Stella & Rose's Books

When purchasing a ‘lot’ of books to sell in the shop, we do come across the occasional weird and wonderful book titles. I recently came across a bizarre looking item…

Heteromorph: The Rarest Fossil Ammonites by Wolfgang Grulke

What is a Heteromorph??? Of course, I googled it: 

Heteromorphic: differing from the normal form in size, shape, and function according to the Collins English Dictionary.

Hmmmm I am still not sure… The sub-heading for this book reads thus:The rarest Fossil Ammonites: Nature at its most bizarre (see, that word – bizarre - again!)

I saw this book on the shelf and was reminded of my own painful dealings with the Portuguese Man-of-War, twice! The first time all the tentacles wrapped around my arm and my elbow was stuck in the bent position. I can remember someone saying to pee on it would help but, even through all the pain, I was thinking eeww, which is just as well as it is a myth!

Having a look at the book I was amazed at the world of jellyfish and the amazing names such as the ‘Battering Ram Jellies’ or the ‘Long Stingy Stringy Thingy’. Whoever named them has a wicked sense of humour which had me in fits in laughter. The photographs are also beautiful and show the body patterns in clear detail.

This year I was lucky enough to go to a few classic car shows where I saw, among many other makes and models, a selection of Ford Capris.  My husband mentioned that there used to be a Tickford Capri which was a limited-production, high-performance version of the Ford Capri Mk III 2.8i.  A couple of weeks later I came across this book in our shop, Stella and Rose’s, called The Tickford Coachbuilders so I thought I must have a read as it seemed too much of a coincidence to ignore.

My husband was correct; it is the same company that did go on to be part of the development of the Ford Capri.  The book tells the company history from inception all the way through to virtually the present day, the people who worked there, the types of cars that were produced, the processes in making the cars, newspaper and personal reviews plus individual accounts of what it was like to work there.

Published in 1929, the first thing that strikes me about this book is the wonderful colour pictorial boards in King’s distinctive style.

The title of the book gives away what the book itself is!  It is a book of stories designed for bedtime reading to help get the little ones off to sleep. There are 12 short stories all accompanied by pictures which were printed in limited colours but all feature King’s signature elements: angels, fairies, children, lots of flowers and dots.

History – I hated the subject when I was at school – all those kings and queens and dates! Now I look around our history room in Stella & Rose’s books and there are so many fascinating titles. I wish history had been a more interesting subject when I was young, perhaps I would have paid more attention!

This four-volume set caught my eye – the history of furniture. Knowing nothing about the subject of furniture I thought it was worth a look. I had also never heard of the author so did a bit of research. I discovered that Macquoid, born in 1852, was a British theatrical designer and a collector and connoisseur of English furniture. In fact, this set of books was the first major survey of the subject and has been reprinted and still of use today.

As it was a lovely day we decided to visit a National Trust property.  The one we chose was Croome Court in Worcestershire which consists of a mid-18th century Neo-Palladian mansion, RAF museum, a church, follies and landscaped gardens.  As we entered the grounds, the first thing we noticed was how similar the grounds were to that of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire.   We were later told that it was Capability Brown who had designed them both.  Therefore, not knowing too much about Capability Brown I wondered if we had any books in our shop about him and came across this one, Capability Brown by Dorothy Stroud.

What do you think of when you read the title?

The Author thinks it is the Aston Martin DB5 and I tend to agree with him. This book charts the complete history of the James Bond Aston Martin DB5 and tells the extraordinary story of a normal car that became an overnight sensation. At the time of writing his book, 25 years after the initial film and even with all the various other modes of transport used in the subsequent Bond movies, it still holds that title.

There follows a wealth of information and photographs about the DB5 from the author’s extensive six years research and gives a fascinating insight into many aspects of the film industry, the motor industry and more.

I was wondering which book I should feature this month and, when browsing the shelves of the shop, this one in the Children's section jumped out at me.  I am not sure why. Perhaps it was the intriguing title, perhaps it was because I am a cat lover or, perhaps it was Beryl Cook’s wonderfully bold illustrations?

Did you know that if you are kind to a six-toed cat for seven years and a day it will grant your fondest wish? I didn’t! 

The Silver Tide is an enchanting story by author Michael Tod.  Published in 1993 it is the first book of the Woodstock Saga about the introduction of the grey squirrel into the UK native red squirrel population and the impact this had. 

I have a soft spot for animal stories, particularly those like Duncton Wood by William Horwood and Watership Down by Richard Adams, where the animals are portrayed acting like animals. I am less keen on the stories where the animals act like humans – wearing waistcoats, jackets and smoking pipes for example.  This book falls into the former category and Tod offers us a fully developed, imagined world in his book.  For example, the red squirrels have a folklore that they live by, which is remembered by bits of squirrel wisdom called ‘Kernal’s’.  Each kernal works as an arrangement of sounds, five, then seven, then five.  For example:

Aircraft have always fascinated me. When I was younger, one of my hobbies was radio-controlled cars. I always wanted to progress onto aircraft – but sadly never had the funds!

Over the last few years, I’ve played around with building my own drones (with limited success) and even building a radio-controlled hovercraft, but I’ve never lost my interest in aircraft. One of these days, I might just build a model aircraft and, if I did, it would probably be one of my all-time favourite aircraft – the De Havilland Mosquito.

“The motor-car went Poop-poop-poop, As it raced along the road. Who was it steered it into a pond? Ingenious Mr. Toad!” from Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame” published 1908.

The early 1900s were a very exciting time for Motoring and Motor Sports, in 1901 the first Grand Prix was held in France, although the first racing track was built at Brooklands in Surrey in 1907. In 1900 there were approximately 700 to 800 cars on the UK roads but by 1920 there were 187,000. One of the first all British made cars was from The Wolseley Tool and Motor Company. Everybody was excited by the new technology eager to find out what would happen next.

I must admit, I am rather partial to watching Michael Portillo’s television programme Great British Railway Journeys.  He uses a Victorian guidebook called Bradshaw’s Guide which was a comprehensive travel guide to the railway system in Great Britain of the day.   Jump forward a number of years to 1934 when another set of guidebooks were being written, this time by the famous poet, Sir John Betjeman.  He wrote guidebooks not for the railway enthusiast but now for the motorist.

Sir Betjeman initiated these books for the motorist because he wanted everyone to see what the real towns and villages in the counties were really like.  Previously you could only visit the countryside either by foot, bus or train.  Now as more people were buying cars there was a greater demand for petrol and as a result going for a car ride was gaining great popularity. 

This book is nothing much to look at from the outside – it looks like a typical Victorian cloth covered book. The full title is ‘The Zoological Garden. An Invitation to the Youth of both Sexes to Contemplate Animated Nature.’ You can glean from the title that this is an old book, dating back more than 100 years. The book itself is undated but has a contemporary gift inscription in the front dated 1863, so we will assume it is from around this time.

Upon opening it to the frontispiece and title page… wow! I changed my mind - this is a beautiful book! The frontis shows a lion attacking a crocodile outside its den where the lion’s mate and cubs are crouching, a giraffe in the background and an ichneumon in the foreground – did you know ichneumon is another name for a mongoose? I did not and had to Google it! The picture is hand-coloured, as are all 16 stone engravings, and strikingly so.

Those of you who are familiar with our shop, Stella & Rose’s Books, know that it sits on the bank of the River Wye in Tintern, separated from the river by the main road running from Chepstow to Monmouth. A beautiful location with views over to the majestic ruins of Tintern Abbey. While the Lower Wye Valley is a popular destination for tourists, how many know of the journey the river takes before arriving at the River Severn beyond Chepstow? This book enlightens us.

Growing up in the age of diesel locomotives, I have always been fascinated by steam. Partly I have my father to blame for this. He’s an engineer and welder and would often take us kids to museums that featured various engineering marvels. One of my favourites remains the York Railway Museum. I also grew up living opposite an old GWR station and goods shed in Sennybridge, Wales; the station closed in October 1962 with the Neath and Brecon Railway line closing completely in November 1969. I often wondered what it used to be like to have steam trains running past the house!

The title of this book intrigued me. What did it mean and what was the book about as the title does not make it clear?

This is the autobiography of Captain Doust who spent most of his working life on the sea. His area of expertise was marine salvage where his engineering skill and his amazing ability to improvise, with whatever equipment was available, under the most difficult of circumstances made him a master of his profession.

He was born in Portsmouth in April 1895 into a strong nautical family background. Both his grandfather and father were Royal Navy engineers, so whatever his career it would be to do with the sea.

It was the name that got me first - ‘Lemony Snicket’.  It rolled off the tongue and sounded like a cake or a nice yellow flowered plant. That’s what persuaded me to read the back cover to see what the book was about:

“Dear Reader, I’m sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant, don’t read this, whatever you do.  It will sadden you and cause harm to your mind.” 

Lemony Snicket was not wrong.  The three children the book is about, the Baudelaires, are newly orphaned and go to live with a distant relative who cares nothing for them and sees them as a form of cheap labour and a way to access their parents’ fortune.  Not cheery then, and actually pretty cruel in places.  When the children first encountered Count Olaf’s ‘troupe’ of followers one of the followers says:

This book was once owned by the internationally renowned Eleanor Lowenstein, her bookplate is in the front of the book. Eleanor Lowenstein opened the Corner Bookshop on Fourth Avenue New York and was offered her first cookery book collection in 1946. This was just the beginning and the rest as they say is history!

Mr Briggs in his Preface says of his recipes the following  ‘I have bestowed every Pains to render them easily practicable, and adapted to the Capacities of those  who may be ordered to use them. To waste Language and high Terms on such Subjects, appears to me to render the Art of Cookery embarrassing, and to throw difficulties in the Way of the Learner…’

It was the colourful cover of the book that caught my eye and also the title. I was intrigued to know who Spring-Heeled Jack was, so I turned the book over and it describes him as a sort of modern-day Superhero.  I have since found out that he was a notorious figure in Victorian times who was reputed to have attacked women, terrorised and harassed people at night and was able to leap high into the air.

Victims described him as having a terrifying appearance with "eyes that resembled red balls of fire" like the devil, but more importantly was his ability to make extraordinary leaps into the air to escape capture. He would leap across rooftops with astonishing agility blowing flames from his mouth so newspapers and the public at the time gave him the name "Spring-Heeled Jack".  Although he was never caught, he became one of the most popular characters of the period and eventually was portrayed as a hero of sorts which is probably why the renowned author, Sir Philip Pullman portrays him in this vein too.

Looking around the office again for inspiration in preparing my featured book article, I noticed we had multiple copies of Deer of the World. I don’t know about you, but I am an animal lover and was immediately drawn to this title. Here in the Wye Valley and the neighbouring Forest of Dean, we have many Deer although I could not tell you what ‘brand’ they are! They are very stealthy creatures and I find myself in awe of them whenever I come across one… so silent in their comings and goings. I guess not so good if they are loose in your countryside garden demolishing your beloved plants!