The orders that perk us up in the long dark days of February.

Wave Guides (A Physics Textbook) - to CERN - the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Trying to figure out what went wrong!

A Victorian Book of Alphabets & Designs – to a Tattoo Palour


A Day in the Life of a Miner: This was one of a series published in the 1970’s & 80s for children. Lots of photographs of the real people and their families. This one was a particularly poignant snapshot of a Miner’s life, showing his wife and son (a little blond boy), the house, the car, the clothes, now looking so old fashioned –. We were quite touched when we realised that it was this little boy who was buying the book!

Sometimes Two Hands Are Not Enough

Looking for books, but watching people. The Library Bookshop was very busy. One of the grandmothers shelving books declares that is is to early to call it a day and that she will now continue. One gentleman talks to another gentlemen how unlearning is harder than learning, how the world needs changing, and how it is done. This is California. The isle is blocked. On the next isle small paperbacks, plenty of them. The size is important, and the strength of the spine, for what follows. She was middle aged, golden haired, with gray cashmere, and those Ugg boots. It all happened very quickly, but I had a good view of it. One hand was busy carrying a bag, which left her with only one hand to open this paperback. Not that easy, small hands probably, but in this case the job was made easy by the presence of two well sized breast, one of which served to hold the book open for her.
She probably won't read the whole book in this arrangement, but she did open it long enough for a sentence or two, to check the paper and the print. I complimented her on the felicity of the gesture and asked ...

Plurabelle at the varsity rugby match Cambridge vs Oxford at Twickenham Stadium on 10 th December with a spectecular 31 - 27 win for Cambridge, YEAH!

A Quiet Afternoon with 19th Century Medical Books.

On a quiet afternoon, when the reassuring, clicking sound of cataloguing keyboards is disturbed by peals of laughter – I wonder to myself what could be so amusing about a 19th Century Medical book:

The results of an astonishingly successful weight loss program!




We call the poor chap the cabbage man. We can only speculate that some mischievous medical students were given the task of setting up the photographs to illustrate a nasty skin condition for this very serious medical tome. Perhaps they were instructed to find a way of preserving the patient’s modesty and unable to find a fig leaf, they improvised…….













And then there’s the 1940’s book ‘The Nation’s Health’:

Someone wanted to put it in Erotica or Drama perhaps?



















The less we say about this one the better!














http://www.plurabellebooks.com/advanced_search_result.php?x=47&y=8&subject101=101&subject70=70&keyword_search=false&searchform_act=1

BookReCycling

and here is a quick idea what can be made from old book boards:
a fancy, contemporary wall design.
bookboard-colour-sets of up to 100 boards can be ordered from Plurabelle Books,
ask Lisa for further informations.

Bicycles, Bibles and Bookbinders

Cambridge is so wonderful to get around on a bicycle! I just took a lovely old (and valuable) book to the Post Office to send Special Delivery. I then popped into one of the ancient and beautiful College libraries to look at some books. Languishing on the Librarian's office floor I spotted some 19th Century leather-bound Bibles from the Chapel, which have obviously been “lovingly used and cherished for many years” which in Bookseller speak means they are falling apart! However, they are much too nice to discard and we will do our best to find them good homes – perhaps via a visit to our wonderful Bookbinder which was the last stop on my circuit of the city. All this in about an hour: by car, it would have taken me most of the afternoon and involved lots of time sitting in traffic and looking for parking.


Our latest acquisitions:











Here are the 91 Bibles we have in stock:

http://www.plurabellebooks.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=bible&x=12&y=9

Plurabelle Book stars in the very first Bahamas Shakespeare Festival

“Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery” as the Book of Magic, Craig Pinder as Prospero, Dana Ferguson as Ariel in The Tempest performed at The Dundas Centre, Nassau Bahamas, October 2009.

Our Bahamian Actor friend, Craig was very excited to be involved with ‘Shakespeare in Paradise’, the first ever Bahamas Shakespeare festival, playing Prospero and co-directing The Tempest (with an African/Caribbean flavour). When I heard that the Book of Magic was being made out of cardboard I decided that Plurabelle could help out with a little magic of its own. Looking around our book-filled barn, I spotted a stack of old leather law books, which have been hanging around for a few years sadly unwanted. I selected a nice leather-bound copy dating from 1764 and sent it off to Nassau along with a single volume of Complete Works of Swift and a few other odds and ends. The whole cast was delighted with the added authenticity and it was remarked that there was something very special about old books in the New World!

“Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me
From mine own library with volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.”
- Prospero

ringplay.org/wordpress/

www.plurabelle.co.uk