Ariadne Books

Here's a shameless little plug for a friend's fundraising efforts. Packed full of humour and much better than the stuff that drops out of the Christmas crackers! Order details on the flyer.

Busy getting organised for the Bath Book Fair - this Saturday in The Assembly Rooms from 10.30am to 4.30pm. The most difficult part was choosing the stock to take. Hopefully something to interest everyone...

D. H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover’.
There are very few books that stand out so clearly to the world at large as ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’. Perhaps this is still, even after the passing of almost fifty-seven years since the infamous obscenity trial, due to its reputation as a ‘smutty’ book full of rude words. I wonder how many of those who continue to hold on to these notions have ever picked up a copy of the full text version and allowed themselves to be taken up by t...
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The Kelmscott Press and its legacy.
For many years William Morris had entertained ambitions to print beautiful books. As early as the 1860s Morris had been working on an illustrated edition of his "Earthly Paradise" in collaboration with his friend, the artist, Edward Burne-Jones. Morris was dissatisfied with the results as they fell far short of his expectations.
In 1888 Morris attended a talk on printing given by Emery Walker at the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society. Thi...
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OK - I know St Lucy's Day is the 13th of December but I love this poem - it really captures the feel of this time of year as we creep towards the winter solstice.
A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy's Day BY JOHN DONNE
... 'Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's, Lucy's, who scarce seven hours herself unmasks; The sun is spent, and now his flasks Send forth light squibs, no constant rays; The world's whole sap is sunk; The general balm th' hydroptic earth hath drunk, Whither, as to the bed's feet, life is shrunk, Dead and interr'd; yet all these seem to laugh, Compar'd with me, who am their epitaph.
Study me then, you who shall lovers be At the next world, that is, at the next spring; For I am every dead thing, In whom Love wrought new alchemy. For his art did express A quintessence even from nothingness, From dull privations, and lean emptiness; He ruin'd me, and I am re-begot Of absence, darkness, death: things which are not.
All others, from all things, draw all that's good, Life, soul, form, spirit, whence they being have; I, by Love's limbec, am the grave Of all that's nothing. Oft a flood Have we two wept, and so Drown'd the whole world, us two; oft did we grow To be two chaoses, when we did show Care to aught else; and often absences Withdrew our souls, and made us carcasses.
But I am by her death (which word wrongs her) Of the first nothing the elixir grown; Were I a man, that I were one I needs must know; I should prefer, If I were any beast, Some ends, some means; yea plants, yea stones detest, And love; all, all some properties invest; If I an ordinary nothing were, As shadow, a light and body must be here.
But I am none; nor will my sun renew. You lovers, for whose sake the lesser sun At this time to the Goat is run To fetch new lust, and give it you, Enjoy your summer all; Since she enjoys her long night's festival, Let me prepare towards her, and let me call This hour her vigil, and her eve, since this Both the year's, and the day's deep midnight is.
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Who was Duilio Cambellotti?
Duilio Cambellotti was an Italian artist, illustrator, sculptor, ceramicist and designer. He played a significant role in the Arts & Crafts movement and was also influential in the political and social spheres. Cambellotti was very widely recognised for his interest in agrarian themes (often employing an ear of corn motif in his designs) and for an incredible versatility across a huge range of disciplines.
Duilio Cambellotti was born in Rome on the... 10th May 1876. He also died in Rome almost 84 years later on the 31st January 1960. After initially training as an accountant, Cambellotti joined an applied arts programme at the Industrial Artistic Museum in Rome to learn metal engraving. Like William Morris, Cambellotti believed fervently that craftsmanship needed to be restored to the visual arts and was very drawn to Art Nouveau designs. He was acutely aware of the social importance of the decorative arts and became a leading international figure amongst artists who were endeavouring to maintain the continuity of the Arts & Crafts movement. where the traditional nature of handmade objects might prevail over the perhaps more perfect products fabricated by the machines of the new industrial age.
Cambellotti’s career, rather like that of Morris, spanned a wide range of media. He produced many illustrations for books and magazines and went on to master the traditional medium of tempera. He designed furniture, ceramics and stained glass and was involved in theatre and set design. In 1901 he won the Alinari Prize for his illustrations for Dante’s Divine Comedy. Many of Cambellotti’s works are on display in various Italian museums, most notably in the Palazzo dell’Acquedotto in Bari and the Museum Civico Duilio Cambellotti in Latina.
We have an interesting example of work by Cambellotti. This is one of 1,000 copies of I Fioretti di S Francesco published to mark the seventh centenary of the death of Saint Francis. In addition to the trade binding, Cambellotti experimented with various bindings for the book. This copy is quite probably unique. It is bound in two different types of hardwood and the central front panel is inset with a gilt bronze semi-relief of the Saint with the stigmata. The front and rear pastedowns also bear an image of the stigmata printed in red and black, an image also used for the book’s chapter headings. The book is profusely illustrated by Cambellotti and is a fine example of a significant Arts & Crafts book by a true master of various media.
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At last! A blue plaque for Anne and Vivian Hughes Ridler.
This September saw a blue plaque unveiled at the former home of Anne Ridler and her husband Vivian Hughes Ridler. Both were exemplars in their chosen fields - Anne Ridler published seventeen volumes of poetry and verse-plays whilst Vivian Ridler was Printer to the University of Oxford.
Anne Ridler (1912 - 2001) studied at King's College, London and worked on the editorial staff of Faber & Faber where she was, for a tim...
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Music, Words and Images that resonate today.
The Children's Crusade (Op. 82), A Ballad for children's voices and orchestra, was written for the members of Wandsworth School Boys' Choir to perform on the 50th Anniversary of 'The Save the Children Fund' at St Paul's Cathedral, London, on the 19th May 1969 and dedicated to the German composer Hans Werner Henze.
The text by Bertolt Brecht and chosen by Britten, tells the story of Polish children orphaned at the start of the Secon...d World War. There is an echo of the Children's Crusade of the Middle Ages when the very poorest of society tried to escape the misery of their everyday lives. In Brecht's poem the children set off with hope and collect a dog along the way. The story is a rather grim one. The fifty-five children all die and the starving dog is found with a label around its neck:-
'Saying this: PLEASE COME AND HELP US! WHERE WE ARE, WE CANNOT SAY. WE'RE THE FIVE-AND-FIFTY. THE DOG KNOWS THE WAY.
The writing was in a childish hand. Peasants had read it over. Since then more than a year has gone by. The dog has starved: he didn't recover.'
The orchestration of the piece includes a large ensemble of percussion instruments to be played by the children. It isn't one of Britten's most lyrical pieces and is very demanding of both performers and audience as it delivers its pacifist message in a brutalist manner. The bleak narrative makes it feel like the world is almost without hope.
Sidney Nolan (1917 - 1928) was one of Australia's foremost artists of the twentieth century - probably best known for his paintings of legends from Australia's history including Ned Kelly. Sidney Nolan's highly stylised depiction of Ned Kelly's armour is an icon of Australian art. Whilst travelling in England, Nolan attended the Aldeburgh Festival and was influenced by the work of Benjamin Britten. Nolan produced a series of atmospheric paintings based on The Children's Crusade.
The copy we have is a facsimile edition of Benjamin Britten's hand-written score with twelve full-page colour illustrations from Sidney Nolan's series based on the Children's Crusade. It's a beautifully produced book, limited to 300 copies to celebrate the composer's sixtieth birthday and published by Faber Music, London, 1973. The book was printed at the Curwen Press and was bound in half brown Morocco by Henry Brooks (Bookbinders) Limited and Zaehnsdorf (Binders) Limited. The book has top edge gilt decoration with gilt titles to front and spine. It's a large format book approximately 390mm x 290mm and comes with its original slipcase. The book is signed by both Benjamin Britten and Sidney Nolan.
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Yet another lovely evening in York after day three of the York Antiquarian Book Seminar. Back to real life tomorrow...

Another lovely evening in York after a great second day at the York Antiquarian Book Seminar.

A balmy evening in York following a fascinating day 1 at the York Antiquarian Book Seminar.

A Help to English History by P. Heylyn D. D.
One of our older books printed for T. Basset, London in 1680 with an interesting provenance.
The book contains 'A succession of all the Kings of England, the English Saxons and the Britains; the Kings and Princes of Wales, the Kings and Lords of Man, the Isle of Wight: as also of all the Dukes, Marquesses, Earls and Bishops thereof with the Description of the places from whence they had their Titles; together with the Names, and Ra...nks of the Viscounts, Barons and Baronets of England.' The book was printed for T. Basset, at the George in Fleet-street, and C. Wilkinson in the Black-Boy over against Saint Dustan's Church. 1680. The book is in very good condition. Rebound in late eighteenth century vellum with marbled end papers. The book is tightly bound with two manuscript leaves headed 'Barons of England' inserted between pages 564 and 565. There is a final advertisement leaf on p635 which has a hand-written Catalogue of the present Dukes & Earles on the recto. The advertisement leaf explains that the first edition of this book 'came forth under the borrowed name of Rob. Hall, Gent. Anno 1641 for some reason best known to the Author thereof, Peter Heylin D. D. and by him deduced to the year 1652. since which the whole hath been revised and continued under their several heads ti this present Year 1680. with the seals of the Archbishops and Bishops Sees, as also the Paternal Coats of Arms of the Nobility Blazon'd.' There are many annotations neatly inscribed throughout in ink which update much of the information to the eigtheenth and nineteenth centuries. These are believed to have been mainly added by Sir Isaac Heard (1730 - 1822) who was a long-serving officer at the College of Arms in London. Sir Isaac began his heraldic career as Bluemantle Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary. He went on to hold the posts of Lancaster Herald of Arms in Ordinary, Norroy King of Arms and Brunswick King of Arms. In 1784 he was appointed Garter Principal King of Arms. It was in this capacity that he helped to plan the funeral of Horatio Nelson. Sir Isaac Heard continued as Garter until his death in 1822 at the age of 91.
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Robert Mapplethorpe - artistic genius or brilliant self-publicist?
He isn't everyone's cup of tea and some of his images have to be described as 'strong'. No matter what we might think of his work, it is definitely controversial. Born on the 4th November, 1946, Robert Mapplethorpe grew up in Queens, New York City. He studied for a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, majoring in Graphic Arts. Mapplethorpe lived with his close friend Patti Smith between 19...
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T. H. White and The Sword in the Stone
Terence Hanbury White (Tim to his friends) the Arthurian scholar who became a well known author
T. H. White (1906 - 1964) is probably best known for his book 'The Sword in the Stone'. Born in Bombay to English parents he endured a difficult childhood with an alcoholic father and an emotionally cold and manipulative mother. White studied English at Queens College, Cambridge where he wrote a thesis on 'Le Morte D'Arthur' by Thomas Malory w...
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Isaac Bashevis Singer
On the 24th July it will be 25 years since Isaac Bashevis Singer died
The polish-born writer, Isaac Bashevis Singer was born in the village of Leoncin near Warsaw on November 21st 1902. He grew up in a very impoverished area of Warsaw where his father was a rabbi. Singer at first thought he too would be a rabbi and tried to earn a living by teaching Hebrew but his brother persuaded him to become a proofreader for the Jewish Literarische Bleter (Singer's ...brother was its editor). In 1935, four years before the German invasion, Singer left Poland and emigrated to the USA. He settled in New York where he worked as a journalist and column writer for the Yiddish language newspaper The Jewish Daily Forward. When he left Poland Singer had separated from his first (common law) wife, Runia Pontsch and their son Israel Zamir, they had also left Poland and had gone first to Moscow and then on to Palestine. The three did not meet again until 1955. For some time Singer felt 'Lost in America' (the title of his 1974 novel). In 1938 he met Alma Wassermann who was a German Jewish refugee from Munich. The two of them married in 1940 and this seemed to be the catalyst for Singer's subsequent and prolific writing career. Singer always wrote in Yiddish. He had a persistent belief in the power of his native language and believed that there would be a ready audience for his works in Yiddish. When Singer talked about writers who had influenced him, he mentioned (amongst others) Knut Hamsun, Thomas Mann, Anton Chekhov and Guy de Maupassant. Several highly regarded artists have illustrated Singer's work, including Maurice Sendak and Irene Lieblich. Singer's output was high with at least eighteen novels, fourteen children's books, numerous essays, articles and memoirs. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978 and there are streets named in his honour in New York and in Surfside, Florida (where Singer died after suffering a series of strokes). There is also a city square in Lublin, Poland named in his honour. Today, we probably remember Singer best for his short stories and he was certainly a brilliant practitioner of that form. We currently have three of Isaac Bashevis Singer's books in stock - all UK (English language) first editions:- 'Meshugah', 'Scum' and 'The Death of Methuselah'. Why not have a browse on our website.
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The American novelist Paul Gallico, son of the Italian concert pianist Paulo Gallico, died forty years ago on the 15th July. Gallico's career as a writer was famously launched by his interview with the boxer Jack Dempsey. Gallico challenged Dempsey to spar with him and this led to Gallico discovering what it felt like to be knocked out by a heavyweight champion. It wasn't until his late thirties that Paul Gallico abandoned sports writing for fiction. Gallico is probably most... famous for 'The Poseidon Adventure", though this prompted little critical comment at the time. He is also renowned for his novella 'The Snow Goose'. This, like some of his other stories, was an expanded version of his work for magazines. 'The Snow Goose' is a story of Dunkirk but contains no details of assaults on beaches. It is, instead, a delicate and haunting story of the space and silence of the Essex marshes. Gallico also wrote non-fiction, including 'The Hurricane Story'. This is the biography of one of the greatest British fighter planes of World War II. It is the story of an aircraft that came to personify courage, toughness and audacity. Paul Gallico left the United States to live elsewhere and spent a period of time in the seaside town of Salcombe in Devon. He also lived in Antibes, in France, where he died. His output was large: 41 books, numerous short stories, 20 theatrical movies, 12 TV movies and many articles. We find that his books, when they do come into stock, tend to sell rather quickly, attesting to his enduring popularity. Currently we have a first edition of 'The Hurricane Story', 1959, and a 1948 19th impression of 'The Snow Goose' in stock. See our website for full details.
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1st July - 100th anniversary of the start of The Battle of The Somme. The Battle of the Somme began on the 1st July 1916 and lasted for 141 days. In the first battle (the Battle of Albert) the British infantry took an unprecedented 57,470 casualties, of which over 19,00 men died. The French Sixth Army had 1,590 casualties and the German 2nd Army lost something approaching 12,000 men.
Peter Liddle's book (The 1916 Battle of The Somme: A reappraisal was published to coincide w...ith the 75th anniversary of the Somme) does not concentrate exclusively on the front-line infantryman but also encompasses the experiences of the Gunner, the Sapper, airman, MO and nursing sister. The Somme is scorched into the nation's heritage but with a distortion produced by the literary legacy. Liddle takes issue with the judgement of some historians and with some commonly held verdicts on the battle. He also demonstrates how the morale of the BEF, held up over so long and demanding an experience, was a triumph in itself. This distinctive presentation of the Battle of The Somme is a challenge to think critically about some things that might have become 'received wisdom'.
We normally have quite a few books on the First World War in stock.
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The recent ITV adaptation of Gerald Durrell's works about his time in Corfu boosted interest in his many humorous books - especially 'My Family and Other Animals' and its successor 'Birds, Beasts & Relatives'. Many people have grown up reading about Gerry's adventures with the local fauna on Corfu and the bizarre life led by his family during their stay on the island. Although these tales of their bohemian life are somewhat exaggerated and do stray a little from the factual, ...they are hugely entertaining and do describe how the young Gerald came to love wildlife so deeply. Many of Gerald Durrell's books demonstrate his lifelong and serious interest in the preservation of endangered species and follow the trajectory of the questioning of the role of the zoo in the last quarter of the twentieth century. The zoo which Durrell opened on the island of Jersey gave rise to the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust which he created in 1963. The name was changed to Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in 1999 and it continues the vital work of saving species from extinction.
We currently have quite a few titles by Gerald Durrell in stock, including a very nice first edition of 'My Family and Other Animals'. Feel free to browse...
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