Monday 5 October 2020

Fnurban #5 : Serendipity on a Rainy Day

Last week we enjoyed our first proper holiday of this topsy-turvy year. We were in the Peak District,  at a small cottage on a farm, in a tiny village on top of a hill - so  no problem maintaining social distancing, at least. 

Mostly the weather was good, but there was one disctinctly wet day. We elected to look at Cromford and  Arkwright's cotton mill - a World Heritage Site. That was interesting, but the rain defeated us eventually.  Fortunately we had already planned to look in at nearby Scarthin Books, described in our guide book as a 'world of books, curios and comfy armchairs'.


A warm welcome on a wet Wednesday

Well, it lived up to the description - a great example of what a good bookshop can be. Three floors, crammed with bookcases, including on the stairs; there's a cafe in there too, hidden behind a curved bookcase ( one shelf of which I noticed holds the 'English County Regiments' series ) which swings open and closed, like something out of a storybook itself. 

I can't vouch for the tea/coffee as I was spending too much time looking through the books, especially (of course) the military history section.  I came up with quite the little hoard, as you can see:   

   


Best of all for this blogger 'The Army of Frederick the Great' by Christopher Duffy - 1974 hardback edition ( bookshop's pencil note inside "not common - a bit stained" which might describe many things).  Having just been reading Duffy's book on von Browne, this is just what I wanted next -  it's as if this was just  waiting for me, and it will immediately go to the head of the reading pile! That made the whole day worthwhile on its own.

Not only, but also : 

'Military History for the Staff College Entrance Examination' by Major E.W. Sheppard - 'revised in accordance with Staff College Regulations 1937' .  It's a set of 'crammer notes' for student officers, with chapters on major campaigns from Napoleon in Italy 1796 to The Third Afghan War, 1919, and each with a fold-out sketch map. I think this is going to be very interesting - another pencilled note says 'from the collection of MJ Peter Cavendish'  - I suppose that 'MJ' is 'Major', so it looks like he passed!

[ update: the original owner would appear quite likely to be the late  Brigadier-General Peter Cavendish, who lived nearby and passed away in 2011. Being only a few miles from the Chatsworth estate, the surname Cavendish also indicates a certain social status, I suspect. I hope the book doesn't mind being now in the possession of  'salt of the earth' - my only military ancestor rose to the dizzy heights of Lance-Corporal ]   

'The Gun'  by C.S. Forester. As mentioned in an earlier post, I am working my way through Forester's war stories, and this one, it turns out, has relevance. The eponymous Gun is abandoned by Spanish troops of Blake's army retreating from the disaster at Espinosa. Having recently taken the part of 'Blakey'  under the auspices of M.S. Foy ( here ) , during which the Spanish artillery performed rather poorly, I feel a sort of  connection. I hope The Gun redeems itself here.  

'Ripeness is All'  by  Eric Linklater. Having started with the excellent 'Private Angelo' I have been picking up anything I see by Linklater, and quite a few have military themes. This is from 1935 and starts promisingly : 'Sergeant Pilcher was not one of those bull-mouthed swarthy red soldiers. common enough twenty years ago, who larded instruction with oaths and kept conversation bouyant on their flotsam of Hindustani and a flood of beer"..  Eric having served in the army of 'twenty years ago' i.e. 1914-1918, I think he speaks from experience here. Having said that, the first modern on-line review I looked at "found it tedious, slow-moving and far from fun".  I don't think our Eric would be seen as  very 'Woke', though the Sergeant is clearly no  'Gammon'.   We shall see..

Shire Books 'Discovering Model Soldiers' by Arthur Taylor , 1970. What can I say? It cost the princely sum of  40p, a bargain for a nice little piece of nostalgia.  One section is headed '20mm - The Wargamers Size' : so that's you 28mm people told, from the old school. 

All in all a thoroughly worthwhile visit - if you're ever in the area and like a good bookshop, I'd recommend Scarthin Books. Now I just need to magic up the time actually read all these, and the rest of my worryingly large books backlog. As ever,  'time and space, time and space'...

Keep well, everyone.


 

 

 

 

 

  

  

16 comments:

  1. Great finds, I hope you enjoy reading them in the weeks to come.

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    1. thanks Alan, I will indeed enjoy them, though it may be more than weeks!

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  2. The Peak District is wonderful, and 20mm is the one true scale!

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    1. I agree with you on both counts!

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    2. Heresy! Death to the unbelievers!

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    3. blimey Dave - far be it from me to ask a scouser to 'calm down..' :)

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  3. Duffy's original 1974 HB is a great find!

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    1. yes indeed, really glad to find it - at a very reasonable price too!

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  4. The exam crammer sounds interesting. Any practice papers? It would be interesting to see how we measure up against the professionals.

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    1. Cheers Dave, not sure if there are mock exams! But jolly interesting. I have also found out more about the former owner, who seems to have been quite grand, and I will update the posting with some details.

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  5. You must have done some good turns along the way David! Great book haul. The Gun has got me thinking of Sophia Loren 😎

    I’m after the Austrian army companion to the Duffy book but people are asking for silly money.

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    1. Funny how the dice land in one's favour now and again.. Yes I think the Austrian Army book would be very interesting: I note that the Frederick the Great book is being reissued, maybe that will apply with the Austrians too?
      Sophia Loren ? Goodness Gracious Me!

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    2. No, that was Meera Syal and Nina Wadia.

      The Austrian one (‘the Army of Maria Theresa’) I think has been superseded by a two volume set Instrument of War and By Force of Arms. Which I’ve got, but purely for nostalgic/completist reasons I’d like to get the older one. Seeing your Minifigs SYW soldiers just adds to that.

      The Army of Fred has gone to at least a second edition. Duffy had a bit of a re-think based on new documents he read and is kinder about Fritz’s light troops than he was in the 74 edition.

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    3. Thanks, interesting about the books. I will have to try to find the updated volumes on the Austrians - but let's read Frederick first! I have such a pile of unread books..
      Yes Meera Syal etc, but check where they got the title and theme tune..😄

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  6. Good books! Worth their weight and more!

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    1. thanks Ross, quite agree! The Duffy one I am particularly pleased about.

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