Hello Again.
In a previous post I made reference to visiting your local
charity shop as a source of literature connected with your specialist subject
or favourite part of your collecting hobby. This is where most of my books have
come from and will continue to do so. Charity shops as I had said do amazing
work for their charities and are staffed by volunteers, apart from the paid
managers but that is not for this post.
Rare Finds
I count myself very lucky when I find in a charity bookshop
a “specialist book” which is linked directly to the author/publisher. I have
two books in this category, the first is book entitled “British Pottery and Porcelain
written by Henry Sandon, who lives local to me. The book was published by in
December 1969 and is in excellent condition and inside the cover was the
publishers letter dated 1st January 1970 to the Bristol Evening Post
newspaper asking if they “hope you will find suitable for review”. 
The second book of this ilk, is entitled “Fifty Years of Royal
Commemorative China 1887 – 1937” by M.H.Davey and D.J.Mannion. This book is in
paperback and published in 1988, what makes mine so special apart from the
subject is the fact the book is signed by Malcolm Davey. Whilst looking for
information on the author, strangely enough the first entry on the internet led
me to Amazon and the used and new books for this title. The used prices range
anything from £37 - £150, which is pretty amazing for a book which cost me £1.50
and I am not looking to sell. Unfortunately I have been unable to find anything
on either author at this time.
Another of my special books is “Handbooks of Marks and
Monograms on Pottery & Porcelain” by William Chaffers. The book is in
hardback and with some very minor water damage to the cover, however what makes
this special is that it was originally published in 1874, with further prints
in 1889 and 1892, with a new edition being printed in 1898. The book I have
therefore is 117 years old and therefore classed as an antique in its own
right. The book is inscribed on the cover page as “E H Platt, Jan 1898”.
Reference books cover
to cover
What draws us to these or any other books? Well, in terms of
reference books it is the search for knowledge. These days the current and
possibly last generation will tell you that everything is available on the
internet. To some extent they are correct but is that what it is all about, I
don’t think so. In a lot of cases, mine included I spend much of my working day
on a computer and I don’t necessarily want to do it when I get home, even
though sometimes I do. It is the ability to see a mark on a piece of porcelain
and want to find it one of the reference books just to prove yourself right.
Likewise you see a cup shape or handle and instinctively be able to recognise
the manufacturer, if not the pattern.
Some reference books are written as very heavy texts and you
cannot take in everything you read, if you were to read the book cover to
cover. It is the ability to skim read and fly back and forth through the book,
so that you know roughly where to look for the information you need.
There are also novels some are fiction, some are non
fiction. The books I am thinking of and have been in my collection are the
trilogy of books by Max Hardcastle, who left his job to start his antique shop
high in the Yorkshire dales. The books are well worth reading and also contain
some very fine nuggets of information on items in either auctions or the trade.
Others include the two books written by Philip Serrell, a local auctioneer in Malvern,
Worcestershire. Philip is also a regular on a wide range of antique related TV
programmes. The books he wrote concern is early days learning the trade in
Worcestershire and whilst amusing also contain interesting facts about the
antique trade.
Finally Jonathan Gash, author of the Lovejoy novels, pure
fiction about a lovable rogue of an antiques dealer but again containing
interesting facts about antiques. Mostly these books are what I call holiday
books, you buy them from the discounted book stores to take on holiday and when
you have read them you either leave them in the hotel for someone else, or take
them down the charity shop on your next turfing out session. This is the best
form of recycling and sometimes you will benefit from someone else’s charitable
donation.
