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19 Nov 12 - 07:26 AM (#3438554) Subject: Folklore: Lancashire bookseller: dialect, etc. From: Will Fly For those of you lucky enough to have associations with Lancashire (UK), can I draw your attention to the catalogue produced regularly by s/h bookseller Bob Dobson of Blackpool. Around 50 pages of a Word document, crammed with books on local history, dialect tales, songs, stories, social history, etc. I always pick up two or three goodies each time I get Bob's emailing. Reasonable prices and a very personal service. If you;re interested, email Bob at: Bob Dobson landypublishing@yahoo.co.uk |
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19 Nov 12 - 07:28 AM (#3438555) Subject: RE: Folklore: Lancashire bookseller: dialect, etc. From: Will Fly I see my email address has not appeared... landypublishing@yahoo.co.uk |
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19 Nov 12 - 08:12 AM (#3438571) Subject: RE: Folklore: Lancashire bookseller: dialect, etc. From: GUEST,Fred McCormick Thanks for that Will. I'm always looking out for even more secondhand books to clutter my enormous living space. However, for anyone who doesn't want the messing of an email exchange, plus delays between catalogue productions, there is what I presume is a complete and up to date listing of Bob Dobson's stock at |
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19 Nov 12 - 08:31 AM (#3438577) Subject: RE: Folklore: Lancashire bookseller: dialect, etc. From: Will Fly Thanks for that link, Fred - whether all of Bob's enormous stock of pamphlets and ephemera is listed there or not, I don't know, but it's a useful link. To be honest, I like to get the file by email and settle down in an armchair to browse through it! |
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20 Nov 12 - 08:45 AM (#3439205) Subject: RE: Folklore: Lancashire bookseller: dialect, etc. From: GUEST,Blandiver Southport is the place for browsing old books in Lancashire - they've got THREE of my favourite booksellers in the country & all in spitting distance of each other. Not quite Hay-on-Wye, but then Hay-on-Wye doesn't have a pier. There's one upstairs in The Wayfarer's Arcade where I often pick up Randolph Caldecott originals & keenly priced collections of Folk Song (including Robert Grave's Ballads and a first edition of the original paperback PBOEFS - both for under a fiver). There's another which sells sea-shells and classy Gentleman's Mags from the 40s & 50s as well as a fine stock of folklore & natural history - I recently bought a nice hardback copy of the Evans & Thomson's classic The Leaping Hare here (Here, Hare, Here??) again for under a fiver. The third is like something out of Diagon Alley with roaring coal fires & endless rooms and crooked stairways packed with wonders. I bought my hard-back copies of Hutton's Stations of the Sun & Roud's English Year here, simply because it was the perfect place to buy 'em from... Further north - go to Carnforth, where you can also have your very Brief Encounter underneath the iconic station clock afterwards. And in Preston, at right angles to both Wetherspoons and The Chinese Buffet, is Halewoods. In Manchester there's a little bookseller tucked away behind the Arndale, only open on Friday & Saturday, always plays classic JAZZ very loudly, so just the ticket for old Country Book Club editions of Bob Copper's Song for Every Season and George Ewart Evan's The Farm and the Village. I never judge a book by its cover, but I always judge a bookshop by its smell, and all the above pass muster in that particular department... |
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20 Nov 12 - 09:55 AM (#3439235) Subject: RE: Folklore: Lancashire bookseller: dialect, etc. From: Will Fly I used to live near Carnforth many years ago and still visit the Carnforth Bookshop when in the area... |
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20 Nov 12 - 10:36 AM (#3439259) Subject: RE: Folklore: Lancashire bookseller: dialect, etc. From: GUEST,Fred McCormick Haven't been there for years, but George Kelsall's Bookshop in Littleborough used to be a fantastic place for a good root round. Loads of Lancashire topography and social and industrial history, and a pretty large music section with plenty of books on jazz. In fact I don't ransack secondhand bookshops on anything like the scale I used to, mainly because I don't get around the country as much, and partly because there's so much for sale on the Internet. Not as much fun by any means, but at least you can compare prices without moving away from the computer. |
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20 Nov 12 - 10:58 AM (#3439272) Subject: RE: Folklore: Lancashire bookseller: dialect, etc. From: GUEST,Fred McCormick Blandiver, what's the name of the one behind the Arndale? I must look that one out sometime. While you're in Manchester check out the Paramount Book Exchange, 25-27 Shudehill. Dirty mags galore and loads and loads of unbelieveable tat. But their stock is extremely cheap and it is possible to pick up the odd raving bargain. As one reviewer put it it "you'd have to be deaf, blind and high to appreciate the place". Also worth noting pricewise is a huge, rambling bookshop cum cafe on Bridge St in Llangollen. Llangollen, being the location of the International Eisteddford, used to attract hordes of wealthy American tourists who were quick to take advantage of what were then very favourable exchange rates. So the shop owner used to sell his stock for about twice what any serious collector in this country would have paid. Then along came the recession, the tourists stopped pouring in and now everything is 1/2 marked price. Talking of Manchester, were you ever in Jimmy McGill's on Oxford Road? Loads of stuff on Ireland and a lot of other subjects as well. Jimmy was a fantastic raconteur who would ply the punters with cups of tea and stories about every book on the premises. Alas, he has long since gone to that great bookshop in the sky, but brother, what a character! |
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20 Nov 12 - 11:43 AM (#3439312) Subject: RE: Folklore: Lancashire bookseller: dialect, etc. From: GUEST,Blandiver You know, I've no idea - you can't miss it though, it's just opposite the exit for the Arndale multi-storey another block or so up Shudehill from the one you mention (which we've never been in for ovious reasons). Lots of comics, poetry, and general all-round good vibes - and the occasional bit of pure joy as I say... Manchester is still pretty new to me - only five years or so. In Liverpool there's one up Mount Pleasant which I like - again I don't have the name but you can't miss it - it has an old oven range (working in winter) and has furnished me with lots of King Penguins, books on medieval Church woodwork and (Rene Clemencic's) old musical instruments and various volumes of Boswell. Anything else worth looking out for in Liverpool??? We found something underground in that alternative market place in Renshaw Street but the smell was pretty dire (there's one in Preston which is just as bad, which is a shame because it carries some good stock but entropy has taken hold!) Also in Renshaw Street is a fine 'Emporium' of wonders with lots of books, ethnography, vintage stuff, vinyl, and some great skylights. |
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20 Nov 12 - 04:14 PM (#3439448) Subject: RE: Folklore: Lancashire bookseller: dialect, etc. From: GUEST,Fred McCormick That's Reid of Liverpool. Pretty small shop with variable pricing, and a shelving system which I find nigh on incomprehensible, but I have managed to unearth a few interesting finds. For some reason we've never been too well fitted out for s/h bookshops in Liverpool. However, you should definitely try Henry Bohn at the bottom of London Road. Also, there used to be a shop at the bottom of Duke St in an old warehousey type of place. Mostly junk and bloody cold, but worth investigating, if it's still open. Also, try Bluecoat Books which used to be in Bluecoat Chambers, but which moved some years ago to Gostins Building, 32 Hanover Street. It's remainders rather than s/h, but good quality stuff with none of the made-for-the trade nonsense which most so called remainder shops stock. V good on music, history, poetry and literature. Also, there's a large Oxfam shop half way up Bold Street, with a pretty big stock. What they've got depends on what people donate of course, but I've had some very bizarre finds, including a book on the French Canadian fiddler Emile Benoit, and an LP of vintage field recordings of Northumbrian pipers. BTW the emporium in Renshaw Street is the place where I once picked up a book of Russian sung epics. |