Old Books Newly Received

We do like these old books, and we like to share the pleasure of buying books: A little Christmas every day, when you open those boxes and empty the boot of the car to see what we just got in.
The first entry will give you a view of the last few hundred books catalogued. The entries below describe particular acquisitions in a bit more detail, and display the books from these sources when you click on the image to the left

Friday March 15, 2024

Recent Acquisitions

Click on the calendar image for the most recently catalogued books (any error corrections gratefully received!)
Wednesday August 23, 2023

Counting in Ely

Mathematics was his passion, we almost would have met in Austin (TX), or definitely should have met in the chocolate outlet in Ely where the daughter charms customers with a real French accent. The mathematician had a hand in the extractive sciences of bad old Schlumberger, sic transit gloria mathematicae, so much in disrepute these days that they hide their oily past (and present) under a new name (SBG), but the books themselves have found new and happy readers fast among all the Hermann Weyls out there.
Friday August 18, 2023

Non-Verbal Communication, incl feline

There were relatives from the Netherlands, and among their ancestors was a tutor to Japanese Royalty. But the letters sent from Japan, philatelic gold, were not for sale. Instead, we took care of Adam's library which had lots of feline, much on the origins of language, and Napolitan gesturing. Languages, anthropology, phatic and not so phatic 
Thursday August 10, 2023

Mellars, Paul

Hand axes, lithic technologies, the origins of humans, reconstructing social organisation through seemingly random splinters of stone, the mapping local traditions, the sheer output of these engineers, butchery of animals, and humans, welcome to the caves of yesteryear, where it all began. Some books annotated, vehemently, assertively, and in red and blue, uncommon sense of entitlement to fully own the white space of the page. 
Wednesday October 12, 2022

Beniamino

Beniamino liked his books a lot. We find him in Italy, in Rome, in the vicinity of La Repubblica, also at Harvard, somewhere in the Camera dei Deputati, their library needed a lot of help in the anglophone department, film, the arts, later they all (them books) come with him to Cambridge, where his daughter gave them a home in her house, as long as she could, or would. Over to Plurabelle, si si, fatto.
Tuesday May 03, 2022

Germanistik aus Oxford

Kafka,
Thursday August 19, 2021

Woudhuysen

to or three designs of the bookplates we have found, the Woudhuysens were keen on their bookplates, him and her bookplates, there is plenty of Dutch interest, book illustrations, art, all very well preserved
Tuesday May 28, 2019

The Boxes (Small) in the Driveway

We were told there were some boxes waiting in the driveway. Small boxes. This turned out to be a rather complex statement. Yes, the boxes had the letters SMALL on them, but the lettering was very large. I surely do not want to meet the boxes lettered BIG, especially if filled with books. All these "small" boxes very much filled to the brim with the printed matter, the libraries of a man who was interested in many things, and probably brought a book home most days. And proceeded to mark his property in bright Dymo colours.
Friday December 14, 2018

Santa Monica California

Plurabelle now has a book scout in Southern California. The picture shows the shipment of boxed books from a Long Beach warehouse which specialises in container-shipping American period cars to old Europe. The pallet goes into on of those containers, sharing space and hitching a ride with a few period cars, gets a glimpse of Panama, onwards to Southampton
Tuesday October 17, 2017

Neurosurgery Inc

It looked like a regular estate sale, but upon closer inspection, it contained the core of a neurosurgery library that covered 50 years, from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The books first belonged to Howard Naffziger (*1884). He was a noted neurosurgeon, having worked with Cushing in Boston (Fulton 366). He later led the Department of Neuroscience at the San Francisco Medical School until 1952. The books also bear the name of Eugene Stern. He headed UCLA neurosurgery for over 30 years (until 1987). He was a Cushing Medalist of the American Association of Neurologic Surgeons and received many other professional honors in his field. Stern was also Naffziger's son in law. Welcome to the small but exquisite world of neurosurgery, and do keep your heads well covered.
Monday May 29, 2017

History of Psychiatry

History of Psychiatry. Lacan. History of Psychiatry. Freud. History of Psychiatry. Lacan. History of Psychiatry. Freud. History of Psychiatry. History of Psychiatry. And History of Psychiatry.
Tuesday April 04, 2017

libros mexicanos

These books come from the Alias Wunderkammer in Los Angeles. The collection was formed by a librarian, who in his free time put on his bookseller hat. John Nomland sold his modern poetry and small press collection in English to Hugh Miller in 1977. 29.901 books in 652 boxes. That's pretty effective bookselling. For 40 years his Spanish language material languished, survived after his death in the Wunderkammer of a reluctant bookseller. More about Nomland and his two hats on our blog
Friday August 19, 2016

Huxley

Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley, OM, President of the Royal Society was a Nobel Prize-winning English physiologist and biophysicist. He is best known for his work on nerve impulse and muscle contraction.
Wednesday June 22, 2016

/'hɔɪk/ - "hoyk" - Hawick

This library was full of character and history, revealed by those little fragments we found in the books. The family was connected with a textile business in Hawick, but there is also a bookshop with the same name, witness the bookseller stamps here. A young man who is very keen on railway engineering just when the war ends, who goes on to study in Cambridge and then moves on to aeronautics. The sister too was interested in airplanes. There is quite a lot of local Scottish history, curious period material, trainspotting, practical engineering, mostly well preserved.
Tuesday January 12, 2016

Schröder Professor of German (yet again)

Prof Dennis Green was Schröder Professor of German at the University of Cambridge. He was a fellow of Trinity and a leader in German studies for many years. His field was Medieval studies, especially the female experience of reading. His books started to find their way to us back in 2009. The remainder arrived, in one big wave, early in 2016.
Many of Green's books are review copies. He must have reviewed hundreds or thousands. Reviewing was a very serious business, conducted with a fine pencil, and the result, as far as the book itself is concerned, are many pages with faint lateral lines to the margin. Many lateral lines to many margins. There are slight variations in the design of the line, but mostly faint and lateral. Rarely is there a word written in the margin, rarely are words in the text underlined. He did mistreat his books carefully. Often there is a college notepaper inserted which gives the scaffold of the published review. Green is the second Schröder Professor of German whose books found their way to us. Twenty years earlier, Leonard Forster's library preceded his.
Saturday December 12, 2015

Andrew's Books

Happiness would be the wrong term, but Andrew was ready and content when we helped him to clear his office. "I am a great believer in passing on books" he said later. An admirable attitude, which also shows in the manner he kept and organised his library (history of science, history of medicine). First, there is no bookplate, no name ink, no pretense of extended ownership. But there are small colour dots, two for every book, with numbers, which may refer to an still undiscovered system of shelfving, of buying, of reading these books. The dots are always placed on the free endpaper, top, they have a colour and the number inscribed on them is also in colour. Questions, questions
Tuesday December 01, 2015

Rackham

Oliver Rackham digs trees. Not with a spade! I mean, he digs trees, like, he gets them. Think historical ecology, think woodland culture, think trees and humans, and the entire archaeology of it. Making the trees talk, making them sing. Countryside, yes, but with numbers and all the science he could muster. Pollen analysis for instance, also known as Palynology. But also architecture, coppicing, a fascinating relationship of trees and their humans. Tree hugging, scientifically. That parking ticket in Grantchester was definitely worth it.
Friday August 28, 2015

Rimbaud etc

This is the library of a Rimbaud scholar, a critic of post-romantic French poetry, a doctor of letters with an interest in psycho-analysis. C A Hackett's collection includes many lesser-known publications and reviews. Some books were inscribed to him, but these inscriptions were blacked out before the books came to us. Does this mean that our business, the organized sale of books that were given as presents, is in some way illegitimate? Perhaps a gift-inscription somehow invalidates the book as commodity? What was once given as a gift, can it become a commodity? Or is this a very French hesitation, the fear that the marketplace could corrupt the pure sentiment of the gift? Marcel Mauss to the rescue!
Wednesday August 19, 2015

Earth Sciences Library

The Department of Earth Sciences has a wonderful library of stones and ore samples: Just as compelling as any library of books would be. And more weighty. And they also had some departures recently, which left them with a surplus of reading matter. Skaergaard Intrusion Kangerlugssuaq and many more un-pronouncable words from a very significant offprint-collection.
Monday May 04, 2015

Lutterworth Books

It started out as the Religious Tract Society more than 200 years ago. Since 1931 the publisher has been known as Lutterworth Press: Christian literature for young readers, including Boy's Own Paper and Girl's Own Paper, but also Enid Blyton and Laura Ingalls Wilder. The Lutterworth office in Cambridge had to be cleared, so they called and Plurabelle came to the rescue. Some of the books were publisher's file copies and have a paper label ("To be returned to Record Library") which covers the front of the book or jacket, all the way to the inside of the board.
Friday July 25, 2014

Board of Education

Back in September 2005: Arrival of a whole pallet load of interesting educational literature from the turn of the century: The source is a ministerial library, no less. It includes many reports of what today we would call the Charities Commission, Back then it was called the Friendly Societies Commission.
Comparative educational literature before 1935, from Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, Switzerland etc, some bearing the traces of the political process in action in the form of marginalia or interleaved copies.
Friday October 19, 2012

LMB

The Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge was moving to new premises. Some of the old stock was deemed no longer useful. But experts and collectors will appreciate a book from a world-famous institution which has accumulated more than a fair share of Nobel Prizes, and which has been a major influence in modern medical sciences.
Tuesday September 11, 2012

Colloid Science

These are parts of the library of Paley Johnson, Colloid Scientist, which had become, without any fault of the books, part of the sale of a house in Girton, Cambridge. The new owners had little patience for yesteryear chemistry, but it turned out just the ticket for Plurabelle.
Mr Johnson was a very respectful owner of his books. He understood dustjackets very well and would not hesitate to protect them with an additional spontaneous secondary jacket. Nor would he write in his books. Some he received because he served on the editorial board for a scientific series. When he acquired his books in the trade, he consistently "filed" the receipt inside the book. Buy now and assist the dispersal of centrifuge chemistry literature.
Thursday July 09, 2009

Madingley Hall

The library has the finest (finest) position among all the fine libraries in Cambridge. Far from the maddening crowd, in an estate set up by Capability Brown, we found quite a few old books which needed to move on and get out a bit. The stock is in excellent condition, not least because by buying books the library ran out of space to accomodate their readers. The collection also includes books from the Cambridge Board of Extramural Studies and some bear a Stuart House bookplate.
Thursday May 21, 2009

Timber Research and Development

High Wycombe: TRADA is the Timber Research and Development Association, the remains of this specialised library includes titles on woodworking, forestry, funiture making, wooden structures, arboriculture, the economy and commerce of timber.
Tuesday February 24, 2009

The Rectory

A beautiful old rectory with an 11th Century staircase - contained the effects of four generations of a family who never threw away anything! The books were last to go. The last inhabitant was the very first winner of the TV programme Mastermind though she never had a television - married to a Classics teacher. A very interesting collection: Christian literature for ladies, for children, for the pulpit, Greek and Latin Classics, a lot of music, going back to 1880.
Saturday April 12, 2008

Victorian Mansion in Balsham

The Lady and the Gentleman are downsizing. Many trips to the Victorian Mansion with a collection of books to match. Includes several boxes of new Christian literature written by a famous Welsh Clergyman, the Lady's father. A memorable pick-up - we were offered coffee and cake. On you go, to bookshelves new !
Saturday April 12, 2008

Emmanuel College

College library downsizing. Argent a lion rampant azure holding in the dexter forepaw a wreath of laurel proper and above its head a scroll azure bearing the word EMMANUEL in letters of gold. The discharged lion was conscientiously crossed out with black ballpoint pen. Lion angry, bookplate collector disappointed, but you can't hold a rampant lion back.
Tuesday January 16, 2007

Cambridge Union Society

This is a library set up for the use of students outside the colleges. Over the course of time the use of the library decreased, rainwater seems to have taken an interest in some of the books, and recently some stock was sold off. The books have a nice bookplate, often more than one on top of each other, and offer an interesting view of student reading in the past. Most books date back more than 50 years, - too old for the students of today.
Sunday July 09, 2006

Finished with Chemistry

I ask him for a photocopy of his entry in the Who is Who, and he says he is now Finished With Chemistry. No anger, no sadness, just the next step. We promise to find a new home for them, including the magnetic resonance books from his former wife. Click on the picture if you have not yet finished with chemistry
Saturday December 17, 2005

Department of Applied Economy

There was a time when the University of Cambridge took pride in applied subjects, and it is still a good rhetorical move to discount your colleagues by calling yourself applied: In Cambridge it was Applied Mathematics and then Applied Economics with many important names.
In a recent move partly led by applied economic considerations the library has now been merged with the Marshall Library of Economics just a staircase away and in the process a few duplicates have come to light. We went through them one by one and now you can take your pick: All in very good nick and from a prestigious source!
Tuesday September 13, 2005

Girton College

Girton College had a new and beautiful library extension built recently. When the builders are knocking at the door, the librarian suddenly finds it is a good time to go make some space on those crowded shelves and get rid of the unused books.
Plus, the architects often reduce the total amount of shelf-space. Something has to give. All subjects, all formats, various languages, often with a very nice bookplate, very good ex library (VG ex lib)
Friday July 29, 2005

Homerton

Plurabelle and Homerton go back a long time. In order for the college to join the Approved Society of the University of Cambridge as a full member, the library had to make adjustments. Duplication between the college and the Institute of Education was to be reduced. There was building work and a new library building. The books which became surplus to requirement found their way to us: Mostly education: history and theory and practice and and and.
During our early days it was a trip across town from the warehouse to the library, but the move to our Purbeck Road site made us proper neighbors, and good neighbors too.
Monday May 16, 2005

His Lordship

Actually, it turned out to be a bit embarassing.
I was so much looking forward to meet the eminent scholar of European prehistory, archaeology and linguistics, - that I ended up missing the appointment by arriving one hour early, with plenty of scholarly questions for the gentleman who wanted to dispose of his Hansard Volumes.
Saturday March 19, 2005

Molteno Library

We acquired the remains of the Library of the Molteno Institute a number of years back, but some of the material on tropical Medicine is still available, and curious and special material indeed it is.
If you are into ticks, or some of the horrible tropical diseases which make life miserable for millions, you have come to the right place. And if you are lucky, your book will carry this lovely bookplate, a design based on an ancient Roman mosaic, and inserted by A E Shipley in the books which he donated to the library.
Saturday January 01, 2005

Sweet Honey

Chris once said, conversations with Mr H contained many words, mostly his. He was a linguist of received pronuncation (RP), a historian of education, and an academic in the 20th century, with all the awkwardness this involves.
He brought together a substantial collection of school histories, of which only a few still remain (find them by combining "Education" and "Local History" on the Book Kitchen Page ) and among his books we found a bookplate which is strikingly wrong, wrong in a philosophical manner: This book has been lost by (or stolen from) J R de S Honey
Dear Honey: In the view of the book trade, this conceit appears extremely naive: entangled in the simplistic notion that we can somehow fully own our books, when in reality they are just passing through us. Did you get that?