A 270 Year-Old Book, With A 100 Year-Old WW1 Story...

Here's a very, very special book. It fairly reeks of history. It's a breviary, Breviarium Sanctae Ambianensis Ecclesiae to be precise, dated 1746.

A lovely book then, not in particularly good nick to be sure, but pretty good considering it's over a quarter of a millennium old. It's also very rare: no copies are currently for sale anywhere online (that I could find).

What really sets it part though is the inscription at the front...

The inscription reads (with thanks to the commenter below who corrected my initial transcription):

Picked up at Martinsorte on Somme Front in a ruined home, in 1916, by Captain H. J. Robson R.A.M.C (T.F)*

Just hope the advance of the tanks is before the fall of Theepvalle** and Beaumont Hamel.

* Royal Army Medical Corps (Territorial Force). The Territorial Force was a forerunner of the Territorial Army.

** Thiepval.

I'm afraid it will take someone with better knowledge of the events of The Battle of the Somme than me to work out when this apparently contemporary battlefield inscription was written, but if Captain Robson is talking about the potential fall of Beaumont Hamel, then I *think* that puts it towards the end, in mid-November 1916. (This has particular significance for me, as it was on November 14th 1916, during the Beaumont Hamel offensive, that my favourite writer, Hector Hugh Munro, aka Saki, was shot and killed.)

The book is now quite worn, and moulded as if it was stuck in a pocket, or perhaps a kitbag, for a goodly while.

According to this record in the London Gazette of 19th October, 1917, Captain Robson survived the Somme, but retired from The Royal Army Medical Corps due to ill-health...

All in all a fascinating object, especially in this centenary year. I don't own this book, and though I can put interested parties in touch with the dealer who does own it, I'm not sure he'd ever be able to bring himself to part with it...

They Don't Make 'em Like They Used To... Automobile Year from the 1950s and 60s

These oversized yearbooks from the 50s and 60s are stuffed with amazing vintage ads and photos, and even a fold-out Ferrari...

If only Formula 1, and indeed cars in general, still had a fraction of the style and élan the motor trade had back then...

Books About Penrith: True Blues: A history of Penrith Football Club 1894-1994, by John Hurst

Local history books from the 80s and 90s can often be rare as hens' teeth. They tend to have a low, one-time-only print run of a few hundred copies, sell locally over the next year or so, and end up on the shelves of people who are still alive today and therefore disinclined to let them go. As a result, if you want to get hold of, say, True Blues: A history of Penrith Football Club 1894-1994, you'll be lucky to find it. I can find one solitary copy for sale online. The Little Shop now has the second copy in the country currently for sale (and yes, it's cheaper). 

Like the best local history books, John Hurst's record of Penrith F. C.'s first century is a "category killer": it does the job so well, there's no need for anyone else to ever do it again.

Some Original Dave Gibbons Watchmen Sketches

Here are some recent arrivals to the Little Shop, and though I'm always open to offers, I've yet to decide if I actually want to sell these, as they're rather marvellous.

The Comedian, Doctor Manhattan and Rorschach, as drawn by Watchmen co-creator and all-round lovely gent Dave Gibbons, at the UKAC comics convention in the mid-90s.

Hurm!

UPDATE: SIGH. IT TURNS OUT I WAS HAD. CONFIRMATION FROM AN IMPECCABLE SOURCE IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.

Alice in Wonderland: Illustrations by Frank Adams

As is often the way with nice-looking books I photograph for this blog, this sold before I got the chance to post the pictures, so if you fancy this rather lovely edition of Alice in Wonderland, you'll have to look elsewhere.

Published circa 1912 by Blackie, it would originally have had a dust jacket, though the decorations on the boards (probably designed by Talwin Morris) are pretty enough. There are just four illustrations, but they're crackers. Artist Frank Adams doesn't merit too many hits online it appears, though you can buy an original watercolour book illustration by him here for £1500 if you feel so inclined. The two illustrations on offer are not Alice ones, alas. I bet they would be priced significantly higher if they were.

Anyway, here's the book that sold yesterday...

So Vin Diesel Is A Withnail Fan Then...

I recently came across this clip from an edition of Jonathan Ross's chat show that was broadcast a few years back. It's very silly, and proves that Fast and Furious star Vin Diesel must be a Withnail fan...

The Night David Bowie Stuck His Tongue Out At Me

David Bowie, looking effortlessly cool, as always.

I never 'met' David Bowie, but he did stick his tongue out at me once. I saw him play live three times. The third time was the best: on the Earthling tour, at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, in London. My trusty copy of The Complete David Bowie by Nicholas Pegg tells me that it would have been either the 11th or 12th of August, 1997 (I can't remember which, now). That's a small venue, especially for someone of Bowie's stature - the capacity is about 2,000. Even better, I was right up next to the stage: the balcony/circle at the Empire curves right around the side of the stage, and I was up there, stage left, mere feet away from the action down below. As I remember it, Bowie strolled on strumming an acoustic guitar for the opening number, Quicksand, and I, somewhat beside myself with excitement, simply pointed down at him, a massive grin on my face. "You're David Bowie! The actual real David Bowie!" I thought to myself. Bowie caught my eye, proper full-on eye contact, and stuck his tongue out, Einstein style, right at me, as if to say, "I know! I'm David Bowie! Good, innit!"

As I said, I can't remember which night I went, but there's a 50% chance it all happened seconds before the picture on this audience video (from the 12th) comes into focus...

RIP, Mr Bowie. You will be sorely missed. In know it's been widely quoted, but it's worth repeating Dean Podesta's (not Simon Pegg's) tweet:

If you're ever sad, just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.