In honour of BabelBabe's beautiful post here is a photo of the books that are not in my grandfather's library, but in my bedroom:
And here, dear BabelBabe, is the very first Persephone I bought:
I was visiting my parents in London...it was probably around the year 1999. Miss Commentbox was about 8 and Master C was about 4 years old. I fell into my mother's arms, handed the two of them over to her, and then I spent a week trying to remember who I was and what I was doing and whether anything outside the domestic world really and truly existed.
I think I came across "The Homemaker" at Daunt's Bookshop. My mother sent me there like a doctor prescribes medication: "Go to Daunt's, go there twice a day for three days and come back if you don't start feeling better."
I started to feel better.
Once I returned home to Sydney my mother sent me Persephone Books as they were published, like mail-order medicine. She and my father went to the first Persephone shop one rainy Sunday afternoon and found Nicola Beauman there trying to hang a framed picture (I think it might have been a map) above her desk. She let them into the shop even though it wasn't officially open yet, and my father helped her hang the picture.
Dear BabelBabe,
How I wish that I could invite you over to my house and lend you a Persephone or two. But this post is the best I can do for the moment. Thanks for reminding me of those silvery beauties, and thanks for such a wonderful post.
10 comments:
so pretty. and calming. they ARE like a tonic.
Thank you!
ps. would your mum adopt me? : )
Eleanor
Glad to have you back with us. Books are treasures. I so love the way you write about them. I am not at all familiar with that publisher - but I am certain I would love them too.
I LOVE Persophone books! And I only discovered them about two months ago.
I love that they reprint books which deserve to be read again...small silvery masterpieces!
...and I have to admit, I love the inside covers.
I'm off to "meet" BB now...
I didn't know about Persephone books. Sounds pretty interesting.
Is it coals to Newcastle if I tell you about Jane Brocket?
Beautiful silvery books.
Beautiful silvery post.
Will call you soon.
XX
Hi there. What a clever mother. That inside looks like a precious tapestry. I'll put the book on my E-list. That's the one with the books you mention. Or recommend. Be well.
I love Persephone books too. My sister discovered them in Switzerland and we've been ordering them from Amazon ever since!
Where are you Elemar?
Every day when I stop by for a visit to Eleanor's place, I think to myself, "Is she STILL giving BableBabe something? Why does it still say "FOR BABELBABE???"
That's not fair!
Why does Bablebabe get so much?
Sure, she's nice...and funny...and well-read...and okay...she's super cool.
STILL.
You must stop! I NEED you back here again...It's SO lonely in blogland without YOU.
Sniff.
Sniff.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaah.
PS-I ordered TEN new Persephone books last week! Eeeeeeeee! So 'cited!!!
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