Blog - Signed By Author

Monkey by Wu Cheng-en | Translated by Arthur Waley | Dust Jacket by Duncan Grant

Monkey is the title of Arthur Waley’s popular 1942 abridged translation of the traditional Chinese folk tale Journey to the West which was first published during the Ming Dynasty in the 16th century and is now ascribed to the scholar Wu Cheng-en. It actually translates only thirty of the hundred chapters of the original tale. …

Why Collect Science Fiction Books?

By Alan Chudnow It all begins with sense of wonder. At some point it hits you, an almost magical attraction to books. It may be books by a particular author or books about a distinctly engaging concept or it may be the sheer joy of holding a unique volume with a compelling physical appeal. However …

Harry Potter 7 – The London Launch!

The story of two New Zealand school girls and their trip to London to attend the midnight reading and book signing with J K Rowling at the Natural History Museum in London for the launch of the final book in the series – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Collecting First Editions for Pleasure or Profit

By Justin Power If the idea of making money from a hobby appeals to you, then you should consider collecting first edition books. Let me give you a real-life example. If you had bought a copy of the Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney’s first collection of poetry, Death of a Naturalist, in 1999 you would have …

Book Signings | Penelope Lively | Moon Tiger

When I was a child my favourite contemporary writer was, without a doubt, Penelope Lively. Many of her books dealt with ghosts or the supernatural, or played tricks with layers of time; I remember that I was glued to them and would very nearly have devoured them in one sitting if allowed! The Ghost of …

Joseph Heller | Something Happened

Joseph Heller (1923, Brooklyn, NY – 1999, Long Island, NY) lived most of his adult creative life in the shadow of his brilliant first publication, a work of genius that quite literally spoke to an entire generation, was the Zeitgeist book that encapsulated the anti-war mood of the times and even gave the world a …

Ted Hughes | Birthday Letters

Short news report of the 1999 Whitbread Award for Poetry which was posthumously awarded to Ted Hughes for his astounding and at times devastatingly moving ‘Birthday Letters’ (first published in 1998). The award was accepted by Frieda Hughes, the daughter of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, who bears a striking resemblance to her mother. Incidentally, …

Book Collecting

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