Monthly Archives: December 2012

The Shoeblack and the Countess by James Stanhope-Brown

Posted on December 31, 2012 by bookvolunteer

It’s great to have books by local authors and this tale, which springs from  real events here in the North West, is written by an ex-resident of Styal Cottage Homes. The recounting of the hero’s tragic family life and the … Continue reading →

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Versatile Blogger Award

Posted on December 29, 2012 by bookvolunteer

I was a relatively new blogger, raw in terms of blogging know-how and overwhelmed by my commitment to post everyday, when I was offered the Versatile Blogger Award by the wonderful http://www.greenhousestarter.wordpress.com. I understood that if I accepted the Versatile Blogger Award, … Continue reading →

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Paris : Vintage postcards published by E Papeghin

Posted on December 28, 2012 by bookvolunteer

Imagine delighting your friends and family by sending these unused vintage postcards on your next visit to Paris. There are 18 cards in all. They date from c1920 and are in pretty good condition, having been interleaved with sheets of … Continue reading →

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Rome: A photographic Guide (Era il Rione Monti : Passeggiata fotografica per le strade del primo rione di Roma)

Posted on December 27, 2012 by bookvolunteer

If travelling to Rome, you might be thinking of buying one of the excellent guides, stocked on the shelves of the standard bookshop. You’d be wise, however, also to look on the Oxfam travel shelves where you might just find something a bit different and … Continue reading →

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The African Adventures by H Rider Haggard, published by The Folio Society

Posted on December 22, 2012 by bookvolunteer

I remember reading these adventures, breathless with excitement, as a young teenager. My reading was from hand-me-down old cheap editions with coarse browning paper and fading red cloth covers. I read so fast, I’m not even sure that I properly … Continue reading →

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Gray’s Elegy Written in a County Churchyard

Posted on December 21, 2012 by bookvolunteer

This very pretty edition of Gray’s Elegy Written in Country Churchyard is on sale at Oxfam Wilmslow for £3.99.

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Uncorrected Advance Proofs

Posted on December 20, 2012 by bookvolunteer

Spot the difference. We have the book on the left – an uncorrected advance proof which was eventually published in the format shown on the right. Maybe Wilmslow has a high number of reviewers and book sellers or other literary … Continue reading →

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Corvus: A Life with Birds by Esther Woolfson

Posted on December 19, 2012 by bookvolunteer

‘The story of an accidental pet that came into a human life and turned it upside down … richly observed and finely written’, said the Guardian. This memoir of a life with birds,  Chicken-the-rook and Spike-the-Magpie in particular, tells the reader a lot about the extraordinary author, … Continue reading →

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Plats du Jour by Patience Gray and Primrose Boyd

Posted on December 18, 2012 by bookvolunteer

I hadn’t come across this cookery book before, but now that I have read the glowing Amazon reviews, I’m tempted to delve deeper. No, the reason I picked it out of the Oxfam sorting room to feature here is that it is published … Continue reading →

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Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan

Posted on December 17, 2012 by bookvolunteer

This book was a publishing sensation. The cover of our copy, produced in the year of publication (1954), shows that 250,000 had already been printed. The author was 19 at the time. ‘Bonjour Tristesse’ is so embedded in the French consciousness that … Continue reading →

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