Book collecting features A-G

Chess Books
In his third Chess article for Textualities, GEOFF CHANDLER looks at books of opening moves, and questions their value to the intelligent player.
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Bibliophage
Whilst her contemporaries are buying iPods and one-bedroom flats, HANNAH ADCOCK explains why she has chosen to collect antiquarian books.
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Archie Baird Interview
ARCHIE BAIRD interviewed by Jennie Renton in 1995 about his golf collection.
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Purple Rompers & the Odd Vol
ROSEMARY BAKER on her childhood and life long love affair with books.
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Fisherman Polymath
PETER BEHAN looks at the life of Sir Herbert Maxwell, remembered mainly for his contributions to angling, but also a politician, antiquarian, etymologist, horticulturalist and author of historical and romantic novels.
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Father Allan McDonald of Eriskay
RONALD BLACK, editor of Eilein na h-ņig. The Poems of Fr Allan McDonald, here charts his interest in the charismatic priest-poet.
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Words for the Young
Ballantyne, Macdonald, Stevenson, Grahame and Barrie - collectable books for children discussed by Bookworm.
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Watson Sherlocked
Curator of the Scottish Magic Archive GORDON BRUCE reveals his bibliographic hunt for the mysterious magician Arthur Watson.
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Fashionable Reading
ALDYTH CADOUX talks to Jennie Renton about her collection of nineteenth-century books on fashion.
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The Caravan Library
Poet GERRY CAMBRIDGE tells the tale of his lifelong love affair with books and how he may one day be responsible for his parents' deaths.
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Chess: A Brief History
Games expert GEOFF CHANDLER traces the origins of Chess, and discovers the answer to the question: Which is older, Chess or Draughts?
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Winning the Won Game
GEOFF CHANDLER reviews Winning the Won Game by Dr Danny Kopec and Lubomir Ftacnik.
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Chess Eggs
GEOFF CHANDLER muses on the repeated references to - and abuses of - Chess in newspapers, books and films.
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Not Even From Lewis, Mate
The Lewis chessmen are not chessmen and they did not come from the Isle of Lewis, argues GEOFF CHANDLER, setting the cat among the rooks and no mistake.
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Fitba Daft
ALAN CUNNINGHAM on a lifetime spent collecting football annuals.
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Wit and Wisden
ALAN CUNNINGHAM looks at the history of Wisden, the original cricketing almanac, first published in 1864 and still produced today.
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Strands of Strength
Poet SALLY EVANS discusses the pertinence of poetry and bookselling in the Scottish Highlands in this audio interview with Jennie Renton. As the last speaker at the Scottish Poetry Library Small Press Fair, she dismissed the doomsayers and placed emphasis on the vibrancy of the poetry scene.
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Be Guide to Yourself
The 2005 edition of the Guide to the Bookshops of Scotland is now available. Here EDDIE FENWICK, its compiler, describes a recce he made into the Highlands in 2002 in search of secondhand bookshops. (From the SBC archives.)
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The House of Blackwood
Book trade history expert DAVID FINKELSTEIN looks into the genesis of one of the greatest nineteenth century Scottish publishers.
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Judith Ann Fisher 1946 - 2003
Jennie Renton writes an obituary of JUDITH ANN FISHER, the well-loved bibliophile, who ran James Thin's antiquarian department bananas.
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Robert Ford and John Ord: two folksong collectors from Glasgow
Two of the most important Scottish folksong and ballad collectors of the nineteenth century, ROBERT FORD and JOHN ORD are here recalled by Ian Spring, who gives an outline of his own experience of collecting their work over a period of more than twenty years.
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Collecting Observer Books
RICHARD FULLER describes how he came to write a pocket reference book for fellow collectors of Observer Books.
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Dundee Booksellers
Bookseller and historian ENID GAULDIE looks back at the early days of bookselling and publishing in Dundee.
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Pictures and Books
A brief biography in memory of the late CECIL GIBSON, collector and physician, by his friend JEREMY DUNCAN.
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PBFA
Book Fairs in Scotland 2007.
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Printing Comes to Scotland
DUNCAN GLEN takes a look at the early history of printing in Scotland. He introduces some of the first Scottish printers, and asks whether London's influence was really so great in this area as earlier historians have made out. From the Scottish Book Collector archives.
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Living the Breath
An early supporter of establishing a poetry library in Edinburgh, DUNCAN GLEN was one of the stall holders at the 2006 Scottish Poetry Library Small Press Fair. In this audio interview with Jennie Renton, he describes poetry in terms of dance and song.
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Serendipitous Collecting
SELWYN GOODACRE writes about collecting LEWIS CARROLL, in particular books from the Alice titles.
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'Scotland's Cultural Standing and Identity' Conference Report
'Scotland's Cultural Standing and Identity' was the subject of a conference held at the University of Mainz in February 2005. Katrin Bosse and Lothar Görke have prepared this synopsis of papers for textualities.net.
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Books on the Shetland Isles
A personal selection by a private collector reveals the wealth of books dealing with Shetland. JAMES GOUDIE takes us on a tour of his own favourite Shetland books and suggests there is more where they came from.
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