This might be a little more incoherent than usual as I went down with a hacking cough at the beginning of the week, which turned into a full-blown cold by Tuesday and I'm still not over it. The coughing is making my ribs and diaphragm hurt and I sound like someone who has smoked 40 full-strength Capstans a day for 50 years rather than someone who gave up 15, 16 years ago.
The big news is that the Paperback & Pulp Book Fair is back! On Sunday, November 8th, we had the first paperback fair in, I think, eighteen months or thereabouts as the Holiday Inn was undergoing some renovations and we then heard that the small hall that we usually went in, attached to the larger hall where the ephemera fair was held at the same time, was to be converted into a gym for guests.
Turns out that was not the case, so the bright, new, shiny paperback fair is now being held in association with the Bloomsbury Book Fair. The paperback dealers were mixed in with the other book dealers, who took the opportunity to bring along plenty of paperbacks and to mostly offer them at discount prices. This little innovation was started by Maurice Flanagan maybe three years ago when he filled boxes and boxes with £1 books and customers flocked to his stall like gannets. The following fair proved it was definitely a good idea.
So, this year, there were a few other people making the same judgement call: offload a high volume of books as well as bringing some choice items at higher prices to help cover the cost of tables (much higher than what is charged at our little Comic Swap Meets).
I set out for London on the 7:52 train—the first available on a Sunday—with a spring in my step. Unlike the past couple of Fairs, I wasn't flogging anything, although I did take up some samples of recent books. Rather, I was there simply to meet up with friends and find some bargains. I had a bit luck towards the end of last week when I received a call from someone I know well. He had been let down by a contributor and asked if I could step in. Thankfully it was a subject I knew so I agreed and got the piece in on Saturday.. That meant my train fare—about £45 including the underground—was covered and I still had a few pounds left over to spend on books. And I managed to sell one of the books I took up to show off!
And that's what I did. I bought about 30 books, mostly 1960s/70s SF paperbacks, but a couple of older items from the 1950s that I hadn't seen before, which will eventually make it into some book or other on Fifties paperbacks. I was pleased to pick up a dozen titles by Robert Silverberg, who had been a victim of one of several purges I've had to make over the years. I'm back up to about 30 of his books. I spent Monday scanning and cleaning up the books I have, so they'll go towards a cover gallery at some point. And there are some great books which I'll enjoy re-reading.
I'm so happy the paperback fair is back on as it's the one place I get to see old friends whom I've known in some cases since the 1980s. I'm already looking forward to the next one, whenever that might be.
So... Tuesday and I was already feeling rough, but we'd arranged a trip up to Felixstowe with a friend. There's a bookshop he had often recommended and this was perhaps the last chance to visit as it's about to change hands. Treasure Chest Books is one of those warrens packed floor to ceiling with books, and they're not ridiculously priced. Most of the SF was £2 or £3. I managed to find a few titles that I couldn't live without which used up the rest of my spending money.
Wednesday: I still had the hacking cough but wasn't feeling particularly poorly. We took my Mum down the pub for lunch, but I was clearly unwell as I didn't finish my fish & chips and instead asked them for a doggy bag to take home. And that brings us up to today... I'm planning to take it easy. I've some photos from the paperback fair to tidy up, but otherwise I might just plonk myself in a chair and read. It's not like I'm short of a book or two...
No comments:
Post a Comment