Teacher's book collection under the hammer

The BBC reports that a Stirling teacher's book trove holds hidden gems

It's amazing what a man can collect on a school teacher's salary.

A first edition of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is among a treasure trove of books being auctioned in Edinburgh this week.

The collection of the late Stirling-born English teacher Bruce Ritchie has an estimated value of up to £230,000.

It also includes first editions of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, with a note signed by the author.

And a first edition of James Joyce's Ulysses could fetch £3,000.

The copy of The Great Gatsby, the subject of a new film adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is expected to fetch about £700. A first edition of children's classic The Wind in the Willows will also be on sale.

Mr Ritchie attended Dollar Academy in Clackmannanshire and studied English and German at St Andrews University before taking up a post at Merchant Taylors' School in London, where he was described as an "inspirational" teacher.

He retired to Stirling and died in October last year.

His collection is being sold by Lyon and Turnbull on Tuesday.

Unexpected ending

Jack decided to go skiing with his buddy, Bob. So they loaded up Jack's minivan and headed north.

After driving for a few hours, they got caught in a terrible blizzard.

They pulled into a nearby farm and asked the attractive lady who answered the door if they could spend the night.

'I realize its terrible weather out there and I have this huge house all to myself, but I'm recently widowed,' she explained. 'I'm afraid the neighbors will talk if I let you stay in my house.'


'Don't worry,' Jack said. 'We'll be happy to sleep in the barn, and if the weather breaks, we'll be gone at first light. 'The lady agreed, and the two men found their way to the barn and settled in for the night.

Come morning, the weather had cleared, and they got on their way.

They enjoyed a great weekend of skiing.

But about nine months later, Jack got an unexpected letter from an attorney.

It took him a few minutes to figure it out, but he finally determined that it was from the attorney of that attractive widow he had met on the ski weekend.

He dropped in on his friend Bob and asked, 'Bob, do you remember that good-looking widow from the farm we stayed at on our ski holiday up north about 9 months ago?'

'Yes, I do.' said Bob

'Did you, er, happen to get up in the middle of the night, go up to the house and pay her a visit?'

'Well, um, yes!,' Bob said, a little embarrassed about being found out, 'I have to admit that I did.'

'And did you happen to give her my name instead of telling her your name?'

Bob's face turned beet red and he said, 'Yeah, look, I'm sorry, buddy, I'm afraid I did.' 'Why do you ask?'
..........................................................

'She just died and left me everything.'

Valuable mementos of Wilde and Yeats

The BBC reports

Poems by two of Ireland's most famous writers in their own handwriting, alongside photographs of them, have fetched more than £130,000 at auction.

The manuscript of an early poem, Heart's Yearnings, by Oscar Wilde, written at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1874, sold for £67,250.

It had an estimate of £12,000 to £15,000.

A famous photograph of Wilde taken in New York and signed by the poet went for double the estimated price at £16,250.

It was the work of Napoleon Sarony and was taken to publicise Wilde's writer's tour of America.

Draft copies of William Butler Yeats' poems, Are You Content? and The Spirit Medium, were sold for £15,000.

The manuscript of one of Wilde's most original poems, Les Ballons, sold for £16,250. It is the only known copy of the entire poem in Wilde's hand.

The manuscript was formerly in the collection of John Stetson Jnr, whose father, also John, invented the Stetson hat.

A photograph of William Butler Yeats taken by another American photographer, Alice Boughton, in 1903, was sold for £18,750.

The picture was signed by Yeats in pen and ink and by Alice Boughton in pencil on the image and in ink on the back. It had an estimate of £4,000 to £5,000.

The items were auctioned at Bonham's in New Bond Street, London.

JAMES COOK, ENLIGHTENED EXPLORER OR COLONIAL OPPRESSOR?

GUEST BLOG BY SIMON NATHAN

This month the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is performing Orpheus in Rarohenga, a stunning modern choral work by local composer John Psathas, both in Wellington (Friday 10 May) and Auckland (Saturday 25 May).

Based on an epic poem by Robert Sullivan, combining European and Polynesian mythology, the work covers James Cook’s exploration of the Pacific, his death in Hawaii and his journey into Rarohenga, the underworld. Originally commissioned in 2002 for the 50th anniversary of the Orpheus Choir of Wellington, the work has previously had only a single performance.
John Psathas was little known a decade ago, but subsequently composed the music for the opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and is now recognised as a leading 21st-century composer on the international stage. The work is typical of Psathas, with a large percussion section, jazzy rhythms and a battery of drums depicting armed conflict. The Orpheus Choir is singing in both performances.

When originally performed there were mutterings about the unflattering image of James Cook presented in Sullivan’s libretto. I am from a generation that was taught to believe in Cook’s virtues – that he was an exceptional navigator, treated his crew fairly and was responsible for the elimination of scurvy. Certainly Cook was regarded as humane in European eyes, but this was not the experience of native peoples as he travelled around the Pacific. While he preferred to negotiate for water and supplies rather than use force, his ships always carried a troop of marines armed with muskets, and Cook didn’t hesitate to use them if talking didn’t work, or if the ship or the crew were threatened.

Recent books such as Anne Salmond’s The trial of the cannibal dog and Joan Druett’s Tupaia paint a more realistic view of Cook’s impact on the communities he visited, both in terms of violence and the spread of disease. In 2013 Sullivan’s libretto is much more acceptable than it was a decade ago.

Te Papa currently has a large portrait of the Tahitian princess Poedua on display. Nicknamed the ‘Pacific Mona Lisa’, its romantic setting hides a darker side of how Cook ran his expeditions. While anchored off Raiatea two of Cook’s men deserted. He reacted quickly, abducting members of the local chief’s family and holding them hostage until the deserters were returned. Poedua was painted by John Webber while being held captive on board ship.

Near the end of his third voyage, Cook made landfall in Hawaii at Kealakekua Bay. He and his crew outstayed their welcome, and there were quarrels and pilfering by the Hawaiians. After one of the ship’s boats was taken, Cook tried to forcibly abduct a local leader as a hostage for its return. The landing party was overwhelmed, and Cook and four of the marines were killed. The events leading up to Cook’s death form the dramatic climax to Orpheus in Rarohenga.

To hear a sample work by John Psathas, HIT HERE

Sight problems solved with Kindle app

The Royal National Institute of Blind People rejoices

Amazon has developed an app that will allow millions of blind and partially sighted people to read Kindle books.

The Bookseller reports

The app works with the in-built magnification and speech functions of iPhones, iPads and some other Apple devices, while also creating an electronic Braille display.

Amazon consulted with blind and partially sighted people in the UK to help develop the app, which has previously been impossible due to compatibility issues with Apple's own accessibility features.
Fazilet Hadi, the director of inclusivity at the RNIB, said: "This fantastic breakthrough from Amazon means that people with sight loss can now read the 1.5m titles in the Kindle store. RNIB helped Amazon by getting feedback from blind and partially sighted people who tested early versions of the app.

"It is important that this level of accessibility is now replicated across all of the apps and devices in the Amazon Kindle range. We urge Amazon and all other developers and manufacturers in the e-book industry, to continue their work in making e-books, devices and apps usable by everybody."

Bodleian buys Hopkins manuscript

The BBC reports that the Bodleian has bought a "significant" manuscript poem

A draft manuscript of Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins' celebrated work Binsey Poplars has been bought at auction by Oxford's Bodleian Libraries.

Oxford University said it was the most significant item of the poet's work to be auctioned in more than 40 years.

The "late autograph draft manuscript" of the poem, it continued, had been the last known major Hopkins manuscript in private hands.

The poem was first published in 1918, 30 years after the poet's death.

Hopkins, who died in 1889 at the age of 44, wrote Binsey Poplars while he was a curate at St Aloysius's Church in Oxford.

The Oxford alumnus penned it in response to the felling of trees running alongside the Thames in Binsey, a village on the west side of the city.

"O if we but knew what we do, When we delve or hew - Hack and rack the growing green!" the poem's second verse begins.

It was first published when his friend, the poet Robert Bridges, edited a volume of Hopkins' poems.

The only other known manuscripts of Binsey Poplars survive in four copies kept in the Bodleian at the University of Oxford.

Sea-going Cats

A cat is a kind of ship

And it is also a feline that loves going to sea

Julian Stockwin writes about the latter kind of cat in the May issue of Quarterdeck

“When it became apparent that the mighty140-gun first rate Spanish ship-of-the-line Santisima Trinidas would not survive the raging storm that followed the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805,” he begins, “every effort was made to save those souls still alive on board. Officers and seamen were lowered with ropes from the stern and quarter galley windows as boats from nearby British warships came to rescue them. A lieutenant from HMS Ajax, whose boat was the last to leave the scene, reported, ‘everything alive was taken out, down to the ship’s cat.’

“The boat had put off from the starboard quarter of Santisima Trinidad when a cat ran out on the muzzle of one of thelower-deck guns and gave a plaintive ‘miaow.’ Ajax’s boat promptly returned to the stricken ship and carried the grateful creature off to safety.

“Scratch most mariners and you will find a soft spot for cats. I remember during my own time at sea strapping great engine room stokers, who you would pick a fight with at your peril, lovingly crafting miniature hammocks for the ship’s cat from scraps of canvas.”

In the May issue you can also read an interview of author JOSEPH HEYWOOD by editor GEORGE JEPSON, with a review of Heywood's latest, RED JACKET

There is also a story about Henry VIII's flagship, MARY ROSE

Download the free periodical HERE



Isn't the cover gorgeous?

Picture is of our much mourned last cat, Mystic, named after the seaport in Connecticut.  Because of the serape, it seemed appropriate....

Anne Bronte's gravestone corrected

The BBC reports

 

Anne Bronte, who wrote Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (which was a huge bestseller at the time, but hardly read, these days), died in Scarborough in 1849 after succumbing to tuberculosis at the age of 29.

But her headstone in St Mary's Churchyard gave her age as 28.

A new plaque on her grave has been officially unveiled during a service of dedication.

Anne is the only member of the famous literary family who is not buried at their home in Haworth, West Yorkshire.

She travelled to Scarborough because she loved the resort and hoped that the air may improve her condition. But she died just three days after arriving.

Anne Bronte's original gravestone has deteriorated over the years

Her death came during a bleak period for the Bronte family. Brother Branwell had died eight months earlier, followed by Emily, who had written Wuthering Heights.

Anne's original gravestone was refaced three years after her death, when Charlotte returned to discover five errors on it. The other mistakes were corrected but the age was not.

The Bronte Society has installed the new plaque alongside the original, which has deteriorated over the years.

Should Amazon pay more tax?

International giants seem to get away with paying risible amounts of tax in foreign countries.

 

Think Starbucks

 

And Amazon

Now The Bookseller reports that a petition about the latter's tax status has been handed in to Downing Street. At number 10, of course.


A husband-and-wife bookselling team have described handing a petition into Downing Street calling for Amazon to pay more UK corporation tax as a “proud moment” in their lives.

Francis and Keith Smith [pictured], from Warwick and Kenilworth Bookshops handed in the petition to Number 10 at 11am today (24th April), accompanied by Public Accounts Committee chairman Margaret Hodge; Warwick and Leamington MP Chris White; author Danny Dorling; and their son David Smith and his partner Jennifer Sterjevitch.

Stephen Fry expressed his support for the petition yesterday (23rd April) and Booksellers Association chief executive Tim Godfray also attended in support.

More than 150,000 people have signed the petition calling on Amazon to pay its fair share of corporation tax in the UK, after an investigation revealed the online giant paid a tiny amount of corporation tax in the UK on sales of £3.3bn in 2011.

Frances Smith said: “It is a very proud moment to have reached this stage and the next step is to talk to Margaret Hodge and Chris White and keep putting pressure on the government to so something in the long term.”

She added: “A hundred thousand people are telling the prime minister to take action on this issue. We’ve heard some warm words from government on clamping down on the tax avoiders, but not so much action. Surely it’s about time that all companies who choose to do business and make profits in this country pay a reasonable amount of tax on their operations, just like we do.”

Brie Rogers Lowery, UK campaigns director at Change.org, the website where the petition is registered, said the Smiths had shown the internet meant everyone could get involved in campaigning. “Their campaign has taken the fight direct to Amazon via Downing Street —and shown that the power to build movements is firmly in the hands of the people,” she said.

Amazon sales increase 22%

From The Bookseller

Amazon has reported a 22% rise in sales over the last three months, the same growth increase as the previous quarter. The internet giant said it achieved a net sales hike of 22% to $16.07 billion (£10.41bn) in the first three months to 31st March 2013, compared with $13.18 billion (£8.5bn) in the first quarter of 2012.

It also reported a rise in gross profit margin, but net income decreased by 37% to $82million (£53m), or $0.18 a share.

Amazon’s results also revealed the company spent 31.6% more on marketing in the last quarter compared with the same quarter in 2012, shelling out $632m (£409.5m).

 Digital titles in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library have increased to over 300,000 books.