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I am sure I’m not the only bibliophile that feels that Frisson of excitement every time I see a new Boundary Book Books e-Alert has fallen on my inbox. There have been more than 700 now, to be accurate 736, but I must say that the most recent is the first who inspired me to want to write about what I have seen.
For those who have not seen it, you can access the alert here. The theme will be fascinating for some of us and he thought of thinking about the way the acquisition of books and other cricketing memoirs has changed throughout my time as a collector.
What I guess means I have to give away personal information before I go further. I started collecting, strictly only Wisdens and other books in those days, in 1985. Seven years later my second child was born, and his older brother had learned to open a bookstore. Given the way I treated my father’s wisdens, my collection came into storage.
“Out of sight is out of mind” is one of my favorite truisms and it was completely precise here. With my books recorded in the attic over the next dozens, I did nothing but buy Wisden every April. Located very far from the small hands on the upper shelf of the book I allowed in those days that never hurt.
In 2005, life had changed. I had moved home and my children, on those occasions they visited, were no longer a danger to fragile articles of memoirs. As is important, my shady prediction that ashes will never recover in my life, in that glorious summer, which were improperly pessimistic. There was no better time to renew my interest in books and I did. This time it has probably become an obsession rather than a hobby, but at least I am able to have a conversation on topics different from the cricket, from time to time.
The catalyst for my initial interest in 1985 was the desire to learn more about the famous “Bodyline” series, which, despite the acquisition of all books, as well as a decent selection of leaflets and the ephemeral, continues to fascinate to this day.
So I bought a copy of The cricketter And he wrote to all the book distributors listed in the line of the line asking for catalogs. In those days they were John McKenzie, Martin Wood, Ian Dyer, Eo Kirwan, Almeida Books, Valentine Books and Cricket Libaries. Whenever the paper catalogs appeared, the routine was to read them as quickly as possible and to obtain an order in the post with a check marked as not higher than a certain figure, as it was almost certain that part of my order would have been sold.
When I started picking up again I had arrived, and only John McKenzie was still emitting regular paper catalogs. Martin Wood and the Ian Dyer business had started online, and Christopher Saunders had come during my hiatus and did so and continued to issue printing catalogs next to his website. Others were also online and I contacted borders and body books at a stage where each had a few paper catalogs to send them before moving towards a completely online business model.
I also realized at this stage that there were distributors in Australia, Roger Page and Ken Piesse. Undoubtedly, in my time as a collector Ken Piesse has never sent paper catalogs, but Roger did it for some time. Now in his ninety year and he is still commercialized in Roger, with whom I have had a long association, he still issues his catalogs in the same style, although he is now emailing them.
But to return to the matter in hand, E-Alert 736. This is much more than a vehicle from which Mike Down can announce his goods. I have always known that the whole question of the bibliography is a particular interest of it and if 736 is not a treaty on the history of specialized Cricket booksellers, it is definitely something that is approaching.
So for those who are under the spell of the game literature, it is a joy to see images of the first catalogs that appeared and understand a little about how the market place we all enjoy climb.
It is a bit of lament that so far no one has written a decent book on the subject of Cricket’s book distributors and memories. I dare say that one day it can appear and, in the meantime, everything is not lost as the essential facts, in terms of a complete list of the catalogs of the main players until 1977, it exists in the form of a brochure by David Rayvern Allen. A copy of this Evaster Limited Edition appeared in E-Alert 734, and it was undoubtedly sold, but a direct research would certainly get confirmation of this and whether or not Mike has another copy. If the rest fails, there is another way to obtain the information, as the leaflet content originally appeared in The Journal of the Cricket Society.
As he explains in 736, the first distributor was Aj Gaston, a man who had many Cricket interests, as well as selling books. He issued his first catalog in 1890. For many years there was only one important player in the market and after the war was Epworth Press in London. Why a religious publisher became the world’s leading cricket bookseller is an interesting story in itself and the involved man, Leslie Gutteridge, a curious character. If it weren’t for Rayvern Allen Boundary Books, I would have now published a biography of Gutteridge. It seems that it will not happen now, but anyone who decides to visit the showroom in Stanford in the Vale Will, I have no doubt, it will be given the taste of Gutteridge, who had the type of life that was usually not expected of a distributor in antique books.
And Gutteridge is not the only distributor to those who abound in Stanford in the Vale. Unfortunately, I lost the opportunity to have deals with EK ‘TED’ for a few months, but Mike knew him well and, a few years ago, published his biography. In contrast to Gutteridge, there are no skeletons in Ted Brown’s wardrobe, but it’s no less interesting because of it.
736 also suggests an interesting story by Martin Wood, and of course there is one. I will leave Mike to explain -s as his business started, but the Controversial incident The 736 is referred to an occasion when Wood deliberately damaged a regional championship ground in order, if I remember correctly, to help Kent win the title. Frustrating, I can’t find easily the editing of The cricketter This reported the episode, but from my memory I am sure they appear before local magistrates followed.
These reflections, after the event, may have been sold after the event, which has always been a risk where so many unique articles are offered. It does not mean, however, that it is not worth an investigation and even if it is answered negative, the salon is still worth visiting. There is a large amount of interesting material, and there is actually too much to visit.
And I can also give some tips on how to advance the curve. If you decide to visit while you are browsing, you will probably see a couple of small piles of items that seem out of place, almost certainly the next pair of e-brings and, therefore, available for a personalized preliminary view.
Boundary Books e -mail address is [email protected] and your phone number 01235 751021
