• The cure to quarrelling, swearing and drunkenness.

    Quarrelling, Swearing and Drunkenness; or, Brighton Beach

    Can you believe it? ‘… there was a time when a part of the beach at Brighton exhibited a scene of quarrelling, swearing and drunkenness, such as was seldom witnessed.’ So claims the introduction to this 1863 book, ‘Lectures on…

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  • A murdered author writes his own bibliomystery

    A Spooky Bibliomystery: Post Mortem by Guy Cullingford

    ‘Post Mortem’ by Guy Cullingford is an excellent bibliomystery. Un-likeable author Gilbert Worth is shot dead at point blank range and his death looks very much like suicide. Only his troubled spirit knows  he was murdered – but whodunnit? The…

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  • A Vampire Revealed

    Hammer Horror Vampire Lesbian Sex Film Keyword Scandal Part 1

    The Hammer House of Horror produced dozens of X-certificate horror romps in the sixties and seventies and their vampire movies were their most popular line. This 1971 production was a follow-up to ‘The Vampire Lovers’ and features many of the…

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  • The Ancient Order of Froth Blowers, seen here in action..

    Concerning Ye Ancient Order of Froth Blowers.

    Do You Gollop Your Beer With Zest? If so, ‘You should become a Member of Ye Ancient Order of Froth Blowers!’ claims this small booklet I discovered recently. As it concerns two of my favourite places, Sussex and drunk, I’m…

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  • Alice in Wonderland from 1869

    Sixteenth Thousand Alice in Wonderland

    That ‘Sixteenth Thousand’ means just what it says – the batch of books this one came from completed a run of 16,000 copies. It would be easy to say that this was therefore the 16th edition if we knew that…

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