Library Lists

 A piece of pre-Amazonian technology for ordering books from libraries, a rare, ephemeral survival probably from the 1930s...  An attractive little booklet with a carbon at the rear for keeping duplicates of 'library lists'. Inside are the following instructions--

 These lists are made up from Literary Supplements, Publishers Lists of new books, reviews and books recommended by friends.

 The list is torn out at perforation and sent to Library.

 The carbon copy is retained as a check on the books received.

 The carbon copy also becomes a useful record of books read, books to be recommended to friends, and a reminder of the works of Authors you have read. 

Books in Shakespeare's plays

Browsing Ayscough's An Index to the Remarkable Passages and Words made use of by Shakspeare ; Calculated to Point Out the Different Meanings to Which the Words are Applied (Thomas Tegg, London 1827) I checked out its dozen or so entries under 'books'. It is fairly comprehensive (Samuel Ayscough was known as 'The Prince of Indexers') but at about 500 pages is not  a 'concordance' and  its intention was somewhat different, as stated in the title. Henry IV (Part 2) seems to be the play with the most bookish references

Books 

Burn but his books. Tempest, Act 3, Scene 2.
Drown my books.  Ibid, Act 5, Scene 1.
The gentleman is not in your books. Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 1. 
Tire the hearer with a book of words. Ibid, Act 1, Scene 1. 
These trees shall be my books. As You Like It, Act 3, Scene 2.
I have unclasp'd to thee the book of my secret soul. Twelfth Night, Act 1, Scene 4.
By what time shall our book, I think be drawn. 1 Henry IV, Act 3, Scene 1.
By this our book is drawn; we will but seal and then to horse immediately. Ibid, Act 3, Scene 1.
Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood, your pens to lances. 1 Henry IV, Act 4, Scene 1.
Blotting your names from books of history.  2 Henry IV, Act 1, Scene 1.
Our fore-fathers had no other books, but the score and the tally. Ibid, Act 4, Scene 7.
Made him my book, wherein my soul recorded the history of all her secret thoughts. Richard III, Act 3, Scene 5.
I have been the book of his good acts. Coriolanus, Act 5, Scene 2.
A book! O rare one! be not as is our fangled world, nobler than that it covers. Cymbeline, Act 5, Scene 4.
That book in many's eyes doth share the glory, that in gold clasps locks in the golden story. Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 3.
Was ever book, containing such vile matter, so fairly bound. Ibid, Act 3, Scene 2.

Booked

Let it be booked with the rest of the day's deeds - 2 Henry IV, Act 4, Scene 3.

Bookish

Though I am not bookish, yet I can read waiting-gentlewoman in the scape. Winter's Tale, Act 3, Scene 3.
I'll make him yield the crown, whose bookish rule hath pull'd fair England down. 2 Henry IV, Act 1, Scene 1.

Book-Mates

One that makes sport to the prince, and his book-mates.  Love's Labour Lost, Act 4, Scene 1.

Book-Oath

I put thee now to thy book-oath; dry it if thou canst. 2 Henry IV, Act 2, Scene 1.

Book of Sport

Or like a book of sport thou'lt read me o'er. Troilus and Cressida, Act 4, Scene 5. 

And from The Tempest these fine lines - 'My library was dukedom large enough'...

Care of Books

From Newnes Household Encyclopaedia (London, 1931.)

Books. To preserve from insects.
If books are occasionally dusted over with a mixture of white pepper and powdered alum they will be insured against the attacks of insects.

A more modern recipe, taken from anecdotal evidence, is one to rid a book of unpleasant odours (especially tobacco smoke). Place the book in a container of wood chip based cat litter so that is submerged and leave it there for 48 hours. The idea is that the chips will extract objectionable smells. Books reeking of tobacco have become hard to sell...

Winston Churchill book lover and painter

With the 50th anniversary of Churchill's death in 2015 there will be  celebrations and (possibly) an exhibition of his paintings. Churchill, while not leading the free world, was something of an amateur painter. His paintings have become valuable.

He wrote a book called Painting as a Pastime (Odhams, London 1948) of which his daughter Mary (Soames) said: "it is pure enchantment to read, throbbing as it does with enthusiasm and encouragement to others to seize brush and canvas and have a go, as Winston himself had done before, when, under the flail of misfortune, he had discovered in painting a companion with whom he was to walk for the greater part of the long years which remained to him." This quotation from his book is not about painting but about books:

If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or as it were, fondle them – peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that if you do not know what is in them, you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them at any rate be your acquaintances. If they cannot enter the circle of your life, do not deny them at least a nod of recognition.

Churchill's own books are heavily collected and he obviously had a good working library. He probably did not have time for book collecting but certainly he had the right attitude about books.

'Dreams for Sale' - the joy of books

A 1938 Christmas article for W.H. Smith's own magazine The Book Window by Collie Knox. Knox was a much published journalist who also wrote lyrics. He was a friend of Chips Channon from whose collection this came. A potboiler of an article of the kind that could no longer be written. Some of the sentiment about books has recently been revived in the face of Kindle and the decline of  book reading among coming generations. The idea of coming back to a room full of books (even a study) is still attractive and trumps coming home to a thin grey slab...

Dreams for Sale

CALL no man friendless while he owns one book.

 After your day’s work do you go to your home–large or small–where, ranged round your own particular room, are rows of books? It is to be hoped that you do so, for, once there are books within reach, you need never feel lonely.

Most of us lead painfully hectic lives in this age of pace. So little time there is for peaceful–unhurried things. We dash home only to dash out again–to mingle with large numbers of strangers who have been bidden to meet at this or that social activity. Further and further away from us rolls that heaven-given blessing–“A quiet evening at home.”

Waiting for us at home, weary, sad and neglected, are some of our best, our most real friends. Neatly ranged on their cosy shelves they wait eager to transport us out of a grey mood into an hour or two of excitement– of forgetfulness. To teach us by gentle example–to lead us into lands of memory–to smooth our cares and to assuage our workaday worries.

Here, indeed, lie the panaceas for almost every ailment of the mind.

At Christmas–is it really so soon upon us?–I never give any present  but the present of books. I choose my books with the care with which I choose my friends. Knowing their funny little ways, their idiosyncrasies–their unrealised dreams–I choose books for them accordingly.

Carrington Bookplate

Bookplate for Lytton Strachey by Dora Carrington (1931)

A miniature piece of Bloomsbury history - this small bookplate by the artist Dora Carrington measures 1 3/8 inches high by 1 3/4 inches wide in it's largest version. The large version is rarer than the smaller but both have now become quite elusive. The tiny postage stamp size one measures only 1" by 3/4 ". Both have the words Lytton Strachey in a plaque or cartouche with folded edges surrounded by net-like cross hatching in a dark sepia tone.

A relic of the artist and Bloomsbury goddess. Carrington wrote of this bookplate in her diary (March 20 1931) rather prophetically:-

 'As I stuck the book plates in with Lytton I suddenly thought of Sothebys and the book plates in some books I had looked at, when Lytton was bidding for a book and I thought: These books will one day be looked at by those gloomy faced booksellers and buyers. And suddenly a premonition of a day when these labels will no longer (be) in this library came over me. I longed to ask Lytton not to stick in any more.'

 He died 10 months later. In despair at his death Carrington shot herself a few months after. The tiny bookplate is not uncommon, for example Strachey (or Dora Carrington) placed it in every volume of a complete Oxford Dictionary. However he was a bibliophile so it can also turn up in rare and valuable books. In commerce it can make as much as £100, but other bookplates by Carrington are much more elusive.

'Carrington' was one the best Bloomsbury movies, it starred Emma Thompson and Jonathan Pryce - Pryce was an exceptional Strachey and Rufus Sewell a fiery Mark Gertler. A sample from the Christopher Hampton script - Gertler is peeved that Carrington is in love with Strachey:

Mark Gertler: Haven't you any self-respect?
Dora Carrington: Not much.
Mark Gertler: But he's a disgusting pervert!
Dora Carrington: You always have to put up with something.

Long Beach Bookmark

Long Beach bookshops from the 1960s including the long gone 'world famous 'Acres of Books' - probably the biggest bookshop in the world. At the time Long Beach was a sort of Hay on Wye of books, now all these shops have vanished and several others not on this bookmark like the Book Baron.

How to open a book

From a collection of bookmarks found in Berkeley California. Probably from about 1910. J.H. Furst of Baltimore is still in business as a printer having 'opened their doors' in 1904.
It is possible their books were subject to cracking especially when new but the instructions seem slightly fussy by today's standards although any violence towards a book is still, of course, abhorrent.

BOOK MARK TWO SUGGESTIONS HOW TO OPEN A NEW BOOK   STAND the book, back downward, on a table or smooth surface. Press the front cover down until it touches the table, then the back cover, holding the leaves in one hand while you open a few of the leaves at the back, then at the front, alternately pressing them down gently until you reach the center of the volume. This should be done two or three times. Never open a book violently nor bend back the covers. It is likely not only to break the back but also to loosen the leaves. HOW TO CARE FOR A BOOK   THE covers of a new binding are likely to warp while seasoning. This warping may be prevented by placing the book under weight while it is not in use, or wedging tightly between other books on the shelf. J.H. FURST COMPANY BALTIMORE, MARYLAND