Bloomsbury Paperback & Pulp Fairs 2019

[cromagnonman]

*Later edit by dem:*

Forthcoming Paperback & Pulp Fair at the Royal National has been rescheduled due to hotel refurbishment.

New date:

Royal National Hotel
38-51 Bedford Way
Russell Square
London WC1H 0DG

Sunday 24 November 2019

9-30 - 3pm. Admission £1.50 (also covers entry to the ephemera & postcard fair). Dealers tables £55 each.

For more information, please email organiser Neil Pettigrew:
harry.npATvirgin.net (substitute AT with @)

Please spread the word.




Two dates for the diary.

[dem bones]

The first P&P fair of 2019 is almost upon us ...

The Paperback & Pulp Book Fair returns to The Royal National Hotel, 38-51 Bedford Way, Russell Square, London WC1H 0DG on

Sunday 28th April 2019

And

Sunday 27th October 2019

9-30 - 3pm. Admission £1.50 (also covers entry to the ephemera & postcard fair). Dealers tables £55 each.

For more information, please email organiser Neil Pettigrew

harry.npATvirgin.net

Please spread the word.

[H_P_Saucecraft]

I shall be there, hope to see a good vault showing(including usual suspects)😈!

[cromagnonman]

A pretty decent fair today I thought. Although I didn't come away with very much, apart from a handful of old English comics which seem to be providing my prevailing interest currently. Best of them was a lovely copy of Smash with a great Cursitor Doom strip wherein he is on the trail of the Toadstone. Gripping stuff.

But as I've said before the chief pleasure is always in catching up with the denizens of the Vault. Kev, Dave, Johnny & Lou, it was great to see you all.

[helrunar]

It sounds great. Love to hear more about the old comic book. The Toadstone sounds like something to do with magic/the occult--more likely sci-fi or other, but I'm curious.

cheers, Steve

[cromagnonman]

Wish I could enlighten you Steve, but sadly I've only got the one installment. But the opening caption talks of "a vanished talisman of fantastic power" and ends with the villain - Brice Talbot - about to unleash the "unearthly hunters". Egad! How the readers of 1969 got through the week suspended by such tenterhooks astonishes me.

Smash was a great old comic issued by IPC which originally published Batman and some early Marvel stuff. But when Sterling was devalued and the cost of buying the rights to US strips got too expensive it precipitated a creative surge in homegrown material^*. Some of these characters and concepts remain very fondly remembered to this day, particularly Aleister Crowley lookalike Cursitor Doom, the wonderful Erik the Viking and Victorian escapologist Janus Stark. Sadly the comic didn't survive very long deprived of its slicker US material and it was merged into the venerable Valiant in 1971.

Speaking as someone who still retains their inner five year old's appreciation for slapstick funnies I must also make mention of The Swots and the Blots.

^* I say "homegrown" but most of the striking art was contributed by Spanish and Argentinian artists.  

[helrunar]

Thanks for the account of Smash, Richard. It sounds like marvelous fun. Perhaps another issue will drop gracefully into your welcoming paws one day.

cheers, Steve

[helrunar]

I have no idea which thread to put this in, so sat it down here on a whim.

As seen on social media today:

"Just spotted that Richard Booth died a couple of days ago aged 80.

"'Mr Booth 'King of Hay-on-Wye' helped the border town become renowned for its book shops.The renowned Hay resident once owned the largest second-hand bookshop in Europe, and was crowned with an MBE. He was a determined entrepreneur who persevered in his quest to create a book town. Mr Booth even resorted to such stunts as his 1977 declaration of independence for Hay in which he proclaimed himself King and his horse was made Prime Minister.'

Extract from local paper."

cheers, H.

[dem bones]

Aug 24, 2019 14:17:01 GMT helrunar said:

I have no idea which thread to put this in, so sat it down here on a whim.

As seen on social media today:

"Just spotted that Richard Booth died a couple of days ago aged 80.

"'Mr Booth 'King of Hay-on-Wye' helped the border town become renowned for its book shops.The renowned Hay resident once owned the largest second-hand bookshop in Europe, and was crowned with an MBE. He was a determined entrepreneur who persevered in his quest to create a book town. Mr Booth even resorted to such stunts as his 1977 declaration of independence for Hay in which he proclaimed himself King and his horse was made Prime Minister.'

Extract from local paper."

cheers, H.

I seem to remember 'the King of Hay-on-Wye' was the celebrated Drif Field's absolute #1 enemy among a cast of a thousand contenders.

[johnnymains]

Aug 24, 2019 17:22:04 GMT dem bones said:

Aug 24, 2019 14:17:01 GMT helrunar said:

I have no idea which thread to put this in, so sat it down here on a whim.

As seen on social media today:

"Just spotted that Richard Booth died a couple of days ago aged 80.

"'Mr Booth 'King of Hay-on-Wye' helped the border town become renowned for its book shops.The renowned Hay resident once owned the largest second-hand bookshop in Europe, and was crowned with an MBE. He was a determined entrepreneur who persevered in his quest to create a book town. Mr Booth even resorted to such stunts as his 1977 declaration of independence for Hay in which he proclaimed himself King and his horse was made Prime Minister.'

Extract from local paper."

cheers, H.

I seem to remember 'the King of Hay-on-Wye' was the celebrated Drif Field's absolute #1 enemy among a cast of thousands.

I used to work directly for Richard when I was 26 - lived in Hay for six months or so. He was affected by his stroke, and his speech was a challenge, but once you tuned in - he was a joy to be with. Sharp as a tack - but as mad as fuck, a true English eccentric. I once spent 8 hours a day for two weeks cleaning out the biggest attic you've ever seen - full of thousands of books which had to be catalogued and priced - and me and my then girlfriend Sophie (who came from Belgium) just got our heads down and did it. This was all pre-internet, so it was truly a baptism by fire. At the end of the job, he just raided all of his tills and handed me over a massive wodge of cash in five and ten pound notes and promised to turn a town in Belgium into a booktown and name it after Phie. That never happened, but the thought was nice. 

He did things his own way, he built Hay into what it is - and yes, he had loads of naysayers - Richard was a proper salt of the earth, would tell you the lay of the land to your face and not try to shuffle up and fuck you from behind. 

[helrunar]

That's a fascinating memoir of him, Primrose Hildebrand. Thanks for sharing the memories.

I'm not sure "Drif" liked anyone but never heard of him before Dem mentioned him, and all I know is what was cited in that fascinating old thread.

cheers, Steve

[jamesdoig]

Aug 24, 2019 20:24:07 GMT johnnymains said:

I used to work directly for Richard when I was 26 - lived in Hay for six months or so. He was affected by his stroke, and his speech was a challenge, but once you tuned in - he was a joy to be with. Sharp as a tack - but as mad as fuck, a true English eccentric. I once spent 8 hours a day for two weeks cleaning out the biggest attic you've ever seen - full of thousands of books which had to be catalogued and priced - and me and my then girlfriend Sophie (who came from Belgium) just got our heads down and did it. This was all pre-internet, so it was truly a baptism by fire. At the end of the job, he just raided all of his tills and handed me over a massive wodge of cash in five and ten pound notes and promised to turn a town in Belgium into a booktown and name it after Phie. That never happened, but the thought was nice. 

He did things his own way, he built Hay into what it is - and yes, he had loads of naysayers - Richard was a proper salt of the earth, would tell you the lay of the land to your face and not try to shuffle up and fuck you from behind. 
[/quote]

Great story, Johnny - sounds like a memorable bloke. I remember going there in the late eighties/early nineties and being amazed that such a place existed. There were books in the ruins of a castle I think it was - you could take them and leave payment in a tin.

[johnnymains]

James - that was the only thing I never agreed with - all those books in the bookcases along the walls of the castle - loads of them were fucked due to the weather - but then they'd be cleaned out and replaced with another batch. I had some truly great times at Hay - one memorable night saw the group I hung out with all smoking pot and having a good old time at the record shop - on my way back home I spied the police doing their rounds, so went back to shop to warn them - I then went back to my tent (was living at the campsite over the bridge) and the police arrested me for 'interfering with crime prevention'. I was let out the next day and had to hitchhike back to Hay as the town's own police station was shut for the weekend!  Another story was me finding a book of Dali prints, actually signed by Dali - nobody knew they were part of the inventory, so that was nice and I also pushed Richard to look categorise his horror stock, and in one day I had managed to gather 600 or 700 horror paperbacks from the stacks.
Man, I miss those days. 

[helrunar]

Love these stories, Primrose. Whenever I see photos of Hay, I always fret about the books out exposed to the elements being ruined. Sounds like I wasn't just being an old mother hen about that. Wonder how many thousands of books over the years went in the bin this way. Of course, all booksellers (and librarians) know that there are tons of tomes lying about that one person on Earth--if any--would ever care to look upon. But still. I bet some good stuff got ruined in amongst the dross.

You were "interfering with crime prevention" Nasty coppers.

cheers, Steve