Everybody needs a hobby...

Not our usual stock but there was something beyond how to build little boats in these old magazines.

While the Woodworker is not special or unusual as far as war time hobbyist publications go, it has some very interesting advertisements that give a good insight into the time.

Adrift in the Stratosphere

We recently found a small nothing that turned out to be a very interesting something after a little research. Adrift in the Stratosphere by Archibald Montgomery Low, inventor, brief media celebrity, almost the creator of the television, the video phone and the first unmanned radio controlled plane.

Called 'The Father of Radio Guidance', A M Low has a chequered history. He pioneered many areas in physics and engineering but his lack of focus meant that he rarely finished a project, his contemporaries disliking him for his use of the title 'Professor' (without a academic post) and his love of publicity. He is responsible for one of the earliest forms of television (the TeleVista), before his work was interrupted by WWI and he joined the Royal Flying Corps where his designs led to numerous breakthroughs. During various down periods he tried to create works to introduce the laymen and the younger generations to the world of scientific discovery.

Which brings us neatly back round to the reason for this post, Adrift in the Stratosphere is one of only four fictions that Low wrote, all intended for a much younger audience. Adrift' is a story of aliens from Mars, interstellar flight, fantastical technology based on Low's own belief on the future of technology.

Easy Reading

There's been a little of a pulp resurgence of late, what with the age of the geek and the vast number of super hero films we've been receiving. So I thought it might be a good moment to lie back and pull ut some dusty old pulp novels to interest you all.

What we have here is a collection of late era pulp digest novels, the 50's version of those airport books that you enjoy reading but are secretly embarrassed of. By this point the era of classic pulp was on its last legs, soaring paper costs being a legacy of World War II. Soon nearly all these books would undergo re-branding, becoming known as Science Fantasy or Light Crime Drama or simply Adventure (that most useless of genre titles) in an attempt to escape the fall of pulp. 

So why did pulp fail while comic books continued to succeed for another twenty years? I'd guess for the same reason comics failed later down the line, people were still dealing with their new reality, one of global war and nuclear annihilation. Comics stopped actively reflecting or mocking real world events and instead either focused on the themes of the time (becoming grittier and darker), or absolute escapism with no bearing on reality.

But the elements of pulp clearly carried on into other forms, especially titles targeted to younger audiences. Using colourful and creative covers, a loose understanding of the English language and a complete disregard for the quality of the written word, these titles thrived with more than just their intended audiences.

 

The 'Tom Swift Jr.' ran for an impressive 33 novels between 1954 and 1971 and included every conceivable fictional use for atomic power (minus the horrendous growths the characters must have received from the atomic cars, atomic ray guns and even atomic powered flying research lab). But they had a far greater impact on our culture than we might wish to admit, inspiring famous scientists with their intriguing inaccuracies, altering our written language with their insistence upon variation and the use of entirely too much descriptive text.

Books like these slowly began to vanish, their audiences growing older and wiser, unable to bear the stylings and fallacies of there childhood literature. It is only recently that we have seen an outright return of pulp magazines and pulp novels thanks to various sub culture craves and the greater freedom people have to publish their work for commercial release. I dare say this new generation of pulp will be just as inaccurate, poorly written and ludicrously silly as its forebears.

As always check out our collections at Biblio and ECRareBooks, and while you're at it take a moment to check our new full catalogue on women naturalists and scientists which can be found Here.

Basement Alchemy and Home made Dragons

So there's a fresh pile of stock coming in soon including a few new sidelines that will definitely be featured on this blog.

For now that let's have a look at an exciting little work, 'The Mysteries of Nature and Art' by John Bate written in 1634. This work is attributed with being one of the inspirations for a young Isaac Newton, a man who on multiple occasions ended up walking home having abandoned the family horse in town due to being too stuck in a book.

'The Mysteries' is a collection of experiments and realisations about physics and chemistry, but what its focused on is telling you how to make a variety of fireworks, water wheels and other exercises for the mind.

This is actually a collection of smaller books, each dedicated to an area of experimentation including natural science, fireworks and creating pigments.

An old Journey to a New world

Here's a classic and no mistake, Arthur Conan Doyles 'The Lost World'. The founding piece for an entire genre of long lost Dinosaurs and secret worlds.

This classic piece of pulp is not only worth a read but worth a good look as it is filled with illustrations or 'photographs' from the fateful expedition.

This is more of our recent expansion out into Science fiction and pulpy classics. Check us out on Biblio for this and other fantastic books

Magnificent facial hair

Illustrated throughout

New Stock

Had a whole load of fresh books arrive today, a good assortment of Literature and Natural Science. This lot gave us some grief to get back to the office but I'd say it was worth it in the end. As always you can expect to find these up on the Website and Biblio within the next couple of weeks after we've given them a good dusting and check up.

Here's just a few of the treasures we found:

• A four volume Cuvier, published by Henderson.

• Edward Donovan's 'History of British Insects'.

• Hibberd's 'Familiar Wild Flowers'.

• A variety of Anne Pratt wild flowers.

• An early Bentley edition of Jane Austen 'Sense and Sensibility'.

• Culpepper English Physician, enlarged - 1676.

Humble Origins

Who would have thought that Orson Scott Cards short story 'Ender's Game' would not only become a cult series of young adult Sci-Fi novelettes, but a feature length Hollywood movie with people like Harrison Ford behind it.

But let's not forget this classic's humble origins, no-one knew who Card was (and because of his political views some people wish they didn't know him now), the first release of Ender's Game was within the pages of 'Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact' magazine of 1977. 

This American magazine saw the works of many great writers from the golden era of Sci-Fi. Isaac Asimov, Phlip K Dick, Hobert A Heinlein, Larry Niven and many other giants of the genre were published through Analog.

If you would like to check the book out, you can find it Here. This is the first ever release of Ender's Game as well as a classic collection of science fiction from the Era.

Beyond the realms of fiction

Well this is an odd one, we're branching out here and adding a whole new genre to the shelves.

A set of classics from some well known names in the realms of science fiction and speculative science, including the early work of Arthur C. Clarke and some honest space pulp nonsense by Heinlein.

These works were clearly someone's private collection given the pristine state they've been kept in.

A perfect gift, a long time ago

Tis that season, cards need to be sent, birds need to be stuffed and gifts need to be given.
And what better place to go purchase some nice, family friendly entertainment then your local Boots department store.

Yes that's right, if you wanted good quality books and toys you would go to your local Boots store. for those unfamiliar boots is a big pharmaceutical chain here in the UK, known for their drugs, their cosmetics and that's about it.

But in the golden age of illustration they would have a whole lending library section for the paying public, and when that festive time rolled round they would put out illustrated collections of their most popular titles. For the modest price of 15 shillings you would have a large, colourful collection of stories that would no doubt entertain various family members, before they started scribbling in the margins and using it to prop up the wonky set of cupboards.

Wow, here's an odd one.

Some new lots just came in today and we found this little number bundled in at the bottom of the box.

This book is just a collection of illustrations in a ring binder, but once upon a time it came with a gramophone record to play to alongside.

This may be the original form of Children's Audio book.

Here's a sample from an old Curtis's botanical magazine.
This magazine was a monthly subscription in 1827 costing 3 shillings and 6 pence.

New Lloyds natural history

A new collection of Lloyds just being processed at the moment, complete with the usual wonderful illustrations that we have come to expect from Lloyds natural history such as this wonderful image

Introducing, the blog

Welcome to the EC Rare Books, semi-official blog. This blog is to keep everyone up to date on any new and interesting books we pick up throughout the week. So you can expect our latest acquisitions to appear here before being tidied up and put up for sale on our usual sites. SO stay posted for the latest antiquarian and rare books.