Second-hand bookshops

[Guest]

The quality of second-hand books in Charing Cross Road seems consistently to have risen in the last year or so after going through a longish period of shabby populism.

This afternoon, in Quinto, I picked up four 40 year old paperbacks in very nice condition and could easily have brought home a half-dozen more. The cheapest was 1 pound and the dearest 3. In a slim stack near me, I have a study of Wallace Stevens by Frank Kermode and one of Tolstoy by Henry Gifford; St Kilda's Parliament - a volume of poems by Douglas Dunn (a poet I hadn't read and whose English I like very much indeed). Most gorgeously and because I had never heard of them and might never see the book again, I bought a Penguin volume from 1972, Tudor Interludes. I came to Chaucer for the first time this year and feel love, pride and pleasure in reading 15th century English:

Mankynde: Hey yow hens, felouse, wyth bredynge;
Leve yowur derysyone and yowre jaypynge.
I must nedys labure, yt ys my lyvynge.

For better or ill, have others seen changes in second-hand books shop stock in recent years? London's second-hand book stock may be on the rise.

[Simon]

I often pick up fantastic stuff, Phil - and sometimes don't then get chance to read it! There are many great book places around here, some stand-alone, others as part of charity shops. The price differences are vast between them. We tend to visit two or three in particular, and then return them the books when we have finished with them - that way we are donating, not buying. But sometimes it's embarassing - a full poetry anthology is worth far more than £1, especially if it's one that you'll keep. For things like this we generally throw in a few more ££.

bws S-S!

btw I like your quote. Lines 2 & 3 I've got, and "hey yow hens" - can you help with "felouse, with bredynge"?

[hackneyvi]

I often pick up fantastic stuff, Phil - and sometimes don't then get chance to read it! There are many great book places around here, some stand-alone, others as part of charity shops. The price differences are vast between them. We tend to visit two or three in particular, and then return them the books when we have finished with them - that way we are donating, not buying. But sometimes it's embarassing - a full poetry anthology is worth far more than £1, especially if it's one that you'll keep. For things like this we generally throw in a few more ££.

bws S-S!

btw I like your quote. Lines 2 & 3 I've got, and "hey yow hens" - can you help with "felouse, with bredynge"?

'Hey' it seems meant 'Hurry'.

Hurry you hence, fellows, with breeding;
Leave your derision and your japing.
I must needs labour, it is my living.

I found the first page of Chaucer was a slow, uncertain read but after that page or so, a wonderfully different but readable grammar and rhythm emerges from wat at first seemes sych hard, straynge spelyng. Some of these, even earlier, Tudor Interludes are similarly familiar in sound and have a lovely, gentle humour and, though they may use irony, have a freshness from their lack of cynicism. I admire Shakespeare but he often seems modern and remote to me like a particle physicist or an illustrious European bureaucrat whereas something about this earlier English, by a comparative lack of sophistication, means that 6 centuries fall away and our 15th century ancestors become near neighbours and close cousins. Kin. Men and women I might (just) be the equal of.

From 'Mandkind' (1465 - 70):

... he may have many a hungry mele.
Yet woll ye see, he ys polytyke:
Here xall be goode corne, he may not mysse yt;
Yf he wyll have reyne, he may overpysse yt;
And yf he wyll have compasse, he may over-blysse yt
A lytyll wyth his ars lyke.

If "wyll have" means "wants", if "polytyke" means "wise", if "may not" means "need not", then:

... he may have many a hungry meal.
Yet will you see, he is politick:
Here shall be good corn, he need not miss it;
If he will have rain, he may over-piss it;
And if he will have compost, he may over-bless it
A little with his arse like.

and

[Simon]

Wonderful - thanks very much - I understand what you mean about the simplicity of it. We did some Chaucer at school, but the teacher wasn't, perhaps, the best and it didn't gell a lot with me. :-(

I should have guessed "fellows"; does "with breeding" simply mean people "well-bred"?

To go further back, you may recall my interest in Old English - the Beowulf stuff. I've progressed only slowly in my studies, as I'm overworked usually! - but my word, the poetry in that is stupendous - rhythm and alliteration based, rather than rhyme, of course, though there is that too.

[bluestateprommer]

One local used book emporium got hold of what seems to be a rather large contingent of vintage 1960's era Signet Classics paperbacks of late. So, armed with what little store credit they give me on recent occasional visits, I've gotten and read Signet Classics editions recently of:
1. Ricardo Guiraldes: Don Segundo Sombra
2. Theodor Storm: The Rider on the White Horse and other stories
3. Jaroslav Hasek: The Good Soldier Svejk (the older, incomplete, and bowdlerized translation)
4. Cervantes: "Interludes" and "The Deceitful Marriage" and other stories

Still waiting to be read:
a. Selma Lagerlof: The Story of Gösta Berling

[austin]

Not in Charing Cross Road but an interesting blog here....

http://tinyurl.com/87j4yqb

[Simon]

Hmm. I keep reading that kids of the future won't want books and that electronic word storage (I won't mention the name and advertise it, but I expect you all know what I mean) is the only way forward.

I'm not so sure. The kids I know seem to like sitting with their noses in books sometimes. Have they, I wonder, found a pleasure in holding, and thumbing through the pages of, a traditional book. I ought to ask...

[Pabmusic]

...Have they, I wonder, found a pleasure in holding, and thumbing through the pages of, a traditional book. I ought to ask...

Here's the rub. I think many children never own a book, or use one outside school (if there, even). I suspect that children who are brought up with books around will take unconscious advantage of that and pass it on, even in an age of (very useful) electronic gadgets. It's those who don't have that initial stimulus who will have nothing to pass on.

[amateur51]

Here's the rub. I think many children never own a book, or use one outside school (if there, even). I suspect that children who are brought up with books around will take unconscious advantage of that and pass it on, even in an age of (very useful) electronic gadgets. It's those who don't have that initial stimulus who will have nothing to pass on.

That's why the closure of so many libraries is such an offence - lots of kids in my local used to do their homework there, surrounded by books and browsing came naturally

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

That's why the closure of so many libraries is such an offence - lots of kids in my local used to do their homework there, surrounded by books and browsing came naturally

- squared!