War diary 1914-1919

[barkalotloudly]

T5he arrival of the Turner Donovan Cat.. prompted me the spend a not inconsiderable amount of money on the 1914-1919 diary of Fellows a possible unique item?

I see this was cat. number 157 well i have them all somewhere! I was pondering i do not think there is another dealer worldwide who on a regular basis produces such good quality lists of books concerning Great War and and the various conflicts on the Indian sub-continent        

[Guest]

  Woof-   Well, it is good to see a good bookseller's catalogue get it's due recognition. I had a look around  some out-of-the-way bits of the library system but the Fellowes Diary does not show. As it is printed, then it will exist elsewhere-otherwise no point in getting it done.

   Booksellers like Tom Donovan can go where libraries fear to tread- they keep their eyes open and travel far and wide. And an established bookseller invariably develops a nose for digging out stuff that is offf the mainstream. So good for T-D. (Not sure D does very much nowadays).  A good booksellers catalogue always provides an eclectic source of information. Pity that they are not recognized  as such more often by libraries and retained as items in that library collection.  BL now lists runs of bookseller catalogues that it has received in it's main catalogue (Though not T-D). V and A are also quite good.  But IWM does not have the catalogues listed as an item- though, no doubt, they are sent to IWM Library in the first place.

    That puts a premium on your run-I hope they are treasured  and that they are considered "items" in your collection- with safeguards should you be knocked down by a bus, etc.

 

     That reminds me....I must get on to TfL and find out the cost of that bus hire................... 

[Dust Jacket Collector]

Good to see some recognition for the always excellent Turner Donovan catalogues (by the way it’s the ‘T’ for Turner who’s no longer active although he does send in the odd addition). Although I do find books elsewhere it’s always Tom who comes up with the rarer stuff - the Fellowes a particularly choice example. I did find a couple of other rather special accounts however - the diary of an officer in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, ‘from Bordon to Loos’ & a series of letters from an officer of the 7th South Lancs to his mother. Both, like the Fellowes, privately printed so likely less than 100 copies.

I know Tom regularly travels the country acquiring collections and I imagine mine and barkalots books will eventually find their way back to him. Not just yet though, I trust.

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

Good to see some recognition for the always excellent Turner Donovan catalogues (by the way it’s the ‘T’ for Turner who’s no longer active although he does send in the odd addition). Although I do find books elsewhere it’s always Tom who comes up with the rarer stuff - the Fellowes a particularly choice example. I did find a couple of other rather special accounts however - the diary of an officer in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, ‘from Bordon to Loos’ & a series of letters from an officer of the 7th South Lancs to his mother. Both, like the Fellowes, privately printed so likely less than 100 copies.

I know Tom regularly travels the country acquiring collections and I imagine mine and barkalots books will eventually find their way back to him. Not just yet though, I trust.

 

     Apologies to TD- It is ,of course, Brian Turner who has stepped back- turns up for the odd bookfair but doesn't seem particularly active.  My personal view- bookselling aside- is that strong  and very specialist collections should remain intact. How that could ever be achieved, I do not know.

    An old friend has collected good Mathematics books since he read (quel surprise) Mathematics at Uni. more than 50 years hence. I urged him to get his collection catalogued up-and put some notes in it, explaining the significance of some of his items- Dead easy to check prices of heavyweight items-they leave price trails all over the place. It's the little trifles that are both rare and have a less than obvious signficance.

 

       I hope you and Woof  have been busy writing up your collections.

 

 

PS- Hope you are back to fighting fit 

[Dust Jacket Collector]

All well now, thanks.

I keep a very basic database on my phone and pc, mainly to stop myself buying the same book twice - not entirely infallible! I’ve often thought about a proper catalogue but with well over 2000 WW1 books it’s a daunting task. Should have done it last year whilst recuperating.

As to keeping it together after the mortal coil has slipped away - probably a pipe dream. Relatives would certainly flog them before the hearse had pulled out of the drive and museums the same just more slowly.

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

As to keeping it together after the mortal coil has slipped away - probably a pipe dream. Relatives would certainly flog them before the hearse had pulled out of the drive and museums the same just more slowly.

 

       That was exactly the point that I held back from making. All good collections have items in them that the owner rates highly-through specialist knowledge.  ...which would not be picked up by auctioneers or the grubbier of my colleagues ( "Pound a pop  all in mate,take it or leave it"). Thus,  a few notes may help avoid that. My Mathematical friend has done it so that his collection might be sold in toto by his wife- so that his collecting and enjoyment of the books might be of further use by providing a bit of proper income for her-a thought that cheers him.

     He and I first met in the Farringdon Road bookstalls nearly 50 years ago now- one of our fellow enthusiasts was a nice gentleman, Joel Tabor, who was the ultimate repository of all knowledge about Baedekers and John Murray guides (His name would pop up in pre-war auction records as having bought this sort of item-and roadbooks- treasures that had gone for a pittance). He  oft expressed the view that at his death, "Don't let the booksellers get my books".  Alas, they met an even more deeply unpleasant and repellant fate.......the auctioneers got them. 

[Dust Jacket Collector]

I imagine myself looking down from the celestial sphere (or up from somewhere else) at the Wallis and Wallis auction of my collection :-

GRAVES, Robert - Goodbye to All That and various other military related books in 50 tea chests (£100-150).

That said I did once buy a tea chest of books many years ago at an auction in Hove for £2. Right at the bottom were all three first edition volumes of Lord of the Rings.

[David Filsell]

Sad. You can't win them all. Was there anything actually worthwhile in the chest : )?

[Guest]

52 minutes ago, Dust Jacket Collector said:

I imagine myself looking down from the celestial sphere (or up from somewhere else) at the Wallis and Wallis auction of my collection :-

GRAVES, Robert - Goodbye to All That and various other military related books in 50 tea chests (£100-150).

That said I did once buy a tea chest of books many years ago at an auction in Hove for £2. Right at the bottom were all three first edition volumes of Lord of the Rings.

 

     Alas, I think that Woolley and Witless have departed book auctioneering. First time I went there, the auctioneer asked me to stop bidding on an item because it was the other bidder's birthday-the late and unlamented Charles Traylen of Guildford-the greatest ringer of the Twentieth century. And a drinking chum of the auctioneer.

     I remember the auctioneers in Hove- bought there twice-one was a whole Transit van full of stuff on South Africa in one lot (inc. wardrobes which contained books as well)- they couldn't be bothered to catalogue it-it just went down as " Quanity". The second time was c.60,000-70,000 books in one lot, private treaty, which was the (junk) stock of a Brighton bookseller- My colleague and I took one look at a mound of books- over 8 feet tall- and went off for a full English and bought and a tape measure on the way back to calculate how many books (10 hardback books - roughly one cubic foot)  Sold on after purchase- If there was treasure at the bottom, I wasn't going to die for it by exhaustion

    I still occasionally see "regimentals" from Westminster City Libraries, which were knocked out of the back door of the old Marylebone Library to George Jeffery of the Farringdon Road-and sold by him to Philp Austen, who seemed quite happy. George very kindly kept back a copy of the Atkinson "Devonshire Regiment in the War" as a thank you for buying another large lot the week before.

Edited 19 July , 2018 by Guest