I was excited when I recently found this book in the library - Shakespeare and Company, Paris. Have any of you been to this iconic bookshop with such an interesting story to it?
It is an English language bookshop founded on Socialist ideals by eccentric American George Whitman, where poets, writers and drifters were able to find a free bed in exchange for working in the shop.
We are off to Paris later this year - and this shop is on my list of places to go.
There are a lot of books here for me to dip into - most of them very droll, but they harbor some interesting insights into the past, such as from The Saturday Magazine for 1839, a book made of the collection of magazine articles. There are diagrams of early electricity, tales of travel to exotic lands, examples of fashion and carriages.
I read an article about a young English woman servant, who after sailing for months to Australia, quickly married a man who turned out to be an ex convict, who hadn't changed his ways. Ah Australia - we Kiwis always tease the Aussies about their convict past.
An article on dental care gave a recipe for toothpowder -
2 parts chalk and 1 part well burned charcoal, or another using just ground cuttlefish.
But I wasn't so keen on their ideas for filling teeth using creosote, metal and cement - hmm.
Derek should have plenty of time to enjoy his books now - today is his last day of work. Early retirement starts at 4pm.
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