The Saturday Book, throwback to my book-selling (and collecting days)
I have been working on a couple of film scripts the past few weeks, charging the many batteries for Mary's Dowry Productions' little faithful cameras as we prepare to start filming in a few weeks for some DVDs, but I am back reading through the chapters I have written so far on my latest novel, book 7 in my bookshop series, titled 'Book Club at The Secondhand Bookworm'.
My cousin phoned me earlier while I was sitting up here in my attic room, listening to the rain on my three slanting roof windows while writing and reading, to give me some bookshop news. He has been filling my shoes for the past 6 years as manager of the bookshop where I worked, and so after a chat, and some new book-selling stories he has given me for my writing (always amusing), my sister and I were chatting over a cup of tea downstairs about the bookshop. I said to my sister, 'do you remember we went to London about ten years ago and visited a secondhand bookshop with very high shelving and extremely tall ladders?' and then I remembered that I used to collect 'The Saturday Book'!
When you work in a secondhand and antiquarian bookshop, unless you have a will of iron, you inevitably start collecting books. I remember becoming fascinated by this series that would pop up occasionally called 'The Saturday Book'. The owner of the bookshop where I worked, lived and breathed (probably a lot of dust) mostly turned her nose up at them but bought in the nice ones.
I was a very fussy book collector. The books I bought had to be in very nice condition with pristine dust wrappers, so I always had first pickings. I think I sat and read through the articles and enjoyed the vintage stories and pictures while sitting behind the bookshop counter. I had about ten of them in my collection for a while and when I visited a bookshop in London I purchased one from there, hence the rediscovered memory.
I actually am amazed I forgot the existence of these books, especially since I hoarded them. I sold them back into the shop stock before I left in 2012, and obviously forgot all about them! But now I have remembered them I shall include them in my latest novel.
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| Trusty cameras about Arundel for Mary's Dowry Productions |
When you work in a secondhand and antiquarian bookshop, unless you have a will of iron, you inevitably start collecting books. I remember becoming fascinated by this series that would pop up occasionally called 'The Saturday Book'. The owner of the bookshop where I worked, lived and breathed (probably a lot of dust) mostly turned her nose up at them but bought in the nice ones.
I was a very fussy book collector. The books I bought had to be in very nice condition with pristine dust wrappers, so I always had first pickings. I think I sat and read through the articles and enjoyed the vintage stories and pictures while sitting behind the bookshop counter. I had about ten of them in my collection for a while and when I visited a bookshop in London I purchased one from there, hence the rediscovered memory.
I actually am amazed I forgot the existence of these books, especially since I hoarded them. I sold them back into the shop stock before I left in 2012, and obviously forgot all about them! But now I have remembered them I shall include them in my latest novel.
The Saturday Book is a vintage run of 34 books that were published published between 1941-1975. They were edited by Leonard Russell and John Hadfield and contained commentary, musings, observances and articles pertaining to literary and artistic happenings during those years. There were also poems and essays and many famous authors contributed.
The Saturday Books were filled with line drawings, photographs, wood cuts and engravings too.
I wouldn't want to collect them again, but it's a series that was ever-present during my book-selling years and so will certainly now have a mention in my writings and it has been interesting to muse upon the Saturday Books on a Saturday afternoon.
I hope to continue with my bookworm writing and make available new volumes in my hilarious bookshop series of novels during 2019. Books 1-6 are all available from Amazon and free to read with Kindle Unlimited. They can be read alone or in sequence. Start the adventure today!
The Secondhand Bookworm - by Emily Jane Bevans
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