Random Jottings

Random Reading

OK I have written enough about the tennis and ranted so time to get back to the nitty gritty and let you know about current reading.

In the summer months I tend to read much lighter stuff and save What I Call Proper Reading until the winter.So a whole slew of light frothy, Regency romances.  Years ago Georgette Heyer would remark wearily "oh the plagiarist is at it again" when a certain author published a book.   All I can say is after reading about ten titles in the last couple of weeks I found a certain glee in spotting which plotline had been lifted. Cries of "oh it is An Infamous Army or Frederica or The Grand Sophy" were uttered by me on a regular basis and in the case of one of them, I even recognised the dialogue.  Incredible.  There is another writer who lifted a plotline, dialogue, the lot from a Heyer which was so blatant i was staggered. That writer is still alive and still writing rubbish...

And, natch, I have been reading loads of crime.  At the moment I am reading Kate Rhodes. She wrote a series of books featuring a profiler, Alice Quintin, which I really enjoyed.  She then produced a series of books with a new protagonist set on the Scilly Isles, the Ben Kitto series.. I am reading these and enjoying them very much but wishing she would do another Alice book when I suddenly spot she has, Fatal Harmony. So flick of the finger and it is now on my Kindle. She is an excellent writer, good plotting and great characters. I can recommend them.

Death of a Busybody - George Bellairs. Love this author's books. I discovered him a while back, thanks to the British Library, and have spent a lot of time downloading his books - there are plenty available for Kindle. His Inspector is Littlejohn and he is a kindly and doughty character who I like immensely.

Miss Tither, the busybody of the title, is a nasty piece of work seeking out scandal and bombarding the villagers with religious tracts. She is found face down in a septic tank, a suitable end one might think, and there are no shortage of suspects.   The vicar in this title has the incredible name of Ethelred Claplady. Wonderful!

Death in Dark Glasses - George Bellairs. I came across this title in a second hand bookshop in Cromer. I admit I found this one very convoluted and rambling and not as good as some of the others . As Bellairs wrote about a hundred I gather it is hardly surprising there is the odd dud.

Murder in the Mill Race - E C R Lorac.  Since the British Library published this author, I have tracked down quite a few titles, some are mind boggling they are so expensive, but I have managed to get hold of a few. I do hope that more of these are produced by the BL in the future. I am delighted to say that it was I who suggested this title last year as I purchased a battered old edition and enjoyed it.

Sister Monica, warden of the local children's home, is found floating in the mill-race.  She is loathed by most of the villagers as she hunts out their nasty little secrets (much like the Busybody above) and the locals are unwilling to tell what they know. Inspector Macdonald, another lovely character, arrives to sort it all out. Another excellent read.

I have also read two titles by Carol Carnac, the other name used by E C R Lorac. Inspector Rivers is in  in these and is a laconic rather elegant man, shades of Roderick Alleyn I think, but are written in a different less easy style than under her other name. More wordy and less action and can get bogged down. I enjoyed them though. One was Affair at Helen's Court and the other Death in Triplicate.

And, as I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the murders and detection, I read Mohawk Valley by Ronald Welch. I have this fantastic series of books about the Carey family from Slightly Foxed who republished them all a couple of years ago.  I loved reading these as a teenager and they tell the story of the Carey family starting with the Crusades and coming up to World War 1.  I have been saving the last two titles as I wanted to savour them and suddenly the time was right to read them.  They are so good and I am hoping that my two grandchildren might read them later.

And today I read If I were you by PG Wodehouse. Not one of his funniest, it did not have me with tears pouring down my face or reducing me to hysterics like some of his other titles have done, but just sheer joy to read such elegant, pointed prose, falling into place and giving me a lovely mellow feeling. Re the butler "Slingsby loomed in the doorway like a dignified cloudbank"

Perfect.

Wimbledon 2019 - Random Rant

 

Breaking News.  Sir Andy Murray is BACK. He has had a HIP OPERATION. REMEMBER WHEN HE LIMPED OUT OF WIMBLEDON AGAINST SAM QUERRY? TRAGEDY.

Now he is back and it is:

1. A miracle
2. Lovely to see him smiling again and pain free
3. He looks so happy to be on the Court
4. Who would have thought we would see him again
5. Remember his tears at the Australian Open?
6. He just wants to play tennis (er YES)
7. He has no expectations
8. He is not worried if he wins or not (oh Yes he is)
9. Who would have thought...blah blah blah

Ok repeat 1-9 ad nauseam Don’t get me wrong I have missed Andy and yes it IS wonderful to have him back and the crowds are loving it too, but blimey, cannot the likes of Andrew Castle and John Lloyd and the other drones think of something else to say.

Now did you know that DAN EVANS HAD A DRUG BAN AND IS BACK?

So here he is and it is:

1. A joy to see
2. He has learned his lesson
3. Owes so much to those who stood by him
4. Particularly his lovely girlfriend
5. He has grown up at last
6. Now finally fulfilling his talent
7. He has gone on the road to redemption (yes really somebody said that)
8. Who would have thought blah blah blah

OK repeat 1-9 ad nauseam.

He came off court after a good match, sweat pouring down him and almost in tears and some Dopey Woman asks “Were you thinking of all those who supported you when you were out after your DRUGS BAN when you were playing?” He replied he was grateful to the crowd who got behind him though by the look on his face he just wanted to tell her to bugger off.

COCO GRAUFF HAS ELECTRIFIED WIMBLEDON

Did you know

1. She beat VENUS WILLIAMS in the first round? You didn’t? Where have you been?
2. She is only fifteen
3. She is a breath of fresh air
4. A STAR IS BORN
5. She is sooo composed on court
6. She will win this (McEnroe was the only sensible one who said he hoped it was not this year)
7. Gosh when was the last time somebody this young won Wimbledon (it was Martina Hingis actually)
8. She is the darling of the fans
9. She is the darling of the Press

OK repeat 1-9 ad nauseam

Leave her alone. The media attention she is going to get will be appalling and I guarantee when she hits a bad streak they will be in full What did I tell you mode. Seen it all before.

You get my drift.  The moronic commenting team lead by those Doughty Stalwarts John Lloyd and Andrew Castle leave no stone unturned in their use of every single cliche in the book (and I have just used one...) On and on they drone, non stop, thought the match in between each game, each stroke giving us the benefit of their piercing insights.  I do wonder what Castle and Lloyd do in between each Championship as the other majors, thankfully, do not make use of their services. (I did see Andrew Castle do an ad for life insurance or something on TV, awful and of course he was on Strictly Come Dancing a few years back. He was awful) John Lloyd lives in Florida I gather and I have no idea of what he does in the non tennis season.

Thankfully the BBC are starting to make use of Annabel Croft who is an excellent commentator and knows her stuff. She is on SKY a lot with Greg Rusedski who is also good but we cannot have him at Wimbledon as he is not really British you know.  Also he is a bit acerbic and tends to say what he thinks and that is McEnroe territory.

But apart from all the above there have been some great matches, exciting tennis and the sun has stayed out and the rain stayed away. We have the usual Women Shriekers who really are unbearable and makes watching their tennis pretty unpleasant and, in the interest of equality, I have to say that some of the men are pretty noisy too. The guy from Portugal who played Dan Evans last night (WHO IS BACK FROM A DRUGS BAN) was making a ghastly noise which was enhanced when the roof was closed.

I have managed quite easily to avoid watching St Roger of Federer who is greeted with a sycophantic lavishness by the entire team at the BBC which really turns the stomach. When his feet tread the Sacred Turf of the Centre Court they go into full gush mode, so much so that if the Pope had turned up to canonise him on the the spot it would not have surprised me....

And unless some of the NextGen as they are so wittily called step up to the plate (CLICHE ALERT) then we are doomed to an endless ever decreasing circle of finals with Rog, Raf and Djokovic.  So come on Tsitsipas, Zverev, Shapavalov, Auger Allisime, Thiem get your game going and start challenging these guys.

And finally, most people would say that if there was a prize for the biggest Dickhead in tennis then it would be a shoe-in for Nick Kyrgios.  Yeh, well watch this space. Medvedev is challenging for it. Petulant, stupid and down right rude to the umpire it is a mystery to me why these two are not slung off the court.

And the Prize for I cannot be Bothered is, naturally, given to Bernard Tomic (known as Tomic the Tank Engine) for an appalling display against Tsonga for which he has to forfeit his first round prize money of £45,000. He did not care. He has millions in the bank and says so.

So that is that. First week over. Gosh I forgot. WHY do we have Sue Barker on the Centre Court on the Saturday introducing all the sports stars in the Royal Box? WHY?  I see enough of that miserable git James Anderson throughout the year and I certainly have no desire to see Alastair Cook’s gormless face again either.

One year they had US movie star Bradley Cooper there. Now that is more like it.....

Felixstowe Book Festival

I have had a very busy week or two so apologies for the lack of posts. I am writing this in an attempt to bring a little bit of sanity to what I am watching on the tv. Kyrgios v Nadal.  If this manages to finish without an almighty row I shall be surprised.

Still, that is for another day.

The Felixstowe Book Festival has been going for several years now and gets better every year. I remember the first one which was such a stonking success and it has all grown from there. Now a highly organised event with a slick and efficient operation and this is due to the Director, Meg Reid and a fantastic bunch of volunteers who man the bookstall, steward, help with tickets, looking after authors etc. All simply wonderful.

I was introducing three events and attended three and had a busy time in between taking photos and Tweeting and Facebooking throughout the weekend which was great fun.  

the Festival opened with James Runcie, author of the Grantchester novels, and hw was brilliant. Witty and amusing and also spoke with great feeling about faith and love. An terrific opening.

The highlight for me were meeting Jane Thynne, author of the Clara Vine books which I love. We have been FB friends for a long time and it was delightful to meet her and have a chat. Her talk on the background to her books in pre-war Berlin was excellent.

(Left to right: the Bookshop run by Stillwater Books, Liz Trenow signing her books,Jane Thynne in her Clara Vine talk, second row: Duncan Barratt, Elizabeth Simchin, James Runcie and at the bottom Jane with Simon Heffer)

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She also chaired a talk with Simon Heffer about his book The Age of Decadence covering the late Victorian and Edwardian era. He had words to say about Queen VIctoria with which I strongly disagreed and did say so.

I introduced Duncan Barratt who has written a wonderful book about the Channel Island occupation which I have mentioned before. A sell out chat with a queue waiting for returns. None were forthcoming sadly.

Liz Trenow was a welcome return speaker and I would have loved to have gone to her talk but she clashed with Jane Thynne. I have known Liz for years and had a chat with her and she quite understood thank goodness.

Then later Elizabeth Semchin on a talk about Felixstowe Ferry which I, in my ignorance, thought was a boat. Turns out it is a place and one I have visited so I felt a bit of a dope when I looked it up. Fortunately, I did so before my intro!  Packed event as well.

And then in the afternoon Alison Weir came along to chat about her latest book on the wives of Henry VIII and we are up to Anne of Cleves who I have always found the most interesting of those he married. And unique in that she survived.

Sun shone all weekend, loads of attendees and I had lots of discussions and chats with attendees. It was simply great and I am already looking forward to next year.

So watch this space....

Random at the Tennis

I have been absent for a few days as I have been up in London visiting family but mainly to attend the tennis at Queens.  Felicity, AKA the Other Grandma, and I are tennis fans of a high order and about five years ago she bought me a ticket to go to Queens as a birthday present. One of the best presents I have had. Since then we have made it a regular visit and attend on the Thursday of the week. We have always been lucky with the weather but this year I really thought we were unlikely to retain this run of good fortune as it bucketed down for two days and there was a total washout.

However, Thursday morning the sun was shining and off we went.  Play started at 11 am to catch up on the back log so we made sure we were there bright and early.  Throughout the day the temperature soared and dropped and, at one stage, we were huddle up in coats and scarves shaking with the cold. An hour later the clouds moved, out came the sun and we were baking hot. It was at this precise moment as I finally got my sunglasses from my bag that one of the lenses fell out and I had to spend the rest of the day squinting. Law of Sod.

No matter. We saw the finish of a game when Tsitsipas polished off the Brit No 1 in fifteen minutes; then he came out and played a three setter and scraped through; then we had Mahud v Cilic the defending champion and beat him to everyone’s surprise then another three setter with Chardy. By this time everyone was getting restive because what we all wanted to see was ANDY MURRAY who was testing his metal hip by playing doubles with the Utterly Gorgeous Feliciano Lopez.  We had benefited from the wash out as this match was due to be played earlier in the week.

All I can say about his reception is that if the tennis club had a roof it would have been raised. Yelling, cheering, stamping of feet and the Scottish lady sitting next to me was quite overcome.

Andy had said in an interview prior to the match that he expected to be the worst player on the court and he was expecting nothing. He and Feliciano were playing the Colombian pair, ranked No. 1 in the world so we were just hoping they would put up a respectable show.  In truth, when play started it was clear that Andy was tentative, his timing was off and he was clearly nervous. Feliciano, ever the gentleman and good friend, took most of the play and nurtured and took care of Andy and gradually you could see the touch and the confidence come back. When he let rip one of his cross court forehand winners the crowd went potty. And in the cause of Full Disclosure I tell you that I jumped up and down, I fist pumped, I shrieked and I yelled and made a right exhibition of myself. But nobody minded as they were all doing the same.

And they won and nobody could believe it and the other pair were totally hacked off as they had been up against the entire audience not just the players on the other side of the net.

The rest of the week was really something. Feliciano, runner up twice and winner once, made it to the final of the singles and he and Andy in the final of the doubles. He won the singles and the doubles and I am sure he would not mind that the papers were full of Andy the next day, though the general consensus was that Feliciano was a Good Guy.   His form this year had been poor and he was not able to qualify for Wimbledon. Now they have given him a wild card and he is going to get such a reception when he walks onto court there.

So a great time but, once again, the attendees amaze me. There are a hard core of tennis fans who go there for the game but there are a huge amount of people who come tarted up to the nines in the latest designer stuff and swan in and out clutching a glass of Champers or Pimms. They never watch more than a game or two.  Felicity and I, apart from the odd loo and tea break, sat and watched nine hours of tennis and loved every minute.

One couple behind us, he such a Hooray Henry with a Panama hat and she in floating skinny dress totally unsuited to the elements drifted in an out all afternoon and the amount of alcohol they consumed would have floored me. They were possessed of these loud braying voices that only the Brits have and in the afternoon vanished and did not appear for four hours. By this time, we thought they had left and spotting a bag and a jacket on the floor, called a steward and told him this had been left behind. He got onto his walkie talkie and five minutes later a burly man in a high vis jacket appeared with a sniffer dog!! At first we all thought this was overkill but then I realised I was sitting in front of this bag so greeted him with joy. Dog had a sniff all ok and the stuff was carted off to Lost Property.

An hour letter the couple swayed in and the following conversation ensued:

She: OOh my god where is my bag and jacket

Me: they were reported as we thought you had gone home and left them behind

He: (clutching a glass of champers) Oh but we were only having a drink

Me: that was four hours ago and we all thought you had left. the sniffer dog was called out

Her: OMG why?

Me: it was being treated as a suspicious object

He (swaying) well honestly really I mean..bit over the top what? (At this point the image of Wooster floated through my mind. I wonder why)

Me: well as the bag was behind my seat I was quite glad to have it cleared up

He: well ok but what a pain. Where has it gorn (and yes he did say gorn)

Me: they said the coat and bag would be taken to lost property

He: well where on earth is that?

Me: (getting tired of it all) I have not the faintest idea

She (sarkily): well you seem to know everything..

Me:(going into full Lady Bracknell mode) I probably do but in this instance I have no idea where Lost Property is but if you ask a steward they will tell you. In the meantime I would like to watch the tennis so could you please move (what I really wanted to say was piss off you stupid woman and let me watch the f*****g game but I refrained)

And off they went.

A glorious day though and to see Andy back and moving easily and playing tennis and laughing and looking happy was a joy. He is going to play doubles at Wimbledon and it will be SO good to have him back.  He would like to play mixed doubles but he has said he has been turned down by a few female players!  Billie Jean King immediately tweeted him and said she would do it....

A great few days and I also attended a lovely concert which I will save for another post.

Revisiting my reading youth

In my last post I mentioned a falling down bookshop which I will be most reluctant to visit again as I was petrified everything was going to fall on top of me. I found a shelf in a corner labelled “historical romance” and had a look.  Packed with the Angelique series by Serge Golon which I read when a teenager but had to abandon as they got so bad, some Plaidy and then several books by Dorothy Eden which I fell upon with cries of joy.  I used to read every single one of her titles as they came out and adored them.

One of those I bought, The Millionaire’s Daughter, I had not read so settled down one afternoon when I came back and I loved it.  Self made millionaire in New York comes to England with his wife and daughter determined to find her a husband in the aristocracy (shades of Burnett’s Shuttle here) and yes, she does find her husband but not the one her father approves of.  Totally absorbing and written with great style.

Speak to me of Love I remembered well. Impoverished upper class family in New York arrange a marriage between their fairly lazy son and daughter of the owner of Bonningtons (think Maceys, think Blooomingdales) in order to restore the family fortunes. She loves him, he does not love her.  Smashing story and, once again, absorbing and written with great style.

Since reading these I have tracked some more of Dorothy Eden’s titles and they are on their way.

Sheila Walsh. Loads of her books now available on Kindle. Such a joy to find that these books are available now as ebooks so they can be rediscovered and enjoyed.

All I will say about this one, however, is that the author had clearly read Frederica by Georgette Heyer as the characters, particularly the young boy interested in aeronautics, are practically identical and this made me very cross indeed. Heyer was plagued by plagiarists all her life and this is clearly one of them.  I have spotted another as well but will keep stumm on that one as she is still writing...

Constance Heaven - she wrote several novels set in Russia and featuring the House of Kuragin and they were full of dashing blades and love in St Petersburg. Read them all in my teens and loved them and now enjoyed all over again. 

And a D E Stevenson title I had not read. So please that many of her books are now being reprinted.

Fond memories of my youth came back while reading these which I devoured in two days on my return from Norfolk. These are the pleasures of rummaging around in second hand bookshops - you just never know what you are going to find.

 

Random in Norfolk - finding the bookshops

Wherever I go I like to track down a bookshop. Not a Waterstone or a Smith but a secondhand bookshop. Much though I love new books wandering into a shop where they have the latest paperbacks and three for two offers is pretty boring. Why? Because you know what you are going to get and there are no surprises. With tatty, crowded, tiny little haunts there is always the chance you will find a treasure, not in monetary terms (the bookseller will already have spotted those), but a treasure that you have even seeking for some time.

Years ago before Persephone started to publish Dorothy Whipple and thank goodness they have done the lot, I was in a junk shop in Penzance. And boy was it junk! I honed in on a smalll bookcase in the corner crammed with books that were really falling apart. And in the corner I found a book called The Priory by an author I had never heard of, Dorothy Whipple, opened it up, read the first page and bought it - for the princely sum of 5p. Though I now have the Persephone edition on my shelves it is cheek by jowl with that 5p edition.

So before going to Norfolk for a week I did my research.  I visited two National Trust properties, Blickling and Felbrigg. Both wonderful places to visit and I have featured them here on Random. As well as the usual NT gift shop and tea rooms many of their properties now boast a book shop. Some better than others. When I visited Greenway earlier this year I checked their shop out. Not madly impressed. The usual paperback stuff you can find in any charity shop the length and breadth of the UK (Shades of Grey anyone?).  Felbrigg was the same. 

Blickling had a more interesting collection, and more room, which makes a difference.  Loads of wall to wall fantasy, crime, chick lit which did not interest me, but the music and biography section was excellent, also the history.  I came away with a few titles including this Elizabeth Von Arnim. I have this in a battered old Virago edition but could not resist this one

Two bookshops in Cromer were visited - Much Binding and Bookworms

Much Binding has been the one I have enjoyed visiting most this Norfolk week. Cramped and confined, heaps of books all over the place, the proprietor squeezed into a corner behind an ancient till (all second hand bookshops have such tills) and the chance of finding something interesting. I came across these.

I have read a couple of titles by Frances Beeding an author of whom I knew nothing, last year after I had read Martin Edwards wonderful Classic Crime in 100 books which is my bible.

I enjoyed them very much  but not many are in print so was delighted to spot this one - and I love the cover.

Then a Bellairs. I know this author well now having discovered him a couple of years ago and since then the British Library have reprinted some of this titles. Loads more are available for your Kindle  as well which is wonderful. I actually brought the new BL title with me so it was serendipity to find this one too.

And then a Miss Silver book which I did not know and which I have just finished and thoroughly enjoyed.

And the best thing about discoveries of this kind are the covers. Aren’t they wonderful?

We also visited a bookshop in Sheringham where, quite frankly, Health and Safety would have a field day. I have never been in such a cramped, rickety and dangerous place like this - ever. You could not see half the books for the boxes in front of the shelves. In order to check out a shelf I was interested in I had to shift a couple of these boxes which were very heavy and then split showering the books all over the floor where they landed on top of another heap which had obviously been there for some time. I came away with a pile of fantastic 1960 style paperbacks of historical writers I used to read when I was a teenager. More of them in another blog.

Half the shelves had collapsed and were on the slant with books teetering on the edge. There were steps you could use but very difficult to do so as there was not enough room on the floor to open them properly. Shelves up to the ceiling and above doors holding books which were mouldering and falling apart and had clearly been there years. The shop is in a tiny terraced house in a residential street and is totally inadequate for its use.  After fifteen minutes when I was sneezing and spluttering and suffering from claustrophobia I had to get out.  I dread to think what would happen if there was a fire.

I doubt if I will visit again. I am sure there are gems to be unearthed but unearthed is the right word.

I went to Norfolk with loads to read on my Kindle and also four physical books. I came back with eighteen though most of these, once read, will be passed on to the charity shop of the local book fair for later in the year.

I know Ratty said “there is nothing like messing about in boats”.  Substitute bookshop for boats and I think he has it about right.

Random on Holiday - Felbrigg

I visited another National Trust Property - Felbrigg Hall. Not far away from Blickling but different in atmosphere and character. Felbrigg has been a family home until fairly recently and you can tell. A delightful house with the usual well informed guides. Once again, as I got there just as it opened I more or less had the place to myself which is wonderful, nobody getting in the way as I looked and took photos and I could stroll round in a leisurely manner.

The grounds were as gorgeous as all the grounds at these places are and also has a walled garden. I love walled gardens, they enclose you and feel comfortable and safe and I always feel like Mary Lennox in the Secret Garden.

Here are photos of the garden and of the house:

And in the house

And, as you will see below, I had some difficulty leaving....

Driving home tomorrow via Aldburgh.  We visited a lot of bookshops but those are for another post...

Random on Holiday - Blickling

I love visiting National Trust properties wherever and whenever I can. My daughter, Helen, the historian told me that though she used to get fed up with being carted around them when she was a child, the experience did ignite her love of history so I think this validates making children do something because it is Good for Them.

At Blickling today which was about half an hour from where we are staying in Sheringham. A glorious day and a glorious building as you can see. It used to belong, at one stage, the Bullen (aka Boleyn) family and it is likely that Anne was born here.

Though it is so big it feels more homelike than some NT houses I have visited and it has the most wonderful library which is currently being renovated and restored as the damp is getting through and the books are in danger.

Stunning.

The grounds are also quite beautiful and really one could spend an entire day just wandering around and taking in all its beauty.

And guess what? They also have a second hand bookshop....

So that is where we ended up. And did we buy anything?

Guess.

Random on Holiday

I am in Norfolk staying in a little flat in Sheringham.  This is a part of the UK I have never visited and always wanted to and now I am here.  Great excitement when my friend and I arrived as a sink hole had appeared in the High Street and was getting bigger by the moment. There was a sewer underneath and the whole thing just collapsed.  It seems that there has been efforts to turn the High Street, which is charming, into a pedestrian precinct but it has never happened. it may now.

Gorgeous weather today with blue skies and sun shining. Here are a few photographs taken today:

There are two National Trust properties nearby so hope to visit one of those, probably the one that has a large second hand bookshop..

Oh and here is my holiday reading. Arrived just before we set off...

OUP - Oxford World’s Classics

I am very fortunate to be the recipient of books from OUP.  I have a huge collection of their World Classics in paperback on my shelves. Nearly all my Trollope oeuvre are in this collection, plus Austen and Bronte amongst others.

In the last year I have been delighted to have three titles from their hardback World’s Classics collection which is relatively new. These books are just so good to look at, touch and feel as well as read. There are no dust jackets just beautiful binding. Look at this photos - aren’t they lovely?

A Christmas Carol and other stories has the original illustrations which I love in my Dickens collection. I already have at least five editions of this title but love them all and this is a great addition to my Dickens shelf.

The fairy tales of Grimm brothers are not light and airy fairy at all. Some of these stories in the original are rather dark and a bit scary. 

Sense and Sensibility - I now have several editions of this Austen title but, yes you have guessed it, I have no intention of getting rid of any of them. One is a 1930s illustrated edition with a dust jacket in excellent condition which I picked up in a book sale and is just wonderful.   

And in addition to all this OUP sent me another World’s Classic, this time in paperback. It is Sense and Sensibility!

I buy a lot of paperbacks but when it comes to the Classics, I do admit to enjoying owning a good well produced hardback and these certainly fit the bill.