sow the thought seeds

<thematic: what to be seen reading on the economic downturn>

The credit crunch means readers, like consumers in general, may become partly motivated by the need to save on spending.  But this needn’t mean a trip to the nearest bargain book basement.  Austerity and decadence follow each other around and appear to be binary opposites.  In fact, during periods of abundance, minimalist aesthetics and urges to declutter are at their most acute.  And when times are hard, glamour is at its most defined and desired.  Fashion is a great barometer of the economy for this reason.

Second hand clothes are like second hand books: there’s vintage and then there’s vintage gold. The latter are both more valuable and more satisfying when found at a snip.  Shabby chic is worth its weight in gold for another reason. Wearing a fashion one-off means mega-bucks, money wasted once it’s become ‘trendy’.  Vintage classic shows off your personality and style, without comment about what’s in your purse.  

Mark Twain once defined a classic as something everyone wants to own but no one wants to read.  It’s true that you cannot judge a book by its cover, but it’s also true that that cover can speak volumes about you.  Especially if you manage to prove the American satirist wrong, and read the darned thing.

<steampunk gets second wind>

Retro-futurism is a hot trend in fashion and graphic design. The aesthetic, spawned by the steampunk fiction subgenre, combines romanticism for old technology with do-it-yourself punk sensibility.  Clockwork, locomotive steam engines and even obsolute computers are strong visual components.  For the look, add a polished brass plaque to your pc, then lounge about in a corset or britches reading vintage copies of Jules Verne.

Steampunk rose to prominence in the 1980s as a variant of cyberpunk.  Considered as nerd-lit by many, it is heavily influenced by the Victorian science fiction of Verne and H.G. Wells.  More up-to-date examples include novels by K.W. Jeter (who coined the term) and William Gibson as well as comics like The League of Extraordinary Gentleman and anime like Steamboy.

As the look goes mainstream it is likely to ignite further interest in the fiction, which may even come to rival gothic literature in its appeal.  Meanwhile, the subgenre's boundaries are porous enough to allow wide interpretation from science fiction, fantasy and horror writers.  Almost anything goes, except cyberpunk, that is.  The latter's dystopian outlook is simply the wrong look, whereas steampunk gives technology a more positive and personal spin.

     SOS Book Rescue 

<When your library has a flood, who you gonna call?>

It's hard to visualise the unglamorous world of document salvage when you're brunching with Georgine Thorburn at a glamorous Kings Road cafe. Instead of a raging North Sea inferno, there's the mere blue trail of next table’s Gitanes snaking along the terrace. A bottle of mineral water too, but no sign of drenched paperwork. Then there’s Georgie girl herself, part of the Chelsea furniture, every bit as comfortable in Sloane Square as she is at disaster sites.

‘We're currently working with a civil engineering firm,’ she tells me. ‘They had a major fire gutting one third of their office and leaving the rest heavily smoke damaged. We got the call out two days ago, held a crisis meeting with the management, then went into a frantic pace to get the rescue team together and fitted out with all the right health and safety equipment.’

The right safety gear means masks, hard hats and white overalls marked Document SOS, the name of Georgie’s company, while her team includes leading paper conservationists and art specialists. Chalk and cheese, you’d think. ‘But when you have a big fire like this’, Georgie points out, ‘it’s all hands on deck.’

‘One day we could be called to a sixteenth century archive, restoring irreplaceable antiquarian books. Then it could be a merchant bank. We’ve been involved in all three City bombs. Our work is varied. The other day we were called to a nuclear power station to sort out a mould problem in their ultra sensitive record store. None of the documentation could come out, of course, so we had to do everything on site.’

With water damage, the books swell, the sewing starts to split and before you know it there’s no book.

The clients needs vary too, and aside from books the range of restorable artefacts includes videotapes, artwork, magazines, scripts, and audio­spools. ‘We're working on a copy of a mustering roll from the American Civil War and a letter with John Lennon’s signature on.’

‘Everything has to be handled according to what it is, and labelled as to where it came from. People rarely have a floor plan, so we have to do that, detailing where each desk and filing cabinet was. Clients will often request specific legal documents because they need them very quickly. We need to know exactly where everything is.’

‘The criterion for a job depends on its content. For a public library, it is imperative that the books are back as clean as new. We remove all the smoke, smell and acidic residue. One librarian said to me, I want my books back in a condition I can go to bed with.’

The Document SOS, portfolio makes impressive viewing. ‘Before’ shots of arson damaged books are compared with seemingly impossible mint condition ‘after’ shots. Paper work glued together by water ends up in better order than my in-tray.  

‘With legal business documentation, the criterion is usually to have it in a readable and useable order. But you have to he careful. You can’t use chemicals that will deteriorate the paper if the document has to last the lifespan of the company.’

Business continuity planning for hard copy is currently an in-topic but Georgie is incredulous about much of the misinformation. ‘There are booklets that recommend human chains to retrieve historic material. I mean, that just doesn’t happen. You can’t remove a book the size of a table this way. Try to and it causes more damage.’

‘The practical world is very different,’ she says. 'If you have a fire, you contact your insurance company, they contact the loss adjuster and the salvage work waits while the money is counted. But it's important that the adjuster has the means to say “Do it: start the salvage”.  It’s a bit like Countdown. We’re against the clock. When there’s water damage, the books swell, the sewing starts to split and before you know it there’s no book. We need to get there quickly and freeze the material to halt the damage and prevent mould growth. Then you can buy as much time as you want for insurance queries.

Document SOS has virtually unlimited frozen and chill storage, as well as an enormous dry fast chamber based on select air-drying methods that can accommodate 70 crates a week. Georgie, and two fellow students from London’s Camberwell College of Arts, started pioneering these techniques in 1987, adapting it from  art restoration.

99% of material can be restored to how it was before the incident

‘A lot of it was trial and error. The field is so new – it really only started in the 1970s. Occasionally I wonder how to approach a situation so I still consult with my old tutor, Bill Topping. I also keep in contact with fellow students who have all ended up in very interesting places. We have reunions and swap advice on salvage. There’s a liberal exchange of information, which is very important for progress in this field.’

‘I fell into the Conservation course by fluke,’ she recalls, laughing. ‘At school, I'd always managed to limbo dance under the fence of physics, chemistry and biology. Suddenly, a third of my course was chemistry. I didn’t even know the difference between an atom and a molecule. It wasn't so much a learning curve as a learning vertical.’

‘At the end of four years, disaster planning was becoming a buzzword. I had submitted my thesis on a small brewery museum in Hertford. Then Camberwell College got a call from a flooded picture library. Eight of us jumped into cabs --Ghostbusters to the rescue! We stemmed the water, took out photographs... and I was bitten. Clearly I didn't really see myself growing cobwebs in a museum basement, but actually I’d spent the last four years preparing for just that. As it was, the salvage team who followed us in closed down shortly afterwards, and this huge niche opened up before me.’

‘The work is all consuming, it takes all of my life,’ Georgie says, ‘but it gives me huge satisfaction to see distressed clients, who think their living has gone out of the window, realise that 99% of the material can be restored to how it was before the incident. I guess that makes me the Mother Theresa of the document world.

IMPORTANT

<<navigation>>

on some computers this may appear as the last page of the edition --

to view remaining pages go to Blog Archives and repeat click Month 

<gift wrap service>

Your book can be gift-wrapped (paper and ribbon), together with your message in a card.

Simply request the service when paying, indicating the recipient, recipient address and 'your message'.

Your book will then be gift-wrapped, placed in bubble-wrap and secured in a thick, corrugated card sleeve before being sent to the recipient address.

The cost is £1.25. Please add this to the p&p box on your invoice.

<rule of thumb>  

The Adventures of Dougal ~ Eric Thompson

Brief blurb: The original stories back in print.

What's it all about? When The Magic Roundabout was first screened between 1965 and 1971, reactions were diverse. Dave Gilmour thought there were subliminal messages in it and urban mythology had it that all the characters were based on drugs. But the real story of how the cartoon came to be shown on the BBC is even weirder than the surreal story-lines.

Originally created by Serge Danot, the humour of the French cartoon (about a Spanish rabbit and English dog, both speaking French badly) didn't translate well. The BBC sent Thompson, then a Playschool presenter, the tapes. But Thompson reinvented everything, including the characters’ names because, according to his daughters, ‘he didn't like the French.’ Undaunted by the criticism that the stories contained too many difficult words for children, Thompson even wrote an indignant letter to a woman who had scalded her son for calling his sister a ‘mollusc’. Originally three collections of stories, published between 1971 and 1972, The Adventures of Dougal includes a search for Zebedee’s stolen moustache (apparently a falsee) and the revelation that Mr MacHenry is a midnight prowler.

 

Random quote: ‘It’s very exciting really,’ said Brian. ‘There's a prowler in the garden.’

‘A prowler?’ said Dougal. ‘What's he doing?’

‘Prowling,’ said Brian.

 

 

Rule of Thumb: Polite thumb –  it’s good … if this is your bag 

 

<rule of thumb>  

The Stepford Wives ~ Ira Levin

Brief blurb: Levin's classic about creepy hausfraus introduced by film director, Bryan Forbes.

 

What's it all about? Written at the heyday of Women's Lib, The Stepford Wives is a tale of two sites. The site of male anxiety, circa 1972, fanned by tabloid tales of bra burning and the de-feminisation of women, becomes in Levin’s literary suburbia, the sinister Male Association with its plot to transform every housewife into a compliant, busty page 3 stunner.

The site of female paranoia is personified by new-to-town Joanna Eberhart, who, as a feminist and photographer, sees The Stepford Wives for what they are: ‘they work like robots all their lives’. ‘Stepford is out of step,’ she complains. In an age of new men and female MPs, it seems remarkably unsubtle. But, at the time, the Women's Liberation Movement protested violently against the film (director Forbes was even struck with an umbrella). And Diane Keaton got such ‘bad vibes’ from the script she turned down the leading role, which eventually went to Katherine Ross. Perhaps even harder to digest is that the film never made it to general release in the UK. It did, of course, become a cult classic, so familiar, in fact, the title itself is now an everyday part of language.

Rule of Thumb: Thumbs up! – a real page-turner 

 

<guide to grades>

The following is the system I use for grading books ~

Mint ~ New or as new, clearly unread, no tanning to pages, no creasing to spine or cover, no marks or inscriptions. This is the condition you would expect to find in a high street bookstore or on mail-order.

Excellent ~ The book appears to be in fine condition. A closer look reveals some signs of previous ownership, such as shelf-rubbing and in some cases an inscription. Yet on the whole, the book is perfect.

Very Good + ~ Less than excellent condition with no more than mild tanning or foxing to pages, minor creasing to spine or cover, possible shop sticker/pencilled price or previous owner name, but no other marks or inscriptions. This is still a tight and bright copy.

Very Good ~ The book shows clear signs of previous ownership / shelf wear. There may be some tanning / foxing to pages, slight creases to spine or cover, inscriptions from previous owner (typically their name or words of presentation).

Good + ~ The book cover and contents may have faded in colour and there may be creases, wear and inscriptions. However the book is still intact and readable and there is no loosening to spine or pages.

Good ~ This is an acceptable reading copy and there may be several of the reported problems above as associated with age and/or mishandling.

Poor ~ A book such as this is sent to auction for reasons such as the edition's rarity. This will probably not make an acceptable reading copy, and is more likely to have value in relation to its collectable status.

N.B. where a double grading is given, the latter refers to the dust-jacket, wrapper or cover

This grading guide is updated monthly to save you scrolling through archives. 

<bespoke packaging>

To protect your purchase, books are secured in thick bespoke corrugated card sleeve and a bubblewrap inner to stop the book bouncing in the card packet.  Standard paperbacks are shipped in a bespoke envelope (trimmed to fit the book snugly), bubblewrap and corrugated card stiffener.

<cover story>

Recognise this month's cover fragment?  It's taken from the 1964 Crest edition of the Gunter Grass novel The Tin Drum - the true first edition was published in 1959.  The vintage paperback is Crest Book number M691. The cover is so iconic it has been recycled for more recent editions.   The image captures both the toy drum given to protagonist Oskar Matzerath on his birthday as well as his childlike outlook (in the story, he distrusts the adult world so much, he refuses to grow up).

. .vintage …....

...collectable and classic

pulps, hardbacks & comics