February
Interested in books ?
Posted by Peter Shaw at 3:43 PM. Placed in Uncategorized category
- Image by Mrs. Jenny Ryan via Flickr
All my life I have been interested in books. I vividly recall, as a child, the feel, the smell, the excitement of being given a new book for Christmas or a birthday. There is something very satisfyingly tactile about books, especially old, loved ones !
These days, I suppose I could be called a bibliophile, though it always sounds to me as though it means someone a little too fond of his tipple ! Although I still love touching and holding books, I am even more fond of actually reading them !
My life with books really started in earnest some years ago, when the substantial business I owned and ran got into real trouble with the abrupt downturn in the IT world resulting from the Y2K scare (remember it ?). To cut a long and somewhat unedifying story short, I was left with no job, no business, and very little money. Anyway, a classified ad in a local paper caught my eye about a bookbinding business for sale – the owner was emigrating to Israel, so being interested in books I took a look. This first step resulted in my learning the trade from my four employees (a bit back to front, wouldn’t you say?). We did lots of stuff for a major local university, as well as firms of lawyers, private book collectors, and students. At the same time, I started buying secondhand books, renovating some, and putting some up for sale on the internet.
After a while, I had enough to open a bookshop, and with my new and very supportive wife moved to a super old building which had a double store front with workshops and offices at the back. It was perfect.
Nowadays, I have retired to a remote village in the Karoo, South Africa, where I still keep a small bookshop as a retirement job. This is wonderful for me – its like sitting all day surrounded by hundreds of friends. Customers are the only trouble – I hate parting with any of my books !
Related articles by Zemanta
- Bibliophile (cognitive-edge.com)
- Bookshelf of the Week: Bratislavan Bibliophile (robaroundbooks.com)
- Linking and Pageviews 1850 Style: The American Bookbinders Museum (treehugger.com)
- customizing a book, part one (newfry.typepad.com)
Antique Bronze “THINKER” Statue Deco Bookends Book Ends
Antique Leather Blank Book Journal
Book Lover Euro Design 10 oz Ceramic Coffee Mug – BKLVR
1883 Bibliophile History Crime Horse Cart Books Print
1883 Bibliophile Story Street Uncommitted Crime Print
Homicide in Hardcover: A Bibliophile Mystery
If Books Could Kill: A Bibliophile Mystery
Tags: Books
Guten Taug- I have a habit of exploring the net and found your site. All in all, this blog is very good, I, am very fond of the layout. If you get a second can you shoot me an email at bobbymc@live.com and let me know who designed it or where you found it? Thanks in advance.
These kind of post are always inspiring and I prefer to read quality content so I happy to find many good point here in the post, writing is simply great, thank you for the post
found your site on del.icio.us nowadays and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back again to check out it out some more later ..
I don’t comment often, but I do like your blog.
Hello,I love reading through your blog, I wanted to leave a little comment to support you and wish you a good continuation. Wishing you the best of luck for all your blogging efforts.
I admire the valuable information you provide inside your articles. I’ll bookmark your blog and have my kids check up right here often. I am very certain they will learn lots of new stuff right here than anybody else!
I really love going back to your site to read your story and see more pictures that are really taken with great care. . . . . .
Only want to say your article is as tonishing. The clearness in your post is simply spectacular and i can take for granted you are an expert on this field. Well with your permission allow me to grab your rss feed to keep up to date with succeeding post. Thanks a million and please keep up the ac complished work.
This really is my very first time i visit right here. I found so numerous interesting stuff inside your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I’m not the only one having all the enjoyment right here! maintain up the good function.
I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to start my own BlogEngine blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings rapidly. Your write up is a fine example of it.