West of Scotland book purchases

I’ve been in my beloved west of Scotland earlier in the week so that Jack could go to a football match. It’s too far to do comfortably in one day so we stayed overnight and that gave us plenty of time to visit the shops and eateries that we wanted to visit. Amazingly the weather dried up and we had bright sunshine and blue skies – so much for the weather in the west being wetter than the east!

Without even trying I ended up buying eight books, some from charity shops and the four books from Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons series were from a sort of junky ‘antique’ shop. I was so pleased to get these ones that date from 1948 and still have their pristine dustjackets. They were all given to a boy called Phil in 1948 from his mother, nannie and John and Mary.

Missee Lee by Arthur Ransome
The Big Six by Arthur Ransome
Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome
Great Northern? by Arthur Ransome

Books by Arthur Ransome

Arthur Ransome Books

The Westering Sun by George Blake – because of the lovely cover and it being Scottish.
The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar – a mystery to me but it was 50p so I thought I might as well buy it.

Books

And two more Scottish books.
The Flight of the Heron by D.K. Broster
The English Air by D.E. Stevenson

Books Again

It’s World Book Day today which is probably why the date was chosen for the publication of Hilary Mantel’s The Mirror and the Light. I dashed to W.H. Smith’s this morning to get my copy of it but annoyingly had to go out tonight so have only managed to get to page 43 so far. Of course it’s not going to be easy to read in bed as it’s so weighty. I suspect that I’ll be reading most of tomorrow!

Oh – and Jack’s team (Dumbarton) won their football match. Sometimes being away from home for one night only is just perfect as you can have one whole day of doing exactly what you want, and you’re only away from your own bed for one night. We visited Helensburgh and the Loch Lomond area and I managed to get some scenic photos which I’ll show you soonish.

12 thoughts on “West of Scotland book purchases

  1. Hi Katrina,
    I enjoy seeing your book finds. That series with the dust jackets is adorable, and I always consider it a real treasure to find another D. E. Stevenson hardback. I look forward to seeing your pictures of the scenery.

    • Paula,
      I’ve already read The English Air but I borrowed it from library’s reserve stock so I’m very happy to have my own copy now, and it only cost £1.75. That would have been a lot more expensive elsewhere.

  2. Oh my! you are so lucky to find those Swallows and Amazons books in such good order!
    I hope you enjoy them very much.
    Have you read Coot Club? – it precedes The Big Six with the same location and characters.

    • Valerie,
      No I haven’t read Coot Club but I already have a copy of it. The last one I read is Peter Duck, so I think I should read Winter Holiday next then Coot Club before The Big Six.

  3. Those Arthur Ransome books are gorgeous. You were very lucky to find those. The others look interesting too. And I look forward to hearing what you think of The Mirror and the Light. I am starting Bring Up the Bodies tonight.

    • tracybham,
      I couldn’t believe it when I realised the Ransome books were so old and in such good condition. It’s a really nice edition. I think you’ll really like Bring Up the Bodies, I just read the last chapter again to remind myself of where she broke off the story. I’m now at page 167 of The Mirror and the Light and enjoying it although I think some might complain of her writing style.

  4. Ha! I’m betting young Phil wasn’t much of a reader because none of my childhood books survived looking quite that good! Have you read The Flight of the Heron before? I adored it and the other two in the trilogy in my teens, and it’s one of those books I’m a bit afraid to revisit in case it doesn’t have the same effect on older me. I’ll be interested to hear what you think of it…

    • FictionFan,
      No I haven’t read The Flight of the Heron before, I’m really looking forward to it and must track down the other two. I’m sure you are right about the Ransome books although his whole family seems to have decided that Phil needed those books. It looks to me as if they must have been stored in a box for years as there’s not even any sign of dust on the page tops. I hope Phil didn’t drown in a Ransome inspired accident!

  5. Congratulations to both you and Jack! Glad his team won and that you found so many marvelous books!

  6. Katrina,
    I’m so glad you enjoyed your meander to the West.
    I must confess that I am most curious about The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock.
    For some reason, this one appears very promising to me. And mysterious.
    A great haul, overall!!

    • Judith,
      I know I’ve seen that some bloggers have read that book, but I cannot remember what they thought of it, but at 50p for a pristine hardback I can’t go far wrong!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *