Edward Lear and the Pussycat: Famous Writers and their Pets

My latest book, Edward Lear and the Pussycat: Famous Writers and their Pets, published by The British Library is out now. Here's some info about it:

Behind every great writer there is a beloved pet, providing inspiration in life and in death, and companionship in what is often a lonely working existence. They also offer practical services, such as personal protection, although they may sometimes eat first drafts, or bite visitors.

This book salutes all of the cats and dogs, ravens and budgerigars, monkeys and guinea pigs, wombats, turtles, and two laughing jackasses, who enriched the lives of their masters and mistresses, sat on their keyboards, slept in their beds, and occasionally provided the creative spark for their stories and poems. Gathered here are the tales of Beatrix Potter’s rabbit, Benjamin Bouncer; Lord Byron’s bear; the six cats of T S Eliot; Camus’ cat, Cigarette; Arthur C Clarke’s dog, Sputnik; and George Orwell’s goat, Muriel. Enid Blyton’s fox terrier, Bobs, ‘wrote’ her columns in Teacher’s World magazine, while John Steinbeck’s poodle accompanied him on his 1960 US road trip, their exploits published as Travels with Charley. Agatha Christie dedicated her 1937 novel Dumb Witness to her favourite dog, Peter – the ultimate tribute.

You can buy copies everywhere good books are sold, online direct from The British Library, and at all other online outlets. Please consider getting it from your local independent bookshop if possible.

The Slightly Foxed Revolving Bookcase

A delicately proportioned revolving bookcase made from solid quartersawn oak or ash with space for books up to 18cm high. The bookcase spins on a sturdy solid wood base using a high quality Lazy Susan bearing set.

Designed by Dominic and Arabella Parish at Wardour Workshops for Slightly Foxed.

LoculaMENTUM bookcase

Designed to meld traditional bookcase appearance with a modern interpretation and a twist. This twist allows for books or other collectible items to be artfully arranged, categorized, presented. Diagonal compartments are the spine of the bookcase, so there is a progression of shapes: from the bottom to the top, creating an uplifting feel that has maximum storage capabilities. This is true to the Bauhaus principle, which denotes “form follows function”.

Designed by Michael Schlütter

Loculamentum

Abacus bookcase

Inspired by the ancient calculation tool and brought an element of play to storing books.
Materials: Oak & steel
Co-MADE

Twist shelf

Laminated bent plywood, walnut veneers.
Total dimension: 17" H x 45" W x 13" D

Kino Guérin

Shed library

This isn't what you'd usually expect to find in a shed... pic.twitter.com/6wKBYlHMGu

— BBC Cumbria (@BBC_Cumbria) June 3, 2019

The rise of private libraries

Shhh! Private libraries are making a quiet comeback... As public libraries suffer from budget cuts, more people are turning to fee-paying alternatives.
More at the FT
(pictured above, Leeds Library) 

The British Library installation

The British Library is a site-specific installation with a digital platform for visitors to join in the discussion. Open to the public for free as part of Tate Modern’s collection displays.
By Yinka Shonibare
Tate and The British Library Installation

Shared Lady Beetle: A Micro Movable Library for Kids

"The interior spaces for displaying items are flexibly partitioned into several smaller storage areas by plates which can be freely adjusted according to users' needs. Besides, all the partitions can also be removed, through which a complete big space will be formed. The installation can be customized based on different needs, making it versatile and "universal"... The Shared Lady Beetle, is like a "beneficial insect" walking on the "urban leaf ", which can be used as a mobile library , a stall, or a maker classroom for kids, etc."
LUO studio

Modular bookcase

Victor Martiniuc

Little Free Libraries & Tiny Sheds

If you like sheds and you like books, then you will certainly enjoy Little Free Libraries & Tiny Sheds: 12 Miniature Structures You Can Build. Written by Philip Schmidt and Little Free Library and published by Cool Springs Press (£16.99/$24.99 - part of the Quarto stable who also published my Book Towns book last year), the Little Free Library movement (motto:‘Take a book, return a book’)is probably the most successful library project of the 21st century – there are now more than 80,000 in 91 countries around the world.

These handmade tiny libraries, often built to look rather like oversized bird boxes, are placed at strategic locations in neighbourhoods such as front gardens, yards and parks, but also in coffee shops and near restaurants. Anybody can remove a volume and deposit another for others to share. 

The book features full instructions detailing how to build a dozen designs ranging in size from the popular small box model to a full shed structure. Among them is the blueprint for the first Little Free Library, built by Todd Bol in 2009, who wrote the forward but sadly died shortly before this book was published. As well as information on installation and maintenance, there are also sections on how to publicise your little free library, what to stock, how to encourage community involvment, and a lovely collection of some of the most interesting around the world. It's really nicely put together, genuinely useful, and supports a great cause.

Writing gloves

Bookshelf was offered these rather attractive writing gloves by Literary Book Gifts to give them a test run (note: these are not my hands). They're made of cashmere knit so are extremely soft and comfortable and come in 13 colours. Obviously we can't testify to their durability as we've only had them a couple of days but apparently "cotton, polyester, and microfiber are blended in for durability" and we've no reason to disbelieve that. All in all, if you need to type and would like something to keep your hands warm that doesn't get in the way of your fingers, these could be the ideal solution. Available from Literary Book Gifts which is based in the USA but ships anywhere in the world. They also sell t-shirts (for women and men) and tote bags.

Literary Places

If you enjoyed Book Towns, then I think you'll like Literary Places by Sarah Baxter (published by White Lion which is part of the same publishing stable). It's a collection of locations around the planet associated with famous writers which would make ideal holiday spots for keen readers - such as Dublin, Soweto, and Kerala - each associated with a famous work. So for example you can read about the Mississippi River (Huckleberry Finn) or try out Cartagena (Love in the Time of Cholera).

Sarah is a very experienced travel writer and you'll have read her pieces in all the quality national dailies as well as her work in multiple Lonely Planet guides (and perhaps also in the first of this series called Inspired Traveller's Guide: Spiritual Places). It's nicely done, not too long but with plenty of food for thought and ideas for your next trip, well written, and will also encourage you to have a go at some classics you've been planning to attempt. It's also the kind of book you could take with you on holiday and read happily pool-side or in a nice little café.

Literary Places is beautifully illustrated throughout with full page colour images by the artist Amy Grimes. I particularly liked her illustrations of Spain for the Don Quixote and Ernest Hemingway chapters focusing on La Mancha and the Sierra de Guadarrama. It would be unfair to call this a coffee table book because that's often used a bit dismissively, but Amy's illustrations do really add another dimension which is often lacking in travel books.

Airbook frame

There are so many wonderful memories in books, like some serious notes or interesting graphic. These memories are worth to come back to review and watch constantly after we grow up. Therefore, we focused on how to preserve the memories, thinking out how the eliminated textbooks can be combined with life. Save memories, simultaneously, giving them new functionality. "You can hate exams, but do not hate reading." We hope that with our design, an adult can still learn to keep reading habits. Use the natural shapes to brainstorming and thinking ideas, produce cornerstone which can extend to all directions and combination. The core, we call “Emerald” has 8 hole around a circle can provide consumers freedom to build up many different kinds of bookcase.
Hsiang Yu Lien

Tiny bookshelves

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I finished work on the tiny bookshelves for a #newcommission. #workinprogress #sublackwellstudio #miniature

A post shared by Su Blackwell (@sublackwellstudio) on Feb 27, 2019 at 10:29am PST

Librero Entropía

Bookcase manufactured in white Oak, concrete and powder coated metal. A reflection on stability and safety following the Mexico earthquake of 2017.

225cm x 28cm x 160cm (h)

Comité de Proyectos

Fiction 9

Eight Colour Pigment Based Archival Print on Hahnemuhle Paper
117 x 51cms edition of 45
Phil Shaw

Bookshelf

Bookshelf is a piece of furniture created by Slovak designer Lenka Czereova. This original bookshelf interprets the moment when a tree is cut down and falls to the ground. In this way, its creator transforms a structure that seems firm and stable into a completely different one whose main characteristics are flexibility and mobility. This bookshelf creates that sense of movement by being made of four pieces that can be connected to each other or used individually. Made in plywood beech, the originality of this bookshelf lies in its innovative structure capable of giving a different touch to any room.
Lenka Kozic

Incompleto bookcase

Incompleto is a furniture element which inspired by the artistic idea of ​​"unfinished", a concept then translated at a graphical level. Moreover, the bookcase is characterised by the presence of an intruder element which, however, fits very well into the scene, becoming also the third carrier.
Juanny Barcelò Borges

Haynes Shed Manual

My latest book is all done and dusted and at the printers now. Here's what the cover for our Haynes Shed Manual will look like and I'll be posting some sample spreads nearer the date. Publication day is April 13.