WITHNAIL BOOKS IS TEN YEARS OLD!

Ten years ago I opened a second hand bookshop by mistake in Penrith, which obviously had to be called Withnail Books. During that decade I’ve sold (certainly) thousands of books to (probably) thousands of people. Some of them said some pretty memorable things: sometimes to me, sometimes to others, or indeed to themselves, as I sat quietly earwigging.

I just type it down folks… and it's become a book...

"These books and that? Are they just for decoration?" Actual Customer Quotes from a Secondhand Bookshop only exists as a couple of hard copies I made for my own entertainment, BUT, anyone who wants one can have a PDF/ebook version FOR FREE! Just email me at withnailbooks@btinternet.com and I'll send you one.

Here's a small sample...

“I went out with a girl who smelled of coconut once. Put me off coconut for life.”

“I can quite accurately date books by their smell. There’s a certain era of American books which are really smelly.”

(He’s quite right.)

“It’s very hard to find knitted vegetables.”

“Oh, he was borderline genius. He could read barcodes without the numbers.”

To her companion, who remained silent: “I love old books. I love to look at old books. I like the look of them. I’ll not be buying one mind. You’re not impressed by books, are you? I like the look of them though. Looking at them.”

“My mate is the world’s leading authority on parasitic wasps.”

Over his shoulder on leaving, after our long conversation about book collecting:

“You and me, we’re both patients in the same clinic...”

As the tenth incarnation of someone I admire once said, “I love a little shop.” In these days of internet-shopping-from-your-sofa-while-tweeting-and-watching-TV, it’s a refreshing change, I think, to occasionally go outside and have a poke about in an actual shop. Perhaps not even looking for anything in particular, but just giving yourself the chance to spot something you might fancy. Something you never knew you wanted.

Withnail Books aims to be this kind of “little shop,” and I’m always very pleased when customers give me unbidden comments along the lines of “what a great shop,” or, “you have an interesting selection of books.”

I’d like to thank all the people who have helped Withnail Books over the last ten years: customers of course, but also friends, family (including my Brunswick Yard family) and supporters on t’internet; too many to list individually, but you know who you are. Thank you all.

Special thanks though to my wonderful wife Sharon Gosling, who has been there from the very beginning, when “Withnail Books” was just words stamped on a leather key fob she’d bought to inspire me, and which is still in my pocket as I type this…

The Yellow Earl: In His Own Words. A Lost Interview Rediscovered!

THE YELLOW EARL: IN HIS OWN WORDS

The Lost Interview

— A new limited edition pamphlet, 100 hand-numbered copies only. IT WILL NOT BE REPRINTED.

— Available exclusively from Withnail Books in Penrith.

— Published on Saturday April 13th— the 75th anniversary of The Yellow Earl’s death in 1944.

Rediscovered after more than a century, this fascinating interview, originally published in a sporting magazine in 1905, allows you to hear Hugh Cecil Lowther, better known as ‘Lordy’, The Yellow Earl, in his own words… 

Here are a couple of sample quotes:

“I don’t like the killing of anything… There’s many a fine stag at Lowther which has been covered by my rifle, but which is still sniffing the dawn in the woods!”

“It is a horrible thing to see the way in which even countrymen, when they go to the towns, are taking to too much whisky and gin. The healthy old beverages of beer and cider are passing out of fashion…”

Adam Newell, the owner of Penrith second hand bookshop Withnail Books, rediscovered the interview in an Edwardian sporting magazine. Newell has previously published limited editions of lost pieces by Lawrence of Arabia and Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, but this time he wanted to do something with Cumbrian appeal.

Says Newell, “The Yellow Earl was a larger than life character, and his personality really comes through in the interview. ‘Lordy’ is still very much a legend in Cumbria, and I’d like to think that this little publication will help to keep that legend alive!”

The Yellow Earl: In His Own Words also features some rare photos, including a newly discovered, previously unpublished ‘Carte de Visite’ portrait of Hugh Cecil Lowther as a young man.

THE YELLOW EARL: IN HIS OWN WORDS

16pp, plus cover printed on Rives Shetland paper.

Hand-numbered, limited to 100 copies, priced £8 each. It will not be reprinted.

Number 1 comes with the original 'carte de visite' portrait photograph of Hugh Lowther as a young man, and is priced at £75. UPDATE: THIS HAS NOW SOLD.

Only available from:

Withnail Books,

The Brunswick Yard,

Penrith,

CA11 7JU

Email to reserve your copy for collection (we are not offering mail order at this time): withnailbooks@btinternet.com

The Penrith Herald, 1860, with a 2016 makeover...

On Saturday, November 17th 1860, The Penrith Herald newspaper's front page, as was the norm for that time, was full of ads. John Bell for example was busy announcing the opening of his new drapery, with its "lowest possible prices".

In 2016, local artist Ken Martin has created a limited edition print of that front page, with sketches of the town over the top. I rather like it. If you'll allow me my own brief advert, you can see the print, and a lot more besides, in the View Two Gallery, which has now opened at The Brunswick Yard (which is also home of course to Withnail Books' Little Shop).

Penrith Engraved

There must be literally thousands of different postcards, and before that, engravings of Penrith created over the last couple of hundred years. Here's a quick look at two engravings from the mid-19th century, which are currently in the Little Shop.

The first is of the 'Giant's Grave' in the church yard of St Andrew's, Penrith (learn more about this singular monument here). It's by the renowned topographical illustrator Thomas Allom.

Allom was also an architect, who worked with Sir Charles Barry on the Houses of Parliament, but he was probably best remembered for his illustrations, especially of his travels further afield, to Turkey and China. Here's 'Loading tea junks at Tseen'tang' from the latter trip:

Then there's this somewhat romanticised view (presumably from somewhere up on the Beacon), by P Dewint.

This one was not intended to be 'from life', but created as an illustration to that huge sequence of books that nobody reads these days: the Waverley novels by Scott. A bit of googling turned up this 'review' of the series of prints which were released as a partwork of sorts, 'Landscape Illustrations of the Waverley Novels'.

Having looked at the modern version of that view many a time, I can agree that Dewint and his engraver Edward Finden (a superstar of the engraving world in those days) have indeed executed it in the "sweetest and most skilful manner".

Complete sets of these prints are still available, getting on for 200 years later, but they ain't cheap.

Penrith in the Dandy, 1969 (B.A.P. 02)

Back in the late 1960s, The Dandy was already over 30 years old, but still had Korky the Cat on the front page (Desperate Dan didn't make it onto the cover until 1984, amazingly). Back then, a page each week was given over to a feature called 'My Home Town', where a reader nominated their home, and the Dandy team supplied some relevant illustrations and fascinating facts.

In December 1969, issue 1463, thanks to reader Jacqueline Cherry, age 12, of 22 Inglewood Road (who won a £1 postal order!) it was the turn of Penrith.

Here then, for the first time online, is Penrith in the Dandy...

Withnail and I: The Finest Trivia Available To Humanity

Richard E. Grant, sitting down to enjoy his break between takes.

This week saw the latest in the bi-annual (at least) viewings of Withnail and I in the Withnail Books household. Reason enough to celebrate with a list of 10 things you may, or may not have known about the film...

1. Writer/director Bruce Robinson makes several uncredited appearances on screen. That's him driving the Jag in longshot, and it's also him (not Michael Elphick) in the long shot of Jake the Poacher walking away from Crow Crag.

2. Talking of Michael Elphick, he was apparently blind drunk throughout the filming of his scene: his lines were shot a half-sentence at a time, as he couldn't say more than that without becoming incomprehensible.

3. Also blind drunk was Bruce Robinson, the night before shooting started. He began his first ever day on set as a film director with 'a bastard behind the eyes', after staying up half the night nursing a bottle of vodka in the George Hotel, Penrith.

4. The film's end credits feature a mention of 'Special Production Consultant Richard Starkey, MBE'. That's executive producer George Harrison giving his mate Ringo a nod, after Mr Starr took time to visit the set:

The Special Production Consultant, consulting.

5. Murray Close, the Unit Photographer on the film, is today at the very top of the industry, with the likes of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games on his resume. He sells limited edition prints of his wonderful Withnail images on his website, here.

6. Though most of the 'country' locations were in Cumbria, the scenes in the film set in Penrith (Penrith!!) were not shot in the town. If you want to visit the actual place where Withnail demanded 'the finest wines available to humanity', you'll have to go to Stony Stratford, in Buckinghamshire. For a comprehensive guide to the filming locations, look no further than Tony Reeves' amazing site here.

7. In the aforementioned tearoom scene, we hear 'the proprietor' ask 'Mrs Blennerhasset' to phone the police. It's never been divulged, but here's guessing Bruce Robinson got that fabulous name from looking at a map of his filming location: there's a village called Blennerhasset in Northwest Cumbria. The place even has its own website.

8. There is a 'deleted scene', which is in the published script, and was shot, but has never been screened or included on any of the many, many home video releases of the film. It features Withnail and Marwood fencing in Monty's cottage. The film does include a moment with Withnail still holding his foil, but here's a photo from the deleted bit...

9. There was a well reviewed stage production of Withnail and I in Manchester earlier this year. Fittingly, it was performed in a pub.

10. The 'lighter fluid' was vinegar. Considering Richard E. Grant thought it was going to be water, his breathless reaction was not acting. Also not-acting is his collapse into giggles during the tearoom scene: you can see him looking almost 'off camera', assuming he's ruined the take...

Chin chin!

Here is the News, 1888: Penrith Beats Shap at Cricket... and a Decapitation at Southwaite

Elsewhere, George Eastman had just patented roll film and registered the name 'Kodak', the first ever English Football League games were a few days away, and Jack the Ripper was in full swing, but those were the big local stories on Tuesday, September 5th 1888, according to a copy of the Cumberland and Westmorland Advertiser (incorporating the Penrith and Lake District Chronicle) which has recently arrived at Withnail Books.

Both the cricket results, and the brief report of the gruesome accident at Southwaite (news of which reached New Zealand!) are below, along with a letter from a Kirkby Stephen church sidesman, kicking off about a rude Scouser, and adverts for the local suppliers of false teeth and guns.

Penrith of the Daleks

In a wonderfully random development, the reception area of Tim Roebuck Opticians, in the middle of Penrith, has gained a Dalek. There's probably quite a good 'You'll think you'll need your eyes tested' type gag to insert at this point, but I can't think of one right now.

It's a fan-made example, albeit largely following the 'official' plans, and with the headlight/flashers made from the same parts that the BBC uses: the company that manufactures Belisha beacons makes them especially for the Beeb's Daleks: they even have a BBC part number, apparently. It also has a built in ring modulator (so the person inside can do the voice!).

Anyway, if you're local, do pop in to say hello/exterminate, as I'm told he won't be there for long...

A Penrithian Photo Mystery: Trying to Track Down J. C. Varty-Smith

This photograph arrived as part of a batch of old prints from various photographers which included one I've already mentioned, but it stood apart from the others, which were all posed portrait shots.

The scan above doesn't really do it justice. It's not large, about 8in x 5 1/2in, and has a sheen of what I assume might be silver nitrate around the edges, which gives it a kind of halo effect. While it's obviously a snow scene, there were additional white dots/blotches added to the image at the printing stage to heighten the 'snow' — at least I think they were; they don't appear to be signs of ageing (they are part of the printed image), though I admit I'm no expert in these things.

So, perhaps the photographer was experimenting a bit at the developing stage, aiming for an 'artistic' effect to heighten what is already a nicely composed, rather atmospheric picture.

The print is signed in pencil, bottom left, 'J. C. Varty-Smith 1904'. It turns out Mr Varty-Smith was a Penrithian of some note, and evidently a gifted photographer: this page, detailing an exhibition of recently acquired items at the Penrith and Eden museum (which is just down the road from Withnail Books) includes a mention of 'medals awarded for photography to a Penrithian J C Varty-Smith (d.1924) an early patron of the Museum.'

J. C.'s google-friendly name (how many other J. C. Varty-Smiths do you know?) crops up in various other places too. He wasn't just a patron of Penrith and Eden museum: a sample of Spring Sandwort he collected is in Manchester Museum, and the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge has a whole collection of glassware collected by J. C. and donated by his sisters, 'The Misses Varty-Smith', including a Rum Decanter made by the Bristol glassmaker Lazarus Jacobs. The Fitzwilliam doesn't have an image online, but it sounds similar to this one at the V&A:

J. C. didn't just collect things, he wrote about them too, including a paper on creepy-crawlies:

Some Staffordshire Myriapods in North Staffordshire Field Club Transactions and Annual Report, Stoke-on-Trent vol.LIII pp.88-90

He also turns up, brilliantly, on the Victoria and Albert Museum's 'Knitting Reading List' for his no doubt definitive:

'Some Knitting Implements of Cumberland and Westmorland', in Connoisseur, Vol. XXV, 1909

There is a very badly OCR'd archive of the text of Connoisseur magazine online here, alas it's too garbled to read much, though the tantalising opening paragraph of the article is clear:

To those living in the Midlands and the 
South of England the subject of this paper will no 
doubt be puzzling, and the accompanying illustrations 
may at a first glance be taken for instruments of war- 
fare used by some savage tribes. They are, however, 
innocent and useful instruments of industry, which 
were among the belongings of our grandmothers and 
their fore-elders of the eighteenth century. 

J. C. Varty-Smith sounds like a very cool Penrithian. I'd love to know more about him, and indeed shed more light on his photography, and specifically the background to the image above. I think a visit to the Penrith and Eden Museum is in order...