I have a new addition to my bookshelves !

I have been visiting my daughters in Lincolnshire. That always means a visit to a second-hand and antiquarian bookshop in Horncastle, a typical English market town with a wonderful range of architecture. The bookshop I refer to stands on a corner and seems to beckon people from three directions  – ‘come in, visit me.’ Above the doorway is ‘Good For Books’ which is an adept invitation in itself. Step inside and you are in the endearing atmosphere of books. It is a cosy shop. No nook or cranny is empty. There are books everywhere, arranged by subject matter yet tempting you to explore and discover. 

Such bookshops deserve to survive and need to among the intrusive ebooks etc. Nothing can replace the feel of a book – they are essential to words. But that is another subject.

So what did I find for my bookshelf?

The Art of Tom Lovell: An invitation to History. A first edition published in 1993 by William Morrow and Co, Inc New York. Hardback with dustjacket. All in excellent condition.

Tom Lovell is regarded as one of the finest artists of the Old West and American history. The colour reproductions in this book are first class and bring out Lovell’s immense expertise and talent. You can feel the atmosphere in every picture, experience what the characters are going through, their expressions speak from every painting and sketch.

For me this was a ‘find’ because of my interest in the American West and in Art. When the two meet like they do in this book it was something I could not miss.  Now it stands on my bookshelf  holding its own with others dealing with the Art of the West. 

  

There were several Christmases duriing the 1930s when I received Boy’s Own Annual for Christmas. Though I knew it was likely I would get one from my parents I was still filled with excitement as I opened the parcel on Christmas morning. There before me was excitement, information and entertainment to be devoured and enjoyed for a whole year. What bliss. Stories by Percy F Westerman (An Exile in Valilia) who wrote 174 books, Sercome Griffin (The Crimson Caterpillar), Robert Harding (The Terror of the Desert). Articles about stamps, games, science, other lands, nature etc – they were an enjoyable way of learning without you knowing it. Those volumes stand on my bookshelves now alongside two Boy’s Annuals of 1897 and 1898 inherited from my father. It was in those I first met G.A. Henty (1832 -1902) a prolific Victorian author of boys’ stories. So my reading was widened from my early reading that I wrote about in my entry for the 3rd October.  Then those Boy’s Own Annuals led me into John Buchan and deeper into the glorious world of books . 

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I have many things to thank my parents for, not the least among them a love of reading and a love of books. These weren’t forced upon me but, because they too loved them, there were always magazines and books in the house. They encouraged me to read. I started with comics – Rainbow with its ‘Pa Perkins and His Son Percy’  and Chips with its lovable tramps ‘Weary Willie and Tired Tim.’ Growing up I graduated to Modern Boy, Triumph, Hotspur, Magnet, Rover et al and to Boys’ Cinema. These all led me into books. So what is the first book I remember reading? What was the first to adorn my bookshelves and is still there 80 years later?   Peter Pan and Wendy. (to give it its full title:- J.M.Barrie’s Peter Pan & Wendy retold by May Byron with the approval of the Author. Pictures by Mabel Lucie Attwell) delightful line drawings in the text and six illustrations in delicate colours to remain on the mind forever. How lovely to escape into the Never-Land, to fight with Captain Hook, to help the Lost Boys, fly with Peter and be with Wendy. Like Peter, I never wanted to grow up. Maybe I haven’t – I have kept young in heart and young in mind and have found they have helped me cope with life. I believe books have played a part in creating that attitude  and for that I thank my parents.  

More Books From My Bookshelves coming up.

What’s on yours?