In my early days of bookselling I came across a bookseller from London called Graeme Roberts. When I say came across, I met him on the internet, on a book selling group, where booksellers chatted and helped each other. Graeme was always helpful to newbie booksellers, and led a group of us together into a project that became known as ibooknet - a group of booksellers who wanted to create our own booklisting group and be a professional alternative - on a small scale - to ABE, and even amazon (well we could dream).
Well we didn't ever quite make that, but Graeme, despite running his own shop in London (Magpie Bookshop in Spitalfields for many years, before moving up the road to The Bishops House) and his internet business, always took considerable time & patience to help newbies like me with their computer problems - (as I was and still am a real computer illiterate), as well as helping and advising with his book knowledge. He also gave a great deal of time to helping with the setting up of the Ibooknet project.
He and his partner moved up to Todmorden and he continued selling books in an internet only business in Northern England. Life carried on, and he sadly split from his partner, and then I believe he established himself in Hebden Bridge. Sadly I hadn't been in touch with Graeme for the last year or two - things drift in life. When I heard that Graeme had died last week I was shocked - not only because it was well 'before his time' but because he had always seemed so full of life. As I am sure many will have, I have spent much time since I heard the news, thinking about times gone by, and appreciating the help he gave me when he was here.
Graeme & I also chatted about dogs. He used to think I was mad about my dogs - until he got Winston, his own standard poodle, and then he understood what the love for man's best friend was all about. He was hooked. I have read on facebook that someone has given Winston a good home - I am so glad - Winston will need another good friend.
Graeme will be sorely missed. I don't suppose for one minute he was an angel throughout his life - who of us are - but he was a kind and humorous man with a twinkle in his eye, and a good heart.
Friday, 24 August 2012
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Nina Bawden 1925 - 2012
Nina Bawden, probably best known for writing Carrie's War, died this morning. I just heard it on the news. Another talented children's author leaves us.It's as well there are some budding new talents amongst the youngsters!
In fact Nina Bawden began her writing career as an adult novelist, in 1953, and published her first children's book some 4 years later. She went on to establish an equally high reputation in both fields. She began her children's writing exploring conventional adventure stories, producing such works as Devil by the Sea (1957), The Secret Passage (1963) & On the run (1964). However, later on, in Squib (1971) she produced a more striking story, about children who encounter a maltreated boy, and how frightening the realities of life can be. Her successor to this, Carrie's War (1973) proved to be an original and worthy achievement, being an account of wartime evacuee children in Wales, based on her own evacuation experiences. Likewise The Peppermint Pig (1975) is another realistic outstanding novel, about childhood experiences, based around an Edwardian family who are suddenly thrown into poverty, leaving their comfortable London home for a Norfolk market town.
In 1978 Nina produced a sequel to Carrie's War (Rebel on a rock) which was an ironic inversion of a children's thriller , as the intervention of the children produces not the usual happy ending, but disaster - as it probably would in real life! Likewise, in The robbers (1979) expectations are inverted again, as when the boy heroes act out their fantasies about thieves, they find themselves in deep trouble.
Bibliography of Children's Books
Devil by the Sea - Collins, 1957
The Secret Passage, Gollancz, 1963
On the run, Gollancz, 1964
The White Horse Gang, Gollancz, 1966
The Witch's Daughter, illustrated by Shirley Hughes, Gollancz, 1966
A Handful of Thieves, Gollancz, 1967
The Runaway Summer, Gollancz, 1969
Squib, illustrated by Shirley Hughes, Gollancz, 1971
Carrie's War; Gollancz, 1973
The Peppermint Pig; illustrated by Alexy Pendle Gollancz, 1975.
Rebel on a Rock (sequel to Carrie's War); Gollancz, 1978;
The Robbers; Illustrated by Charles Keeping; Gollancz, 1979;
William Tell (Illustrated by Pascale Allamand) Cape, 1981
Kept in the Dark; Gollancz, 1982
The Finding; Gollancz, 1985;
Princess Alice (illustrated by Phillida Gill) Deutsch, 1985.
See our current Nina Bawden Stock at: http://bit.ly/O1TOAO (or go to http://www.peakirkbooks.com and do a quick search under Nina Bawden).
In fact Nina Bawden began her writing career as an adult novelist, in 1953, and published her first children's book some 4 years later. She went on to establish an equally high reputation in both fields. She began her children's writing exploring conventional adventure stories, producing such works as Devil by the Sea (1957), The Secret Passage (1963) & On the run (1964). However, later on, in Squib (1971) she produced a more striking story, about children who encounter a maltreated boy, and how frightening the realities of life can be. Her successor to this, Carrie's War (1973) proved to be an original and worthy achievement, being an account of wartime evacuee children in Wales, based on her own evacuation experiences. Likewise The Peppermint Pig (1975) is another realistic outstanding novel, about childhood experiences, based around an Edwardian family who are suddenly thrown into poverty, leaving their comfortable London home for a Norfolk market town.
In 1978 Nina produced a sequel to Carrie's War (Rebel on a rock) which was an ironic inversion of a children's thriller , as the intervention of the children produces not the usual happy ending, but disaster - as it probably would in real life! Likewise, in The robbers (1979) expectations are inverted again, as when the boy heroes act out their fantasies about thieves, they find themselves in deep trouble.
Bibliography of Children's Books
Devil by the Sea - Collins, 1957
The Secret Passage, Gollancz, 1963
On the run, Gollancz, 1964
The White Horse Gang, Gollancz, 1966
The Witch's Daughter, illustrated by Shirley Hughes, Gollancz, 1966
A Handful of Thieves, Gollancz, 1967
The Runaway Summer, Gollancz, 1969
Squib, illustrated by Shirley Hughes, Gollancz, 1971
Carrie's War; Gollancz, 1973
The Peppermint Pig; illustrated by Alexy Pendle Gollancz, 1975.
Rebel on a Rock (sequel to Carrie's War); Gollancz, 1978;
The Robbers; Illustrated by Charles Keeping; Gollancz, 1979;
William Tell (Illustrated by Pascale Allamand) Cape, 1981
Kept in the Dark; Gollancz, 1982
The Finding; Gollancz, 1985;
Princess Alice (illustrated by Phillida Gill) Deutsch, 1985.
See our current Nina Bawden Stock at: http://bit.ly/O1TOAO (or go to http://www.peakirkbooks.com and do a quick search under Nina Bawden).
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Peakirk Books Olympic Offer
I have just realised that in my usual disorganised way, that I haven't mentioned to my blog readers/members that we are having a special offer to celebrate the London Olympics. This hasn't been a high profile sale, but in celebration of the London Olympics we are offering the following discounts to customers buying books from our own website at http://www.peakirkbooks.com
Until 12th August on any orders you make, simply add the following discount codes as appropriate into the coupon box when you go to the shopping basket checkout, to get the following discounts.
BRONZE - Spend up to £25.00, and receive a 10% discount
SILVER - Spend up to £100.00, and receive a 15% discount
GOLD - Spend over £100.00 and receive a 25% discount
Until 12th August on any orders you make, simply add the following discount codes as appropriate into the coupon box when you go to the shopping basket checkout, to get the following discounts.
BRONZE - Spend up to £25.00, and receive a 10% discount
SILVER - Spend up to £100.00, and receive a 15% discount
GOLD - Spend over £100.00 and receive a 25% discount
Monday, 16 July 2012
Our Gordon Setters - Update
Just a few piccies to show how Poppy & Henny are doing!
First - as you can see, reading is not just for humans! Henny always likes to get in on the act.
Poppy always likes to try and help - this is her resting her chin (below), when helping gets to much!
First - as you can see, reading is not just for humans! Henny always likes to get in on the act.
Poppy always likes to try and help - this is her resting her chin (below), when helping gets to much!
Henny wonders if she can replace the fairy at the top of the tree if she flies up there (below)
Poppy always loves to climb and get a better view! Here she is on our Patio table (covered up).
............And sometimes it's just time to sleep!
Monday, 9 July 2012
'Words Gone By ' takes to the Road
The time had come for Annette and I - those intrepid Vintage Paper Girls to take to the road and do our first Ephemera stand at an Antique and Collectors Fair. Our fledgling business was at last got off the ground after what seemed an interminably long process of dealing with banks, who inevitably lost bits of paper and caused even more delays, and we had got ourselves named & registered, had filled in endless forms and got sorted out for tax. However, we got there, and having been doing a little buying, eventually a few weeks ago started selling on the internet on the ebay site using sellers name Vintagepapergirl12012. Our first item was very successful - a lovely old early twentieth century scrapbook, full of a gorgeous variety of scraps went to one happy purchaser. Since then we have sold some attractive old Christmas cards, including the attractive Hold to Light ones, and some vintage posters including some illustrated by Pauline Baynes. We have more of all of these coming plus loads more stuff that we have been squirreling away. We had also been accumulating items for the fair we were going to do, as we intend to sell by Fairs and ebay. The last couple of weeks have seen a flurry of plastic bags, price tags, sticky labels and tape, as we were due on the Saturday to go and set up in The Greshams School in Holt,North Norfolk on Saturday afternoon before the sale on Sunday. Even though I am obviously used to book fairs, this to me was very different, as we aimed to make the stand as pretty and eye catching as we could - not something Jeff and I aim for when doing our book stands. Also for Annette this was all very new, as she doesn't do book fairs, and she was really enthusiastic.
The weather however wasn't on our side. We had obviously booked an inside stall as water and paper does not mix, and we were inside the marquee - but the rain of late has not been ordinary rain, being considerably heavier than usual, and as we arrived the heavens opened. We had quite a wait before we could even begin to unpack - we couldn't risk getting our precious paper wet. Fortunately though, the rain did eventually cease, and we were able to unpack, and the sun did come out and dry the mud to some degree. However we could anticipate that we would need to wear boots the following day! As it was our first display Annette and I had left ourselves lots of time as we knew we would need it. We're not naturally artistic, but do love what we do - so just need to 'work at it!'
Eventually a couple of hours later, having done lots of fiddling and twiddling, we were happy. You can see the results below.
Having set up, we left on Saturday little nervously, as we were doubtful of the ability of the marquee to withstand some of the amounts of water threatening to leave the sky, but there was little we could do but cross our fingers, and when we returned at 7.30 am the next day (yes 7.30 am) all was well - that is except for the pouring rain. The marquee had held up well, but there was the occasional drip from joins, and we did spend the day trying to stop drips of water getting onto our stock, which wasn't very relaxing.
Despite the fact that it rained for most of the day, and the Wimbledon final was on with Britain's own Andy Murray playing, and the British Grand Prix was taking place, we were pleasantly surprised to see that quite a few brave souls had decided to brave it out and attend the Fair, and we did better than anticipated. We met some very nice customers, and a great deal of interest (and purchases I am pleased to say) ensued. Some people also left their 'wants interests' with us, much as they do with books - I hadn't expected that! It also made a pleasant change for me. Don't get me wrong, I still love my books, and would never want to give up being involved with them, but its always good to develop new interests and to see what else is out there - and really ephemera is a fairly close relation. Despite the rain, and it was it chilly too - British Summertime at its best - Annette and I were both very pleased with how things went - and another benefit. Ephemera is a great deal lighter and easier to pack away than books. We were all packed up in about half an hour, ready for the off and I don't think it will be very long before Words Gone By takes to the road again - we will keep you posted.
The weather however wasn't on our side. We had obviously booked an inside stall as water and paper does not mix, and we were inside the marquee - but the rain of late has not been ordinary rain, being considerably heavier than usual, and as we arrived the heavens opened. We had quite a wait before we could even begin to unpack - we couldn't risk getting our precious paper wet. Fortunately though, the rain did eventually cease, and we were able to unpack, and the sun did come out and dry the mud to some degree. However we could anticipate that we would need to wear boots the following day! As it was our first display Annette and I had left ourselves lots of time as we knew we would need it. We're not naturally artistic, but do love what we do - so just need to 'work at it!'
Eventually a couple of hours later, having done lots of fiddling and twiddling, we were happy. You can see the results below.
Having set up, we left on Saturday little nervously, as we were doubtful of the ability of the marquee to withstand some of the amounts of water threatening to leave the sky, but there was little we could do but cross our fingers, and when we returned at 7.30 am the next day (yes 7.30 am) all was well - that is except for the pouring rain. The marquee had held up well, but there was the occasional drip from joins, and we did spend the day trying to stop drips of water getting onto our stock, which wasn't very relaxing.
Despite the fact that it rained for most of the day, and the Wimbledon final was on with Britain's own Andy Murray playing, and the British Grand Prix was taking place, we were pleasantly surprised to see that quite a few brave souls had decided to brave it out and attend the Fair, and we did better than anticipated. We met some very nice customers, and a great deal of interest (and purchases I am pleased to say) ensued. Some people also left their 'wants interests' with us, much as they do with books - I hadn't expected that! It also made a pleasant change for me. Don't get me wrong, I still love my books, and would never want to give up being involved with them, but its always good to develop new interests and to see what else is out there - and really ephemera is a fairly close relation. Despite the rain, and it was it chilly too - British Summertime at its best - Annette and I were both very pleased with how things went - and another benefit. Ephemera is a great deal lighter and easier to pack away than books. We were all packed up in about half an hour, ready for the off and I don't think it will be very long before Words Gone By takes to the road again - we will keep you posted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)