I started a blog of this name in 2006, which turned into a monthly column in Book and Magazine Collector. As the name suggests it was written to encourage book-lovers to take a different approach to building up a collection. There are millions of old books out there, and many are far more interesting than the same old titles and themes trotted out by established authorities like… well, Book and Magazine Collector, for one.
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Entitled to Love, or Egyptian Love.
8th February 2017‘Happily Ever After’… ‘The Devil Shed Tears’… ‘Love in Morocco’… she could conjure up a good title, could Countess Helene Magriska. Including her own, as it happens. Know as Enid Brockies to her friends, the pseudonymous scribe made East meets…
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East Meets West; or, The Lady in the Veil
7th February 2017In the first half of the twentieth century ‘East Meets West’ was a familiar theme in popular fiction. Written mainly by white women, a great deal of it was set in India and centred on the thrills ‘n’ spills of…
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Libavius on Alchemy; or, Tome For Chemistry
6th February 2017Book Experts call this a ‘properly old’ book. It dates from 1615 and is about one of the most desirable of all subjects: alchemy. The hand-written spine reads ‘Libavii Opus Chimic To. 1’ This tells us that the author was…
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Love, The Book: The Ladies’ Oracle of Destiny
5th February 2017‘Shall I soon be courted?’ is the first question in this little book and it’s aimed squarely at women as the gilt illustration on the front cover shows. That’s the purported author, Cornelius Agrippa, divining the future with symbols and…
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Love, The Books: Ovid’s Art Of Love
4th February 2017Do you know your “Ars Amatoria?’ Written by Ovid 2000 years ago, ‘The Art of Love’ still contains much sensible advice today, although frankly the bit I looked at was a stiff read. Anyway, it’s apparently very important to remember your wife’s…