Miniature Bookshop Official Opening

The official Opening of the fabulous Miniature Bookshop created by Emma Taylor will take place on Wednesday 27 March 2013 at 4:30 pm.

We expect a group of unicyclists to join us for this occasion (Please get your Torker, your Jugglebug or your Semcycle out for this occasion) - the bookseller himself with balance his Ammaco. The unicyclists will assemble at the top of Purbeck Road, and accompany our guests down Purbeck Rd. We are expecting Julian Huppert who will conduct the official opening.

We also have a little facebook event (if you don't mind their advertisement).

Local artist Robert Good will introduce Emma's work and Julian Huppert will cut the ribbon.

After the official opening there will be an opportunity to visit the nearby Cambridge Cookery School and Kip Gresham of the Print Studio will show the visitors around his premises.

The bookshop is located in a protected industrial zone which has in the past hosted high quality art, crafts, and traditional artisan technologies. It is hoped that this tradition can be continued in the future.

From Within a Book

Some books are more special than others. This one is super special. The mental furniture, the conceptual arrangements, the cognitive architecture, even the familiarity of language and tone, the author's style, all is there for you to see, to step into, to play with, to share and to marvel. 

A Bookshop within a Book

Francis Bacon dreamed of an end of bookish learning. He would be keen on such real books, books which literally contain the reality he wanted to focus on. But then, there are books in this book!  That surely would worry a philosopher who wanted to get beyond books! 

Look at  these shelves! 

The bookseller retrieves a book for his client

Emma calls it From Within a Book. She does a bookshop in less than a week. She does shelves, furniture, (upholstery), carpets, ladders, even the humans. This must be my scarf! And of course the books. All made out of books. And placed in a book. Mise en abyme? Enjoy more of Emma's work on her own site. Compliments to fromwithinabook at gmail dot com.

In Edinburgh, mysterious book sculptures are going on display, as the Guardian reports. Perhaps this is how books are fighting back against Kindle and co.

Thanks, Emma, for sharing your marvelous work! 

Bookshop in a Book in a Bookshop

Yes, of course, a Carpet!

A book about epistemology? Epidemology?

"From within a Book"

Bookseller with scarf

Subtle Thief & Mince Pies Plurabelle Tuesday, Dec 18 at 6:00 pm

Askance Publishing and Plurabelle Books would like to have the honour of your company for a evening of books, readings, and the most bookish Christmas Tree you have ever seen. Two sets of the Dictionary of National Biography and a few stout volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica will perform the world premier of a ballet called The Christmas Tree (Composed and designed by Laura N.)

Join us on Tuesday Dec 18th at 6pm at our warehouse at the bottom of Purbeck Road, right next to Hills Road 6th Form College. Come early to pick up a few cheap Christmas presents that have words like a Kindle, but smell much better and cost much less.

Stay to listen to DJ Wiseman and his mellifluous prose in his very own velvet baritone voice when he reads from The Subtle Thief of Youth, his most recent book. We will have mince pies and mulled wine to keep you warm.

More poets and performers have been scheduled, please stay tuned as the names will be released

Join our facebook event here.

Summary (Text&Context) Reception

Our good friend Robert Good likes to work with words. He is not a bookseller, but a word-artist. His most recent project is called Text&Context. It features more than 25 artists who will create some subtle confusion in the way in which language works in public spaces of Cambridge. The show explores the relationship between art, language, text, meaning and location through a series of encounters and de-re-textualisations across Cambridge. It includes live performance, postcards, neon signs, social media and even bicycles. Of course Plurabelle had to be part of this. This is not a confined exhibition, it is more like a carnival, setting language free, and setting us free to see text differently, to see different things in text

We have the good luck that Linda Carreiro from Calgary (together with RICHard SMOLinski) will display her SUMMARY work in and around our warehouse.

We expect some phantastic word-tapestries, inside and outside our warehouse, moving slightly in the wind, heads turning sideways, and letters tempting meaning in brains, as they are wont to. Please join us for the opening with the artist on Sunday, September 30 at 1:30. We will offer Alphabet Cookies and other nourishment, the remains of our Book Eating event  are still on display for those who missed it, and books galore for all who still care for typographical way of writing, its what and its how.

Please note, on Sunday, 7 October there will be an artistic bike ride, departing 10:30 from the Aid and Abet, next to the station, visiting the multiple sites of Text&Context in Cambridge. Join us, details on Acebook and Wtitter...

Bicycles or Books ?

Bicycles or Books? How to choose? Can I have both, please? Cake and eat?

When the Bikes or Books question comes to your door (as it has just now), remember that books have time. Books are patient. Some of our books have waited for a hundred years for the right reader, to pick it up and start a conversation on its pages.

Books come to life in a dialogue with a reader, whereas bikes, if all goes well, can turn into a big party with many other bikes. We had one in Los Angeles recently, where Ciclavia brought 100.000 people out on the street. Big, big bicycle party indeed. The sight of so many bikes together is invigorating,  perhaps even a transcendent experience. If a big bike party comes your way, time is of the essence. Books wait, bike rides do not wait.

Reach Fair Ride 7th May 2012

So join us for a fun day out on the bike, a leisurely ride of 10 miles, suitable for children, grandparents, and everybody else. Reach Fair is a great event. Enjoy the company of other cyclists, and enjoy the absence of cars as we ride away from traffic. The Mayor of Cambridge will accompany us, and the Duke and Duchess have also been invited.

Invitation to Duke and Duchess of Cambridge 

Reach Fair Ride 7th May 2012 is organised by the Cambridge Cycling Campaign.
More information on the Campaign website
Share this with your friends on facebook and see who else will join
Twitter # Reachride

Of course, Plurabelle Books will be closed on the day. Our cycling books will wait.

Fashion Show and Retro Ride

Together with the Cambridge Raincoat Company we are hosting the Fashion Show and Retro Ride this weekend, Sunday the 1st of April, 2pm – 6pm.

Sunny spring day at Plurabelle. Foto: Catarina Clifford

20 stalls to exhibit Vintage, Retro, Recycled & Independent fashion, followed by

The Retro Ride!

2:00pm  Cycle Chic: Vintage & Independent Fashion Show at Plurabelle in the beautiful Rattee & Kett gardens (Directions here)

3.30pm   The Retro Ride (Tweed Ride) - a social ride around the historic sights of Cambridge. Starts at Plurabelle

4.30pm   Afternoon Tea in the Marquee at Plurabelle Books.


Books, Tea and High Tea (Scones Sandwiches) courtesy of Plurabelle Books

For more details see facebook page !

We will have displays by Jemporium Vintage, Revelare, Autumn Attic, Tina Sondhi, Pur Alpaca Designs, Cheeky Rose, Margaret Knight, Clare Harriette Downey,  Jane Horwood, This is Cambridge, Jenny Orange Knitting Kits, Nicky Shepard, Le Gros Franck, RevtroVert, Crispin at Pop Cycles, Chrissie’s Chocs, Muriel, Birchenough’s Home-made Cakes, Adam’s Oak, and more

Bring the whole family, friends and visitor. Bring a bell for the ride, a silk tie for the shirt, a few nice leather shoes for the pedals.

Calling Turkey: Research Project to Increase Book Sales to Turkish Libraries

If your book-parcel weighs more than 730 grammes (0.73 Kg), then we shall send it in a blue M-Bag with such a label

Big news at Plurabelle as our new marketing strategy begins to take shape. Our aim is still the same: to increase the number of Turkish customers who visit and purchase books from Plurabelle. Turkey’s economy is flourishing, there is a well established network of universities. Our scholarly books could surely contribute to the Turkish Library system. But why have there been so few Turkish customers visiting Plurabelle during the last couple of years? We have sold 70,000 books in the last 10 years, but only a handful of these went to Turkey. Are we doing something wrong? Is there something we are missing?

This is why I, Julia, have joined this project: to investigate. I have a degree in English and I am now studying for an MA in Publishing at Anglia Ruskin University. I have joined with Michael Cahn from Plurabelle to find out if there is something we can do to increase our sales to Turkish libraries. I will try to develop relationships with librarians and make them aware of what we offer. This is a great opportunity to develop a new customer base and share the joy of Plurabelle Books in a whole new market! For me, it is also a research project which will be supervised and which will count towards my degree.

The first stage of my research project is an initial telephone survey of Turkish librarians. We have a short questionnaire designed to investigate the mystery of the missing orders from Turkey. Are there problems with the postal service? Is currency exchange a problem? Are customs procedures an issue? Do you use a consolidating service?

So if you receive a call in the next few weeks, asking intrusive questions about buying second hand books in a foreign country - it will be me, Julia, calling from among the shelves of Plurabelle.

Julia is calling

If you do have some answers to our questions, and you do not want to wait for my call, you could earn yourself credit by contacting us on: 0044 1223 415671 / SKYPE Plurabelle. We would be VERY happy to hear from you, and will honour your call with a credit of £20 to spend on books from the Plurabelle collection.

When calling, ask for either me (Julia) or Michael, but please do allow for the fact that we do not speak Turkish (Michael is a fluent German speaker), and that we are 2 hours behind you. An email will be just as valuable for us, and will earn you the same credit, but we would love to talk to our potential clients on the phone. You can also take our quick survey here.

We look forward to speaking with you!