's The Da Vinci Code proposed a theory that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and this idea has caught the popular imagination worldwide. Where the Church has simply tried to dismiss the question, this fascinating book addresses it head-on and seriously considers all the evidence. Van Schaik uses his vast knowledge of esoteric Christianity to explore Christian history and the secret practices of the time of Jesus. To the likely disappointment of conspiracy theorists, he concludes firmly that they were not a couple. 142pp in softback.
Published Price: £8.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £4

Friday 4 March 2011

CASEFILES OF MR J. G. REEDER Book review


62730
Title: CASEFILES OF MR J. G. REEDER
Author: EDGAR WALLACE
Let us introduce you to the enigmatic J. G. Reeder, a timid, gentle middle-aged man who carries a furled up umbrella and wears an old-fashioned flat-topped bowler hat. He is one of the great unsung sleuths of mystery fiction, created by the prolific Edgar Wallace, the 'King of Thrillers'. Despite his insignificant appearance, Reeder is a cold and ruthless detective who credits his success to his 'criminal mind' which allows him to solve a series of complex and audacious crimes and outwit the most cunning of villainous masterminds. This volume is a rich feast for crime fiction fans, containing the first three volumes in the Reeder canon: two novels, Room 13 and Terror Keep; and the classic collection of short stories, The Mind of J. G. Reeder. 434pp. Wordsworth paperback.
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £3

Thursday 3 March 2011

IMAGINING PARADISE Book Review


66662
Title: IMAGINING PARADISE: The Richard and Ronay Menschel Library
Author: SHEILA FOSTER ET AL
Rare works of great consequence can be found within the library of Richard and Ronay Menschel at George Eastman House in Rochester, USA, renowned for its collection of books on photographic history. More than 250 rare books have been carefully selected for this superb tome to reflect the incomparable strength and depth of this unparalleled remarkable library. Each work is richly illustrated and accompanied by commentary written by prominent scholars in photographic history. The selected works represent a broad range of subjects - bucolic landscape, travel and exploration, science and medicine, the literary and the illustrious. Groundbreaking publications by featured photographers include the Incunabula of William Henry Fox Talbot, the Reveries of Maxime du Camp and Francis Frith, the idyllic visions of Peter Henry Emerson and the exceptional books by Alvin Langdon Coburn, both published and unpublished. You will find highlights of the turn-of-the-century international art movement as well as Alfred Stieglitz's momentous Camera Work and 291. The book features works with many and various photographic processes - tipped-in original salt prints, albumen prints, platinum prints, photogravures, carbonprints, collotypes and Woodbury types. The book offers a glimpse into the library's many versions of Daguerre's seminal instructional manuals describing the Daguerreotype process with translations in five different languages. Here too are landmark manuals, journals and technical books published during the first 50 years of photography written for both amateur and professional. Rare works include the copy of the Treaty between Great Britain and China signed at Nanking in 1842 with the Chinese text copied by the photographic process licensed by Talbot to W. Henry Collen, the only known photographic copy of the Treaty that ended the First Opium War and ceded Hong Kong. Also presented are works of exceptional beauty such as The Holy Bible, a two volume edition dating from 1862-63, bound in rich red Moroccan leather with gold letter press, finished with bronze clasp and illustrated in the 1860s with 56 photos by Francis Frith. We open the gates to a special library we may never have chance to visit. 2007 first edition. 288pp lavishly illus, 11" x 12".
Published Price: $85.00
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £40

Monday 28 February 2011

Raconteur in the Times Sat 5th March

A special supplement is being prepared for "Raconteur" in the Times Sat 5th March about Royal Warrant Holders - how difficult it is to be granted one, that a five year grant is exceptional and in Bibliophile's case, that we are the ONLY grantee in 2011 from HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. We were interviewed by a veteran Royal reporter who seemed charmed by our idiosyncratic bookselling service and amazed that our 50-90% off books offer was permanent! Please buy a copy this weekend and read all about us...

BEWICK'S BRITISH BIRDS


65650
Title: BEWICK'S BRITISH BIRDS
Author: THOMAS BEWICK
Thomas Bewick was born in 1753, close to the River Tyne in Northumberland. He trained as an engraver with Ralph Beilby in Newcastle and in 1777 became Beilby's partner. In 1790 they published A General History of Quadrupeds and when this proved successful Bewick undertook to record all the birds of the British Isles. Land Birds was published in 1797 and Water Birds followed in 1804, together forming A History of British Birds. Bewick's intricate illustrations and engaging descriptions make his British Birds a treasure of natural history. His knowledge of the habits and habitats of bird species come not just from research but from a life spent immersed in the countryside, where he delighted in roaming, fishing and watching wildlife. Bewick enjoyed recognition and success during his lifetime, continuing the engraving business after his partnership with Beilby ended. His name lives on in two species of bird - Bewick's wren and Bewick's swan. Each bird is described in detail, particularly as to colours, diet and nesting habits plus his own amusing observations. 'The Kite is particularly fond of young chickens but the fury of their mother is generally sufficient to drive away the robber.' 'Jays often assemble in great numbers early in the spring and seem to hold a conference, probably for the purpose of fixing upon the districts they are to occupy. While some gabble, shout or whistle others with a raucous voice seem to command attention. The noise made on these occasions may be aptly compared to that of a distant meeting of disorderly drunken persons.' Introduction by Diana Vowles. 208 pages with over 180 delicate black and white engravings.
Published Price: £12.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £6

Friday 25 February 2011

EGYPT IN THE YEAR 1200 BCE: Book review


66282
Title: EGYPT IN THE YEAR 1200 BCE:
Author: CHARLOTTE BOOTH
Imagine what it would be like to be a traveller in a classical civilisation, to see the ancient wonders when they were new and to meet the people who lived, worked and died there. Written in the style of a modern travel guide, the book paints a vivid and thrilling picture of Egypt, the Nile Valley and, in particular, the great city of Thebes in 1200BC during the reign of the god-king Ramses Usermaatra-Setepenra. Just like in a travel guide of today there is information on visiting the pyramids when they were in a decent state of repair, where to buy a camel, and the 1200BC version of getting your hire car. There are guides to all the temples, wildlife, festivals, sports and pastimes, accommodation, eating out (and in), money issues, shopping, day-to-day life, manners and customs, acceptable behaviour and dress and crime and punishment, should you find yourself on the wrong side of the law. Also covers religion, social structure, history, politics, when the Nile floods and the best times to visit. A beautifully presented guide, a very clever way of approaching the history of one of the world's greatest civilisations. 160pp with pen and ink illus.
Published Price: £9.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £4

Thursday 24 February 2011

FROM THE CAMARGUE TO THE ALPS


66524
Title: FROM THE CAMARGUE TO THE ALPS
Author: BERNARD LEVIN
Subtitled 'A Walk Across France in Hannibal's Footsteps', with passion and wit, Levin describes his travels on foot through beautiful south-eastern France. He follows in the mighty footsteps of the great Carthaginian enemy of Rome, Hannibal, who made the expedition with an army and elephants nearly two millennia before. From the Camargue via the Rhône Valley, across the Alps and into Italy during August snowstorms, Levin comments on the social and historical importance of the landscapes he passes through. This journey was made in the 1980s at a time when Levin was the most famous journalist of his day. He died in 2004 and still today his traveller's tales combine argument with a lightness of touch. Irresistible. 'The Camargue is famous for its white horses, its black bulls and its pink flamingos. I...was rewarded first by a glimpse of the horses...the herd looked not just white, but dazzling marble, gleaming like the salt-pans beneath the brilliant sun.' 245pp in paperback.
Published Price: £8.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £4

Wednesday 23 February 2011

TALES OF COUNTRY THE ECCENTRICS


66452
Title: TALES OF COUNTRY THE ECCENTRICS
Author: TOM QUINN
Tom Quinn has scoured the country in his quest to prove that the British eccentric is alive and well and living in ... well, Ashford, Telford or Denbigh. Apart from living eccentrics the author includes famous historical eccentrics, for instance the taxidermist Charles Waterton of Wakefield who created the strange stuffed hybrid the Nondescript and tamed a cayman or crocodile by riding on its back, attributing his success to the fact that he "hunted some years with Lord Darlington's foxhounds". The Gothick revival architect William Beckford, the reclusive shell-collector Sir Vauncey Harpur-Crewe of Calke Abbey and the 20th century Conservative MP Nicholas Fairbairn are other examples of eccentricity. The living eccentrics interviewed by Quinn include the gun historian Bill Curtis, Ernie James, the "last of the Fen Tigers" eking out a precarious living catching eels, harvesting reed and shooting ducks, Michael Levey of Westcott, one of a select band of lawnmower racers, and Edward Dorrell who invented sheep racing and runs a flourishing centre near Telford, where each race has nine contestants wearing a hat and number cloth, though the unexpected appearance of another farm animal may make them all run in the opposite direction. There are female eccentrics too, and Lego enthusiast Marjorie Hotston Moore recalls how during a period as a nun she would sneak out of the convent to go roller-skating. 192pp, black and white photos, watercolour illustrations.
Published Price: £18.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £6

Tuesday 22 February 2011

CURING HICCUPS WITH SMALL FIRES


66577
Title: CURING HICCUPS WITH SMALL FIRES
Author: KARL SHAW
Dr Samuel Johnson is said to have shaved off all his bodily hair just to see how long it would take to grow back. The poet Shelley once tied a cat to a kite in a thunderstorm to see if it would be electrocuted. Spencer Cavendish, Eighth Duke of Devonshire, once related an experience he had at Westminster: 'I had a horrid nightmare. I dreamed I was making a speech in the House of Lords and woke up to find I actually was.' The English aristocrat John 'Mad Jack' Mytton died a bloated, paralysed and penniless debtor in prison. His premature demise was partly due to injuries sustained while setting fire to his own nightshirt to try to cure hiccups. It worked! Here in a delightful miscellany of great British eccentrics are over 200 aristocrats, inventors, artists and just plain weirdoes. An 18th century French scholar once attributed the British talent for eccentricity to a 'mixture of fogs, beef and beer…aggravated by the tedium of an English Sunday.' Do we agree? Much fun to be had in 298pp in paperback.
Published Price: £10.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £3.50

Friday 18 February 2011

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM Book Review



66460
Title: A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM
Author: TRANSLATED BY DAN CROMPTON
What we have here is the world's oldest joke book, translated for laughs rather than academic perfection. Mercifully lacking in Latin footnotes, the best jokes in this collection will have you in stitches and the worst are so bad, they are funny. Our sense of humour has really changed very little over the last two millennia and our book is packed full of cheeky puns, cheesy one-liners, sexual innuendoes and an awful lot of fart gags. The jokes in this book, attributed to two 4th century wits named Hierocles and Philagrious were originally collected together under the title Philogelos (The Joker) back when the Romans were in charge of the known world. But rather than giving insight into the philosophical and existential musings of our ancient predecessors, they simply prove that back in the 4th century they found nothing funnier than a eunuch with a hernia. Hairdresser: How shall I cut your hair, sir? Client: In silence. With charming line illus. 160pp.
Published Price: £9.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £5

Thursday 17 February 2011

TRAINS AND BUTTERED TOAST Book Review


66637
Title: TRAINS AND BUTTERED TOAST
Author: JOHN BETJEMAN
Edited by Stephen Games, this anthology is a lovely treat. These radio talks reveal John Betjeman as the extraordinary poet and genius that he was. Broadcasting in the golden age of wireless, Betjeman was a national treasure for millions of devoted listeners. Here his eccentric and whimsical and homespun radio talks are collected in book form for the first time. From trains and buttered toast to hymn-writing vicars and Regency terraces, his enthusiasms are infectious. Travel with him as he potters about at the seaside, delves into country churches and marvels at provincial cities. Rediscover, as he did, how to appreciate our discarded heritage. 'I shan't tell you where all the lovely places are' he playfully remarks, 'I want them to myself. But I'll tell you where to look.' A companion to Tennis Whites and Teacakes code 66636. 353pp in paperback.
Published Price: £8.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £4.50

Wednesday 16 February 2011

KANDINSKY: Book and Prints Slipcased


66663
Title: KANDINSKY: Book and Prints Slipcased
Author: HELMUT FRIEDEL & A. HOBERG
With 450 illustrations of which 300 are in colour, this luxury object has been exclusively created to showcase the work of Vasily Kandinsky, the founder of abstract painting. Previously unpublished photographs along with essays by leading experts provide insight into the evolution of the artist's work throughout his career. A richly illustrated in-depth biography examines his personal life and creative development. The second slim volume in this beautifully decorated slipcase is a facsimile of Kandinsky's Kleine Welten or 'Small World', an original graphic series from 1922. Between 1910 and 1914, Vasily (Wassily) Kandinsky worked on the basics of the abstract image, leading ultimately to the development of Abstract Art. He was one of the founding fathers of Der Blaue Reiter, a teacher at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin, and the author of numerous art theory writings. This opulent luxury volume presents the artist in a whole new dimension. There are never-before-released photographs and essays which touch on Kandinsky's strong relationship to music as well as his influence in the development of 20th century art. In his own words, 'A painting should resonate and be imbued with an inner glow.' These artworks truly glow from these glossy pages on a truly heavyweight volume which weighs in at 12.9 pounds, 320pp measuring 12" x 16". The folder includes facsimile of the original graphics which were individually numbered in a bound booklet of 12 facsimile artworks measuring 11" x 14". They could be detached for framing. A rare find Bibliophile has imported from a new supplier in Germany. Thank goodness for home deliveries with such a rare heavy item! May be a very slight dent to slip case and this is reflected in our price. Bag your copy now.
Published Price: £126.00
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £70

Tuesday 15 February 2011

SYLVIA EDWARDS Book Review


66541
Title: SYLVIA EDWARDS:
Author: MEL GOODING & DAVID ELLIOTT
One of the world's most popular commercial artists with her bestselling designs for Unicef greetings cards, Sylvia Edwards initially found it difficult as an American woman abstract painter to establish herself on the British scene. Born in Boston, Edwards married an Iranian while still at art school and settled in Tehran, returning to Europe on the break-up of her marriage. This stunning monograph, including 187 superb colour reproductions, covers her painting as she moves from early figurative studies such as the haunting "Valley of Sils", 1972, towards the pure abstraction of such gorgeous watercolours as "Black Sun", 1990. The Iranian influence of kaleidoscopic colours and intricate patterning is very apparent in abstract work such as "Carpet Bazaar", 1995, or "Checkered Mountain", 1996, suggesting the influence of Klee, Kandinsky and Matisse. The grid pattern paradoxically liberated Edwards and the early flower studies with their intense saturated hue became the brilliantly imagined watercolour fantasias which made her international reputation. In the past ten years she has moved away from formulaic figuration and fantasy into a looser, more gestural style, finding colour forms through the organic flow of the liquid medium in works such as "Kenyan Quiet" and "Abstract in Scarlet and Yellow". In addition to the 187 reproductions, there is a signed lithographic print from an edition of 500 included with the book. 190pp, large format, 187 colour plates, signed print, exhibitions, biography.
Published Price: £55.00
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £20

Monday 14 February 2011

IN OUR TIME: A Companion to the Radio 4 Series Book Review


66634
Title: IN OUR TIME: A Companion to the Radio 4 Series
Author: MELVYN BRAGG
In an astonishing tour through the history of ideas, from philosophy, physics and history to religion, literature and biology, the editor has selected episodes which reflect the diversity of the radio series. Here we can discover the reasons for the fall of the Byzantine empire, why women were persecuted as witches in the 17th century, what really happened in the peasants' revolt and where our calendar comes from. We can also unearth the influence of great Islamic thinkers, prime numbers, Socrates and Tectonic Plates as well as finding out the shape of the origin of life. Melvyn Bragg orchestrates the ideas of leading academics in each field so that the dynamic and lively discussion from the programmes comes through vividly on the page. In fact, the book brings to life the signposts of history, the moments that significantly changed the world as we know it and the individuals and ideas that made us what we are today. A mind-broadening 595 paperback pages with b/w illustrations, afterword and list of contributors.
Published Price: £13.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £6

Thursday 10 February 2011

ENGLAND'S THOUSAND BEST HOUSES Book review


66424
Title: ENGLAND'S THOUSAND BEST HOUSES
Author: SIMON JENKINS
From Bedfordshire to Yorkshire West, in alphabetical order, this volume, written by a heritage enthusiast, is organised county by county for complete ease of use. The author regards England's houses as, collectively, nothing less than one of the wonders of the world, and his lively text reflects that. The 'houses' of course include famous stately homes and palaces, such as the weird and wonderful combination of Medieval and Art Nouveau that is Eltham Palace in Kent and Raby Castle in Durham with its amazing nine towers. But they also encompass humble cottages and huts like the Labourer's Cottage and the Shipwright's Cottage, both at Buckler's Hard in Hampshire, which provide moving testimony as to how poor people lived in times gone by. This unique living record of the nation's history does not forget either the ordinary people living in quite ordinary dwellings, who later became famous, such as Jane Austen. The book features a ratings system for each house and runs to a massive 1,046 paperback pages with maps, colour plates, glossary, list of abbreviations, section on the principal periods of English domestic architecture, index of names as well as places and what are considered to be the top hundred houses.  
Published Price: £12.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £6

Wednesday 9 February 2011

WILLIAM AND LUCY: The Other Rossettis Book review


66065
Title: WILLIAM AND LUCY: The Other Rossettis
Author: ANGELA THIRLWELL
As promoter, transcriber, writer and editor, William Michael Rossetti invented our view of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Yet he is the least understood of all the Pre-Raphaelites. This biography is a dual portrait of an eminent Victorian and his artist wife Lucy Madox Brown, who was also intimately connected with the Pre-Raphaelite's circle. They married in 1874, uniting two of the most resonant family names. Their passionate and ultimately tragic relationship, described here for the first time, provides a fresh perspective on 19th century marriage and on the private lives of eminent Victorians. Sibling of Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti, William was one of the original 'Brothers', a bohemian, a connoisseur, biographer, historian and tax man. Lucy was the intense and intellectual daughter of Ford Madox Brown, an ambitious artist and biographer of Mary Shelley, who struggled with tuberculosis for nearly ten years. The book follows William and Lucy through their separate professional careers, marriage, continental travels and Lucy's illness and death. At the cross-over between art history, literary criticism, social history and biography, this book re-writes Pre-Raphaelite history and brings to life two fascinating people who were both of their time and ahead of it. With striking contemporary photos and art by William, Lucy and others of their circle, this is a truly heavyweight volume of 376pp, some colour plus family trees and coloured map. Yale University Press.
Published Price: £35.00
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £15

Thursday 3 February 2011

ELIZABETH I AND MARY STUART: The Perils of Marriage Book Review


65879
Title: ELIZABETH I AND MARY STUART: The Perils of Marriage
Author: ANKA MUHLSTEIN
The French biographer of the 'Three Temporary Queens' here turns her attention in a new major double biography, now translated, to the turbulent relationship between Elizabeth I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots. Quite uniquely, both thrones of the British Isles were occupied by women at this time, which for the first time brought the issue of royal consorts to the fore. In the 16th century, marriage was a necessity - no marriage, no dynasty. But Elizabeth was one of few queens regnant who made the conscious choice never to marry and therefore never subordinated herself and her power to a male consort. At the same time she used the possibility of marriage as a tool to manipulate the balance of power in Europe. In contrast, her cousin Mary is seen as a slave to passion, whose marriages cost her her throne and ultimately her life. One of the most fascinating stories in British history, here is a double biography of these clever and courageous women who fought foreign wars, faced domestic plots, assassination and espionage. In the end it was the manner with which they dealt with vital dynastic question of marriage that ultimately served to shape their destinies and historical reputations. 'The poor, demented woman will not cease until they cut off her head. That will come to pass...I see no remedy for it.' - Charles IX of France on Mary Stuart. Beautifully produced 408 page hardback.
Published Price: £18.00
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £7

Wednesday 2 February 2011

CHRONICLER OF THE WINDS Book Review


66250
Title: CHRONICLER OF THE WINDS
Author: HENNING MANKELL
SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. The prize-winning and internationally acclaimed author is probably better known to bibliophiles as the creator of the Inspector Wallander Mysteries. Here he brings his skills to bear on a fable of the African continent. One night, José hears gunfire from the deserted theatre next door to his bakery. Nelio, a street urchin renowned throughout the city for living on his wits, has been mortally wounded. He asks to be taken to the roof to breathe the beautiful air fresh off the Indian Ocean and there, his life ebbing away, he tells his story. At the age of five, he watched helplessly as his village was burned to the ground and his people were massacred by bandits. He escaped and made his way to the coast, encountering en route bizarre characters who gave him guidance. Upon arrival in the city, he joined a rough street gang and began a very different way of life - one which was to lead to his untimely death. A moving and suspenseful 233 pages.
Published Price: £12.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £5.50

Tuesday 1 February 2011

FABERGE'S EGGS Book review

 
66038   FABERGE'S EGGS: by TOBY FABER    
For many people the pinnacle of the jeweller's art has to be the Fabergé imperial eggs. These Easter gifts, which Russia's last two tsars gave to their tsarinas, have become synonymous with privilege, beauty and an almost provocative uselessness. Above all, the eggs illustrate the attitudes that would ultimately lead to the downfall of the Romanovs: their apparent indifference to the poverty that choked their country, and their preference for style over substance. This superb new account of a classic tragedy illuminates some fascinating aspects of 20th century history. The eggs' amazing journey from revolutionary Russia features a cast of characters including embattled Bolsheviks, acquisitive British royals, eccentric artefact salesmen and such famous business and society figures as Marjorie Merriweather Post and Malcolm Forbes. The author also tantalisingly suggests that some of the eggs, long thought lost, may eventually emerge. 302 pages with b/w archive and colour plates, family trees, full listing of the imperial eggs. Published price: $30.00 Bibliophile price: £12.50

Monday 31 January 2011

SECOND WORLD WAR EXPERIENCE: Vol. 1 Blitzkrieg 1939-41 Book Review


66378
Title: SECOND WORLD WAR EXPERIENCE: Vol. 1 Blitzkrieg 1939-41
Author: RICHARD OVERY
Published in association with the Imperial War Museum, this outsized slipcased box set contains rare removable documents, memorabilia and an audio CD of veterans' first-hand accounts. It is a companion to second volume Axis Ascendant code 66379. We are presenting the first two in the landmark four part history of the Second World War. Blitzkrieg examines the slow build-up as the world moved towards war and goes on to document the Munich crisis in 1938 to the defeat of France, from the retreat at Dunkirk to the sinking of the Bismarck. Among the rare documents are propaganda, operational maps, personal letters, secret orders and war diaries is a fake passport used by sub-lieutenant Heinz Kummer of the Graf Spee to flee back to Germany following the Battle of the River Plate. Here is Field Marshal Montgomery's personal diary charting the events of the Dunkirk evacuations, Churchill's annotated notes for his famous June 1940 speech 'This was their finest hour' and the complete plan of attack for the German invasion of the UK - 'Operation Sealion', including General Halder's order to invasion forces and the operational maps. Transparent wallets contain superbly reproduced facsimiles in colour including a foldout poster entitled 'The World's Verdict on Germany' . There are collectable documents, flaps, letters inserted inside envelopes with ink handwriting in a masterpiece of publishing to the highest of standards. 64 very large pages in slipcase.
Published Price: £30.00
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £15

Friday 28 January 2011

SPEAKING FOR ENGLAND Book review


66385
Title: SPEAKING FOR ENGLAND
Author: DAVID FABER
Leo, Julian and John Amery - the book is about the tragedy of a political family. It is a triple biography of Churchill's India Secretary Leo Amery and his sons Julian and John, the latter hanged at Wandsworth Prison in 1945 after war years spent broadcasting for the Germans. The story of the execution is the emotional heart of this moving book, a rare example of a political biography that fascinates readers even with no interest in politics. Who would have thought a British politician's son could have fought for Hitler? Michael Gove said, 'Makes a wretched existence absorbing'. 612pp in paperback with 16 pages of b/w photos.
Published Price: £9.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £4

Tuesday 25 January 2011

GIRL ON THE WALL Book review


66349
Title: GIRL ON THE WALL: One Life's Rich Tapestry
Author: JEAN BAGGOTT
A very personal social history of one British life over the past seven decades told through a hand-sewn tapestry. Jean, a talented needlewoman, has stitched a remarkable tapestry looking back on her life as an ordinary young girl from the Black Country growing up in extraordinary times. The tapestry, which took 16 months to complete consists of 73 interlocking circles, gives a unique portrait of everyday life for the working people of the industrialised West Midlands. In each chapter Jean explores the memories evoked. She grew up in a house where the bath hung on a nail in the yard, children listened to Dick Barton on the radio while their mothers made rag rugs, there are events such as the first Moon landings and the Cuban Missile Crisis, others are filled with memories of wash day, childhood illnesses, wartime rationing and games played in the fields and streets beyond Jean's two-up two-down terraced home. Her entertaining and conversational style and the exquisitely appealing beauty of her tapestry recreated in full colour are given a rather special treatment on this heavyweight glossy white papered book. There are even memories of Pink Floyd and what the band means to Jean, the Rubik's cube, the hula-hoop and the mini skirt, make do and mend, how the cinema has changed in the last 60 years, aircraft, politicians, to women's clothing. A delightful read and there is even an opportunity to buy a large-scale print of Jean Baggott's tapestry plus a superb fold-out plan in full colour at the back of the book of the tapestry itself with numbered circles explaining each piece. 352pp.
Published Price: £17.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £7.50

Monday 24 January 2011

BUSTY, SLAG AND NOB END book review


66222
Title: BUSTY, SLAG AND NOB END
Author: RUSSELL ASH
The subtitle has it, "Remarkably rude but real names of people, places and products from all over the world". At the turn of the last century Dick Bellend (from Bermondsey), Effing Dick (Glasgow) and Darling Donger (Leicester) may have been considered perfectly respectable monikers, but Furry Fannie of Pennsylvania only passed away ten years ago - whether the mourners at her funeral managed to keep a straight face is not recorded. From the disturbed genius who offered us a festival of ridiculous British names in Potty, Fartwell and Knob, here is a new collection of naughty nomenclature from all around the world. Here are genuine people, places, products and acronyms all with jaw-dropping names or connotations. Juvenile? Yes. Silly? Definitely. Eye-wateringly funny? Goes without saying. Prepare to laugh yourself hoarse with this amazing collection which just goes to show truth is funnier than fiction - unless you live in Bumbang (Australia) or Scratchy Bottom in Dorset. Some 2,000 entries enlivened by some naughty Victorian b/w photos which will raise a smile too. 256pp.
Published Price: £9.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £5

Friday 21 January 2011

HISTORY OF THE LIVERPOOL PRIVATEERS AND LETTERS OF MARQUE book review


66044
Title: HISTORY OF THE LIVERPOOL PRIVATEERS AND LETTERS OF MARQUE
Author: GOMER WILLIAMS
First published in 1897, we here have a heavyweight facsimile reprint in paperback which incorporates an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade, 1744-1812, and an introduction by David Ealtis. It is the most detailed period document on privateering and the slave trade. The first half of the book covers historically important eras such as the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. The second half focuses on the slave trade and how privateers profited from it, including extensive chapters on specific captains, the abolition movement and corporate ties to the slave trade. Gomer Williams presents material on Liverpool drawing from newspapers and private correspondence including numerous stories about slave traffic. Written at the end of the 19th century, Williams lamented that slave traders still threatened Africans. In his time however slave trading was considered a legitimate endeavour under both domestic and emerging international law, no different from any other form of trade, and privateers took good advantage of the profits to be made. The 2004 introduction is by David Ealtis, Professor of History at Emory University. In it he says 'The slave trade to West Africa had eventually been replaced by traffic in palm oil and palm kernels, centred on Liverpool, whose eventual value greatly exceeded what West Africa's slave trade had generated. A Gomer Williams was employed on a Liverpool palm oil vessel trading at Old Calabar in the mid 19th century… Williams was not born until 1874 and spent his working life as an author, publisher, journalist, advertiser and then 'bookkeeper', rather than as a sailor or merchant. Today we would call him a journalist and we are thankful for the depth of his research in bringing this fascinating period of history alive once again. 718pp in heavyweight paperback with three gatefold pages of facsimile documents, one entitled 'Palace and Stockade of an African King Who Dealt in Slaves'. With fascinating appendices on food that slaves were given, lists of ship's name, master's name, voyage and by whom carried out plus index to names.
Published Price: £20.00
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £8

Thursday 20 January 2011

HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN (1866) book review


66043
Title: HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN (1866)
Author: EMILY DAVIES AND JANET HOWARTH

Before the time of the suffragettes, the Victorian idealisation of women as 'ministering angels' had the practical result of limiting their education to pointless 'accomplishments', providing little to occupy their minds. The author of this thought-provoking and ground-breaking book was the founder of Girton College, the first college to give women a university education. She was adamant that women should sit the same examinations as men, and was a leading early campaigner for women's suffrage. Her book makes a forthright and vigorous case for the extension of professional and university education to women. It would, she strongly believed, enrich women's minds, train them to think clearly about whatever they were involved in, and qualify them for the many professions to which they would be able to make a positive contribution. 193 paperback pages.
Published Price: £30.00
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £6

Wednesday 19 January 2011

FAREWELL BRITANNIA Book Review


66344
Title: FAREWELL BRITANNIA: A Family Saga of Roman Britain
Author: SIMON YOUNG
Young conjures new life into old bones and is an expert in things Celtic and Anglo Saxon. This is fiction as written by a careful and formidably knowledgeable scholar whose topics touch on Druidic sacrifice to Roman spies, from wolf omens to male bonding by nipple sucking. For imaginative and thrilling engagement with history, this marvellous book is very hard to beat. 400 years of Roman Britain are brought to life in this engaging family saga, from the first seasick Roman soldiers sent to scout the coast of Britain ahead of Caesar's expedition of 55BC, to the chaotic withdrawal of Roman rule in AD410. Well known events such as Boudicca's revolt and the 4th century Barbarian Conspiracy are part of the story. And there are also domestic episodes - a desperate housewife cooking flamingo and a young Christian girl facing martyrdom. A brilliant combination of scholarship and imagination. 286pp in paperback.
Published Price: £8.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £4

Tuesday 18 January 2011

BLACKEST STREETS: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum

66316
Title: BLACKEST STREETS: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum
Author: SARAH WISE
'Their place knows them no more, and is ours today. Yet they were once as real as we are, and we shall tomorrow be shadows like them.' - G. M. Trevelyan about other ordinary men and women. In 1887 Government inspectors were sent in to explore the 30 or so streets and horrifying, often lethal, living conditions in a notorious 15 acre slum in London's East End. They found rotting 100 year old houses which were some of the most lucrative properties in the capital for their absent slumlords. Peers of the Realm, local politicians, churchmen and lawyers were making profits on these death-traps of as much as 150 percent per annum. Before long, the Old Nichol slum area became a focus of public attention. Journalists, the clergy, charity workers and others condemned its 6,000 inhabitants for their drunkenness and criminality. The solution to this 'problem' lay in internment camps some said, forced emigration, or even policies designed to prevent breeding. Concentrating on the last 15 years of the 19th century, when revolution was very much in the air, unemployment, agricultural depression and a crackdown on parish relief, the era provided a breeding ground for Communists and Anarchists. Author Sarah Wise looks back on the 'respectable' commentators and explores the real lives behind the statistics of the woodworkers, fish smokers, street hawkers and dog dealers whose tiny rooms doubled as workshops and miniature farmyards. She recovers the Old Nichol from the ruins of history and lays bare the social and political conditions that created and sustained this black hole which lay at the very heart of the Empire. With coloured map on the frontispiece, our very nearby Bethnal Green Road is at the heart of this area. 333pp with a good many b/w photos and woodcuts including one of an NSPCC inspector delivering a summons to a slum family, obviously posed.
Published Price: £20.00
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £8

Thursday 13 January 2011

MAIDEN'S TRIP: A Wartime Adventure on the Grand Union Canal

66359
Title: MAIDEN'S TRIP: A Wartime Adventure on the Grand Union Canal
Author: EMMA SMITH

First published in 1948, the book is a classic memoir of three young women in the exceptional circumstances of Britain at war. Presented with the motorboat Venus and its butty boat, the Ariadne, the three girls embark on their maiden trip. In 1943 Emma Smith signed on with the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company under their wartime scheme of employing women to make use of boats lying idle. Emma set out with Nannette and Charity on a big adventure - three 18 year old girls, freed from a conventional middle class background, precipitated into a world of the boating fraternity. Never before had they seen women with plaited hair and gold earrings, men with choker scarves and darkly sunburnt faces, whole families existing for generation after generation on boats painted the brilliant colours of blue and scarlet, white and glossy black, living hard but undisturbed lives on the water. The girls learn how to handle a pair of 72ft long canal boats, how to carry a cargo of steel north from London to Birmingham, and on the return journey south, coal from Coventry, how to navigate hazardous locks in the apparently unceasing rain, how to splice ropes, bail out bilge water, keep the engine ticking over and steer through tunnels. They live off kedgeree and fried bread and jam, adopt a kitten, lose their bicycles, laugh and quarrel and progressively get dirtier as the weeks go by. Pure nostalgic delight. 228pp with one publicity photograph of the girls at the end.
Published Price: £14.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £5

Wednesday 12 January 2011

COMPLETE RICHARD HANNAY STORIES

66180
Title: COMPLETE RICHARD HANNAY STORIES
Author: JOHN BUCHAN

Major General Sir Richard Hannay is the fictional secret agent created by writer and diplomat John Buchan, who was himself an Intelligence officer during the First World War. The strong and silent type, combining the dour temperament of the Scot with the stiff upper lip of the Englishman, Hannay is pre-eminent among early spy-thriller heroes. Caught up in the first of these five gripping adventures just before the outbreak of war in 1914, he manages to thwart the enemy's evil plan and solve the mystery of the 'thirty-nine steps'. In Greenmantle, he undertakes a vital mission to prevent jihad in the Islamic Near East. Mr Standfast, set in the decisive months of 1917-18, is the novel in which Hannay, after a life lived 'wholly among men', finally falls in love; later, in The Three Hostages, he finds himself unravelling a kidnapping mystery with his wife's help. In the last adventure, The Island of Sheep, he is called upon to honour an old oath. A shrewd judge of men, he never dehumanises his enemy, and despite sharing some of the racial prejudices of his day, Richard Hannay is a worthy prototype hero of espionage fiction. 992 paperback pages.
INCREDIBLE BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £2

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Book Review of the Day


66116
Title: BRITISH GUN ENGRAVING
Author: DOUGLAS TATE



The author admits to a passion for British Game guns, a love of shooting, a lifelong enthusiasm for the history and aesthetics of double-barrelled shot guns, plus an indentured apprenticeship as a photoengraver. Many generous anonymous collectors allowed their guns to be photographed to make this book, so for collectors, this is a rare find. Many people consider British gun engraving the finest in the world. The Austrians had dominated engraving in the 1930s, the Belgians in the 50s and 60s, then the Italians under the influence of Fracassi led the way in the 70s and early 80s, but Britain now leads the world. Douglas Tate and master photographer David Grant bring us the most opulent examples in existence. The book traces the traditions of gun engraving from the end of the 18th century to today, and it shows how national styles, both English and Scottish, changed over time, from the conservative Victorian era when London's 'best' firms developed subtly different patterns to distinguish themselves from their competitors, to the 20th century when game scenes evolved to become hyper-realistic. This fine publication chronicles the development of Celtic engraving as practised chiefly by Scottish makers, the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement and the influence the Indian Maharajas had on British gun ornamentation. With superb photographic plates in colour, comprehensive list of British engravers and examples. Large lavish landscape format, 274pp. 

Published Price: £45.00
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £15







Monday 10 January 2011

Two Book Reviews for the Curious

130,000 new titles have been published in the UK last year and already Bibliophile has been invited by many publishers to help them reduce their book stocks. This is how we have for over 30 years been able to pass on such fantastic savings on quality hardbacks and paperbacks to our loyal customers.

Here are two interesting reads for the curious:


OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS
When she began as a bookseller back in 1985 in St. Martin's Lane bookshop, our Annie sold at least 100 copies of this book every week, so it is most fondly remembered. That was just the cheap and cheerful Faber paperback. What we have here is a very splendid Faber hardback with beautiful colour illustrations by Axel Scheffler in what must become a collectable edition. Cats! Some are sane, some are mad, and some are good and some are bad. Meet magical Mr Mistoffelees, sleepy Old Deuteronomy and curious Rum Tum Tugger. But you will be lucky to meet master criminal Macavity because Macavity's not there! A beautiful edition of these beloved cat poems which of course were subsequently turned into the musical Cats. First published 1939, new edition with additional poem 1953. 64 large pages. Published Price: £14.99 BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £6

BURLINGTON MAGAZINE: A Centenary Anthology by MICHAEL LEVEY & CAROLINE ELAM

Volume one, number one of the Burlington Magazine appeared in March 1903, produced from the now seat of the Royal Academy and the Society of Antiquaries. It was the headquarters of the Burlington Fine Arts Club whose exhibitions of Old Masters paintings from British private collections had long attracted the admiring attention of International connoisseurs. The aims of the new Magazine were to set the study of art history in Britain on an entirely new footing, including art of all periods and places, decorative as well as fine art, with high standards of typographical design and illustration and above all, readability. The aims did not change over the next 100 years. Michael Levey has compiled some of the most significant articles, reviews, editorials and obituaries to appear in it under successive editors during the 20th century. Here is W. M. Rossetti on Dante Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal, an editorial on Clifford's Inn and the protection of ancient buildings, André Salmon on negro art, Augustus John on Gwendolyn John, Sir Kenneth Clark on Piero della Francesca's Saint Augustine altarpiece, a 1998 article on the Raphael Tapestry Cartoons re-examined, Malevich and film and much more. 256 very large pages with hundreds of colour and b/w plates. Yale University Press first edition, 2003. Published Price: £35.00 BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £18.50

Friday 7 January 2011

Royal coats of arms

Many congratulations in getting a Royal Warrant.  I am sure it will add to your prestige and hopefully to an expansion of your business.
 
Hope the cats are going to get royal coats of arms on their collars!!!
 
Kind regards,
 
Bill Howard

This one made be burst into (happy) tears

Congratulations!   It couldn’t happen to a nicer bookseller.
Susan Craig

CONGRATULATIONS

CONGRATULATIONS to Annie and all the gang at Bibliophile.  Including the cat. You have received a well deserved honor.   Always great prices, good selection, and outstanding service.  Too bad there is an ocean between us, as I would delight to browse your bookshelves.  
                                                                                                     Enough,  Kingtuf   @  US of A

A little ray of sunshine

Very well done, Annie and Team.  Your news is a little ray of sunshine in very gloomy times.
Jean Waddington

We can't get enough of this praise!

Congratulations to Annie and the team - good to know Royalty have the same, excellent taste in fine booksellers, as I do!
Looking forward to many more parcels from you - when we can find space for more bookshelves!
Best,
Thuranie Aruliah (customer for about 20+ years!)

Today's Book Review

65875
Title: DECIPHERING THE COSMIC NUMBER
Author: ARTHUR I. MILLER
Wolfgang Pauli and Carl Jung shared an obsession with the number 137. 'When the hard-boiled rationalist…came to consult me for the first time, he was in such a state of panic that not only he but I myself felt the wind blowing over from the lunatic asylum!' - Jung on Pauli. Is there a number at the root of the universe? A primal number that everything in the world hinges on? Physicists, psychologists and mystics throughout history have pondered this question. Some have proposed three as in the Trinty and the three dimensions; some have suggested four as in the seasons, directions and number of limbs. Or is the answer 137, which describes the fine-structure constant of the atom and also happens to be the sum of the Hebrew letters of the word Kabbalah? The groundbreaking physicist Pauli and famous psychoanalyst Jung both made enormous and lasting contributions to their fields. Pauli predicted the existence of the neutrino in the 1930s, many decades before it was actually discovered, and Jung codified his own occult dream analysis into his theory of a collective unconscious. In their many letters and meetings, the two men went much further. The two men's discussions lead into 'the no-man's land between Physics and the Psychology of the Unconscious.' A lavishly illustrated dual biography which tells the story of these mavericks in search of the cosmic number, a quest that led them deep into the works of medieval alchemists, dream interpretation, Kepler and even the I Ching. 336pp plus eight pages of b/w photos. US first edition written by a British academic.

Published Price: £18.99
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £6.00
 

Book pricing madness

See my husband's article on Asda prices. What with World Book Day in March giving away one million free books, what can a booksller do?
book pricing madness

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Bookseller By Royal Appointment to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh

A Royal Warrant has been granted to Annie Quigley of Bibliophile Limited. 


By Royal Appointment
to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh
Bookseller

We have been supplying books to Buckingham Palace for well over 20 years and we are thrilled to be able to display by Royal Appointment to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh along with his Royal Crest on our catalogue, website and business cards.

The Good Book ...

We can thank goodness that there is no VAT on books! Retail is hard enough these days. www.bibliophilebooks.com since 1978 has specialised in carefully selecting and offering, just out-of-print and soon to be rare books at 50-90% off.
Our bestsellers this year include a deluxe Bible, the like of which will never be printed again due to rising costs

HOLY BIBLE: The National Family Bible Limited Edition
Author: EDITED BY THE REV'D JOHN EADIE
Bound in full cloth, foil blocked with gilt-edged pages, there are over 1200 pages and 25 colour and black and white plates. Measuring 30cms x 24cms, this huge heavyweight 'Illustrated National Family Bible with the Commentaries of Scott and Henry' contains all the books of the Old and New Testaments. It has marble end papers, a satin bookmark and many thousand critical and explanatory notes, a family register to fill in with names and spaces for children, dates of birth, marriage and death and a family portrait gallery in the colour plates section at the beginning of the tome. A rare find. Special limited edition of 3,000 copies.

Published Price: £75.00
BIBLIOPHILE PRICE: £37.50