This is the way I do holidays, too. Fortunately, my husband is a good sport about it. On my last trip I found a tiny country bookstore that is only open for a few hours at a time, three days a week. They had 5 first edition Tolkien titles in quite good condition for $4 each. I nearly fainted. Thank you for sharing your hauls. It would be so much fun to go to England again, but until I can, I enjoy watching videos like yours.
This video reminds me of going on a book-hunting holiday with my dad when I was 15. He's a collector of books by GK Chesterton. We went to a lot of beautiful towns with beautiful bookshops. Hay-on-Wye was a highlight for me. My dad visited booksellers who he had contacted beforehand, and I browsed all the bookshops for whatever caught my fancy. I bought a lot of classics for 50p each.
Tom you are a big tease. I paused the video to find out what made General Santa Anna's Ghost so special...Google gave me Voewood Rare Book's page. But when I clicked on it the page was gone. Of course it was....because you bought the book. Can't wait for the description video.
If you pause the video on the edge of the book, you can see a spiral pattern of small divots in the edge paper where it's gilt. It's easiest to see above and below the area where the bookmarks sticking out. (10:37)
I love your videos! Currently not sure what direction to go in life now but It's wonderful to see someone have a great passion doing what they love! Keep up the hard work. Your channel is sick i've shared it with my friends :)
I know you mostly do old and rare books, but do you have any books in your collection or know of any books that are oddly shaped? Years ago, I had a minecraft book that was hexagonal to show isometric illustrations of the different blocks, and I've been interested in such odd books since.
That vellum leaf looks like it is in the style of Clairvaux Abbey in France. It looks like a biblical text. Was there information about its provenance?
I've only seen a few of your videos so far, but I've noticed that you don't seem to make frequent references to the "foxing" that one often finds in vintage books. Is that because it's simply so common?
