PERSONAL: Bookshopping adventures
Aug. 26th, 2011 05:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllI’ve just come back from a holiday in a city in northern England. I was asked what I’d do: ‘Visit the historical sites, drink copious amounts of coffee and some shopping,’ I answered vaguely. Then I went and researched where the second-hand bookshops were rather than anything else.
I was mildly hysterical after walking into a shop that had first editions of Elinor M. Brent-Dyer and Dorita Fairlie Bruces for £50, £195 and £300. At least, I was hysterical after I closed my jaw again. Later, I saw an Elsie J. Oxenham for a mere £40. As someone who has kittens while considering spending more than £10 on a book - and you should see the mental gymnastics involved when I decided to justify spending that much - WELL. In the first shop, jostled among these highly-priced mintish-condition rarities was a girls own book going for six pounds. I already owned it.
Anyway, I managed to get several books, all for less than £6, elsewhere, some of which are girls own or Vintage Children as Oxfam would have it. I spent less than £40 all told on them! And I did visit historical sites taking coffee breaks and really enjoyed myself.
I was mildly hysterical after walking into a shop that had first editions of Elinor M. Brent-Dyer and Dorita Fairlie Bruces for £50, £195 and £300. At least, I was hysterical after I closed my jaw again. Later, I saw an Elsie J. Oxenham for a mere £40. As someone who has kittens while considering spending more than £10 on a book - and you should see the mental gymnastics involved when I decided to justify spending that much - WELL. In the first shop, jostled among these highly-priced mintish-condition rarities was a girls own book going for six pounds. I already owned it.
Anyway, I managed to get several books, all for less than £6, elsewhere, some of which are girls own or Vintage Children as Oxfam would have it. I spent less than £40 all told on them! And I did visit historical sites taking coffee breaks and really enjoyed myself.
