Friday, 22 January 2010

Persephone Acquisitions

I have to confess that one of the reasons for having a week of Persephone-themed posts was so that I could blog about my recent acquisitions. I mentioned the other week how my visit to the Persephone bookshop had re-awakened my desire to obtain a complete set of Persephone books... After verbalising this, I went on Amazon marketpalce to see if I could pick up any second hand. This was slightly dangerous as it saw the last of my Christmas money disappear. I had to wait quite a while for them to be delivered due to the snow, (the postman eventually brought them all at once on Wednesday morning, very early - I forgave him for waking us both up when I saw the treasure!) but but it has considerably expanded my collection.
This is the pile that arrived - the top half of the pile as far as Flush are the ones that I have not yet read, and the bottom half are those which I have read before but not until now owned my own copy of. (I actually have Flush in my bag today). Some of them came with bookmarks

This necessitated a considerable rearrangement of my books as I wanted to keep them altogether, in numberical order. In the event, the only option was to run them along the top of my bookshelves:
The ones on the left are the ones that I have read; they are followed by my collection of Persephone Classics, and then the ones that I have yet to read (mainly short stories and letters, which I am looking forward to dipping into over the coming months).


I hope you've enjoyed my week of Persephone posting. Do put Persephone Reading Week into your diary - the last week of May. By which time I can hope to have the whole collection, wouldn't that be fun.

14 comments:

  1. Good thing that "Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's Persephones" is not a direct commandment or I would be in trouble:) Don't need a diary note...I have committed the May date to memory! I can't wait! I hope you enjoy reading your new arrivals as much as I have enjoyed seeing them.

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  2. I absolutely love your bookshelf!!! Nice job acquiring the Persephones. I have two unread at the moment, standing on my considerably smaller shelves, and will be keeping them for the Persephone week!

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  3. Well done scoring all those Persephones at once. Your shelves look lovely. I'm looking forward to participating in Persephone Week this year.

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  4. Oh wow. Persephone book lust. Love love looking at your shelves!

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  5. Love your bookshelf - it looks sooo organised! I could really use your book arranging skills at my place! I'm really looking forward to Persephone Week - it's in the diary. I couldn't participate last year as I didn't actually have any Persephone books at that stage but that has changed now.

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  6. Book Psmith - that would be a troublesome commandment.

    Rachel - I'm surprised that Ken's wasn't!

    Anothercookie - I am so happy with my new arrangements.

    Lyn - it will be good to have you on board.

    Claire - I keep admiring them myself.

    Karen - I think it comes with the territory of being a librarian...

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  7. Envious. I am such a stickler for my fiction in alpha order by author, but in the case of Persephones it seems wrong to mix them all in. I agree wholeheartedly with your decision to keep them separate.

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  8. Thomas - that is my feeling too. When I had less, they were all mixed in, but it is wonderful to have them separately.

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  9. Wow, that is quite a collection of Persephones! I'm suffering a bit of book envy here.

    I don't have anywhere that number but I keep all my Persephone books together on one shelf, too. I'm pleased to hear about Persephone Week - I've just added it to my calendar!

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  10. What a lovely pile of Persephones. I want the whole set, too, but they are so expensive to get in the US. I have to buy a very few at a time. Eventually I may have a lovely row of them like you do!

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  11. Persephone Week is another reason to look forward to Spring...can't wait!

    Happiness is a Persephone collection and yours is impressive, Verity.

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  12. Makedo - they are lovely to keep together!

    Danielle - I guess I am lucky being able to get them in the UK.

    Darlene - indeed!

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  13. I love your book collection. I have shelves scattered around my house, but a few book sheves together look so impressive. If only my place was bigger I would have a whole room dedicated to my books :)

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