The Book Collector - Official Podcasts

Articles by John Saumarez Smith, read by Neil Pearson

On Darkness, Fables and Heartbreak, with Vanessa Onwuemezi

A collection of seven extraordinary short stories, Vanessa Onwuemezi’s Dark Neighbourhood resists interpretation and elides description, shifting between voices and styles with astonishing deftness and grace. Spaces and territories are important to the book, how we inhabit them and how they shape us, as are attempts to understand how not just our minds, but our entire beings are affected when we pass from darkness into light, and back again. 


Buy Dark Neighbourhood: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/I/9781913097707/dark-neighbourhood

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Looking for Friends of Shakespeare and Company read Ulysses? https://podfollow.com/sandcoulysses

If you want to spend even more time at Shakespeare and Company, you can now subscribe for regular bonus episodes and early access to Friends of Shakespeare and Company read Ulysses.

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All money raised goes to supporting “Friends of Shakespeare and Company” the bookshop’s non-profit, created to fund our noncommercial activities—from the upstairs reading library, to the writers-in-residence program, to our charitable collaborations, and our free events.

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Vanessa Onwuemezi is a writer and poet living in London. Her work has appeared in Granta, Prototype, frieze and Five Dials. Her story ‘At the Heart of Things’ won the White Review Short Story Prize 2019.

Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company. Buy a signed copy of his novel FEEDING TIME here: https://shakespeareandcompany.com/S/9781910296684/feeding-time

Listen to Alex Freiman’s Play It Gentle here: https://open.spotify.com/album/4gfkDcG32HYlXnBqI0xgQX?si=mf0Vw-kuRS-ai15aL9kLNA&dl_branch=1
Shak

🥀On Darkness, Fables and Heartbreak, with Vanessa Onwuemezi🥀

A Personal Chapter was written by Percy H Muir for The Book Handbook in 1951.
It is read by James Fleming, editor of The Book Collector.

The Book Collector Theme

A Personal Chapter by Percy Muir

Actor and Book man, Neil Pearson narrates a new Podcast series for The Book Collector, featuring articles written by legendary bookdealer John Saumarez Smith.

This first episode, A Knockout Novel by a Compulsive Idler, comes from The Book Collector's Spring 2010 issue and takes a look at the operation of the infamous ring system used at country book auctions via a 1957 novel called Knock or Ring.

A Knockout Novel by a Compulsive Idler, by John Saumarez Smith

Part Two of the JSS Series - Appearing in The Book Collector's Winter 2011 Issue, John Saumarez Smith writes of his experiences buying ready-made libraries for the wealthy Anglo-American clients of Hayward Hill. It is read by Neil Pearson.

Creating a Library, by John Saumarez Smith

The latest from the marvellous John Saumarez Smith series, read by Neil Pearson. This episode, titled 'Stanley Olson's Non-Existent Literary Archives' was first published in The Book Collector's Summer 2015 issue.

Stanley Olson's Non-Existent Library Archives, by John Saumarez Smith

The latest in our JSS series of articles written for The Book Collector by John Saumarez Smith of Hayward Hill, read by Neil Pearson. This one comes from our Autumn issue for 2010.

Surprises and Anomalies in Sales of Trollope, by John Saumarez Smith

The latest in our JSS series of podcasts, read by actor and book man, Neil Pearson.

This article by John Saumarez Smith appeared in our Autumn Issue for 2008.

Dropping Books with Larry McMurtry, by John Saumarez Smith

From The Book Collector's Summer 2016 issue, this charming article by John Saumarez Smith details the relationships and experiences he had with various bookbinders during his long career as a book dealer.

It is read by actor and bookseller, Neil Pearson.

Listen to more from John and Neil via the JSS Podcast series, brought to you by The Book Collector

A Friend Of Gutta Percha, by John Saumarez Smith

The Book Collector's first podcast!

Percy Muir's article 'Ian Fleming: A Personal Memoir' from our Spring 1965 issue, read by Rupert Vansittart.

Visit www.thebookcollector.co.uk and login/subscribe to read the original article via our online archive.

'Ian Fleming: A Personal Memoir' by P.H. Muir, read by Rupert Vansittart

'Printing and the Mind of Man; The Inside Story' written by P. H. Muir for The Book Collector's Spring issue in 1967. Read here by James Fleming.

The Book Collector Podcast

'Printing and the Mind of Man' by Percy Muir

In this article from our Polar Special Issue from Autumn 2018, Bryan Oates reflects on the life, adventures and collections of his famous Great-Uncle, Captain Oates. The man who uttered the famous last words; "I'm just going outside, and I may be some time..."
The article is written, and read, by Prof. Bryan Oates.

Subscribe and access the original article, along with the rest of the Special issue, and access our full archive back to 1952 at www.thebookcollector.co.uk

'Oates on Oates' by Bryan Oates

Read by Kate Rooksby, this is article from Donald and Mary Hyde, written for The Book Collector's Autumn 1955 issue. 
This was the sixth entry for our Contemporary Collections series and offers a lovely example of mid-twentieth-century book collecting.

Read more and subscribe at www.thebookcollector.co.uk

Contemporary Collectors VI: The Hyde Collection

Following the success of our podcast on the Hyde Collection, written by Donald and Mary Hyde and ready by Kate Rooksby, we have decided to follow it up with this; the obituary of Mary Hyde, who became Mary, Viscountess Eccles, following her second marriage. 

This obituary was written by Nicolas Barker in our Winter 2003 issue, and pays tribute to the incredible life of this legendary figure in the world of books.

Read more and subscribe at www.thebookcollector.co.uk

The Obituary of Mary, Viscountess Eccles, by Nicolas Barker

'Reminiscences of a California Collector' by Ellen Shaffer is an article on Carrie Estelle Doheny, 1875-1958, who was one of America's greatest collectors and founder of the Edward Laurence Doheny Memorial Library at St. John's Seminary, Camarillo, California.

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Reminiscences of a California Collector: Mrs EL Doheny, by Ellen Shaffer

Written by Peter Fleming in 1953, these extracts from The Times 4th Leaders include '7000 Puzzles' and 'The Intrepid Advertiser'.

They are read by James Fleming.

The Times 4th Leaders Part 1, by Peter Fleming

This is the second part of our Fourth Leaders series, taken from the short articles written for The Times in the 1950s. 
In 1958 the title was changed from 'Fourth Leaders' to 'Mainly Personal'.
These pieces, read by James Fleming, include:
'Wrestling in Turkey'
'Ghost Ship, Very Much Alive'
'Mr. Ruskin's Tea Shop'

The Times Fourth Leaders Part 2, by Peter Fleming

Beloved by bibliophiles for nearly seventy years, The Book Collector is a quarterly journal and digital archive filled with erudite articles, beautiful illustrations, reviews, news, auction results and more.
Subscribe at www.thebookcollector.co.uk