Time to share with you the books I bought in London! Blogger has a new interface thingummy, so I’m hoping things will go to plan… if I press the wrong buttons and everything turns out enormous or slanting to the right or something, then forgive me. (Is the font still a readable size?)
First up are the two books I bought at the conference. My heart more or less stopped beating when I walked into the conference hall on the second day – there was the most middlebrow bookstall in front of me. Elizabeth von Arnim, E.M. Delafield, Viragos everywhere… Not the cheapest selection in the world, but I did manage to pick up a couple of gems:
Opus 7 by Sylvia Townsend Warner: the first book she published, this is a book-length poem and thus not my normal cup of tea, but I’ll give it a go. Plus… beautiful, no?
Novels and Novelists by Katherine Mansfield: a collection of her reviews, which is rather wonderful. Lots of unfamiliar names in the index, and thus probably a more accurate representation of the period. It does, serendipitously, include a review of Elizabeth von Arnim’s Christopher and Columbus, which I was reading the day I bought this.
Off I trotted during some free time, and down to Judd Books, wherein I bought these:
At Freddie’s and Innocence by Penelope Fitzgerald. There are plenty of Penelope Fitzgerald novels around, but I fell in love with this series of editions from Flamingo – another incentive to explore more PF territory.
The rest of the weekend’s purchases are shown, colour-coded…
Blow on a Dead Man’s Embers by Mari Strachan: I recently loved Strachan’s first novel, so was delighted to pick her second up for £1.
Loitering With Intent by Muriel Spark: it’s no secret that I adore this novel, but the copy I read was from the library – I’ve been on the look-out for a cheap copy for a while.
The Towers of Trebizond by Rose Macaulay: somehow this was not amongst my Macaulay collection, despite being perhaps her most famous. Thanks to Mary for spotting this outside the bookshop!
Epigraph on George Moore by Charles Morgan: I love authors writing about other authors, and although I’ve only read one book by Morgan, and none by Moore, this seemed like one I rather wanted to own…
Plagued by the Nightingale by Kay Boyle: between recognising Boyle’s name, an instinctive covetousness for any Virago Modern Classic, and the cover painting, I couldn’t leave this behind. The cover is ‘Portrait of a Young Woman’ by Meredith Frampton, one of my favourite paintings in the Tate Gallery.
The Old Maid by Edith Wharton: I’ve been wanting to read more Wharton, and this is perfect for my research into 1920s spinsters – not to mention a rather lovely copy.
T.H. White: A Biography by Sylvia Townsend Warner: another one I should probably have on hand for my research – making this book buying haul, on the whole, an academic excursion… no?
Academic excursions are always the best. Those are heavy-duty books you just got for yourself. I feel myself literally ageing (yet paradoxically growing youthful) as I look at your loot! I am sure that these are fantastic reads.
And yuh, I was led to your new blogpost thanks to FB – so the networked-thingamagig works – I use it myself and it links automatically – not to my FB profile – but to the fanpage I put up for GatheringBooks.
:)
I love your selection. I doubt I will get the vintage lot you have found, but at least this will give me an idea of what to look for.
An academic excursion? Probably 'No' – but perhaps I am confusing it with the cake-fest on another day! If you keep buying books at this rate you'll be reduced from cake to gruel! ;-)
Beautiful books!
What a great selection of titles. When you are finished with them, please will you send them to me?
:-)
liz in texas
Wow, amazing loot!! If I ever get to England, I had better bring an extra empty suitcase just for books.
I have read The Old Maid, it's also included in Wharton's Old New York volume of four novellas set in New York. I think it was my favorite of the four. I look forward to your reviews.
I agree with ovw. At this rate, you'll have to start selling at some point. You'll need to open a bookshop yourself – don't wait until you're waaaay too old – then, someone else will have to disperse them. :-)
Novels and Novelists by Katherine Mansfield: I have that book too!
Myra – I like my false self-justification! And I'm glad FB is doing its thing – hurrah!
Mystica – I do feel very privileged to be surrounded by such bounty in the UK.
Mum – you'd better not look too carefully at my most recent post… :S
Amy – aren't they!
Liz – haha, nice try! I hope you manage to secure lots of gems while you're over here.
Karen – definitely a second suitcase required… I don't know what I'd do if I were book shopping on a limited capacity. Having said that, my bedroom is a limited capacity…
Nancy – I do think that at some point I'll have to overhaul my library and self off half of it… maybe one day I'll follow Rachel's example and open an online shop!