As I write this we are just a week or so from the winter solstice and the end of another year. And what a busy year it’s been!
According to my diary I have visited over 60 houses to buy books. The largest buy was a collection of about 3,000 volumes, although of course I sometimes buy just one or two things or, alas, none at all. I’m still very keen to buy more because this year I have also been to 32 book fairs and sold practically everything I bought.
It is always interesting to meet fellow book collectors and to see collections. I quite often get asked about my own books and in particular ‘Do you have a favourite book?’ This is a difficult question to answer because there are just too many to choose from. Sometimes I’m all excited about a new find and sometimes I think of a few books I bought 30 years ago when I began collecting. And then there all the others in between…
And then I lost a book; and when I found it again I found the answer to the question.
‘The Faery Calendar’ by Bernard Sleigh and Ivy Ellis was published in 1920 by Heath Cranton in London. Sleigh taught at The Birmingham School of Printing which was part of the Central School of Arts and Crafts. He was an unashamed mystic and best known for the incredible ‘Anciente Mappe of Fairyland’ first published a few years earlier.
The first line of this book is ‘I believe in Faeries.’ It consists of twelve woodcut illustrations accompanied by a poem. The one shown here in the picture is the one for this month and I had it in mind to use as a Christmas card. So a week ago I went to the place where the book should have been and couldn’t find it. Since then I have spent more time than I care to admit looking for it and thinking about it.
Today, finally, it turned up. (It was back where it should have been all along.) And that was when I realised that I did, after all, have a favourite book.
Best wishes for the Solstice and the festive season.
Heath Cranton, ...finished on the Eve of all Hallows, 1920. First edition.
