unvarnished gutter racism and Nazism from the president. a disgrace to our country.

Apparently, this lovely nineteenth-century bowl is not worth pinching... according to the courier who 'explored' the box it came in! It's not valuable... just a delicate, pretty little thing. But seriously, when did couriers become such heathens? 😂

The final new arrival of 2025... 'Pharos the Egyptian' by Guy Boothby, published by Ward Lock & Co. in 1899.

'More than a third (37%) of Reform UK voters said they would be prouder of Britain if there were fewer people from minority ethnic backgrounds in a decade’s time, and 10% said it was important to have white skin to be a good British citizen.' Colour me shocked. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Trump: hot air that comes out of an arsehole. I still can't believe that people voted for this evil windbag.

Another festive addition to the library... 'Nilus', da due signore (by two ladies), published by Truslove & Shirley in 1892. This book is a rare one, and I thought I'd never see it in the flesh, let alone own a copy.

Went for a walk... and almost froze to death.🥶 But it was very pretty out there.

A new arrival... 'Bracebridge Hall' by Washington Irving. This edition published by Macmillan & Co. in 1882. Bracebridge Hall is based on the Jacobean mansion Aston Hall, the name Bracebridge being taken from Abraham Bracebridge, husband of the last member of the Holte family to live in Aston Hall.

Popped down the road for a spot of Boxing Day beachcombing. I'm the dynamic (😂) one with the purple hat.

Boxing Day beachcombing finds. 😊

It's so windy here today, we spent the past hour and a half in the garden, tying up everything that's been flattened/damaged/blown over. It's a wonder Santa managed to land on the roof last night. 🎄😱

Santa managed to get down the chimney (in spite of the high winds) to bring me this beauty... 'In the Dwellings of the Wilderness' by C. Bryson Taylor, published by Henry Holt & Company in 1904. It's very rare and extremely magnificent (the sprouts agree).

The annual trifle has been made.

Wishing you all the very best for the festive season. 😁 The Victorians really knew how to design Christmas cards. 😁😂

Epstein to Larry Nassar in 2019: "Our president [Trump] also shares our love of young nubile girls"

A new addition to the library... 'The Poet's Curse' by M. Y. Halidom, published by Greening & Co., Ltd., in 1911. I've not read this one, but apparently it's about an American millionaire's quest to steal the skeleton of William Shakespeare.

The girls are nutty, so it's difficult to get good photos of them. But I got a few decent ones this evening. The first two are of Margo, then one of Nora, and then one of Flora (who is pretty impossible to get any sort of photo of!)

A couple of the outside of Culbone Church

Today, we walked from Porlock Weir to Culbone Church, the smallest complete parish church in England. The light was fading when we got there, and the church was dark inside, so our torches came in very handy for these photos (and for the walk back!).

Oh

We came across a particularly nice sherd a few days back, and I managed to identify the pattern as the Abbey one by George Jones & Sons around the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. I found this gorgeous, large footed bowl with the design (23cm diam.), and it arrived today.

"I defected from a totalitarian regime, and like hell am I going to be cowed again," & "I'm pissed off as hell about people capitulating to Trump" She warns that people voting for such leaders are choosing "the same ball of wax" she fled, where figures dictate life, rights, & feelings. Thread 1/5🧵

A new arrival... 'A Christmas Greeting' by Marie Corelli, published by Dodd, Mead & Co. in 1902. It includes the short stories 'The Ghost in the Sedan-Chair' and 'The Devil's Motor'.

I have collected ephemera for years, and I recently came across these Christmas cards. They were produced by Cuala Press and sent by Richard Ellis Roberts, author of 'The Other End', between 1904 and 1912. I wrote a blog post about them here: hauntedlibraryblog.blogspot.com/2025/12/merr...

One last photo from Lynmouth.

Lynmouth's famous lobster pot Christmas tree.

Lynmouth harbour... And you can just see the Christmas tree by the Rhenish Tower.

Popped over to Lynmouth after our walk around Watersmeet today.

Sherds! There was a patch of bank only a couple of feet wide above water, but there was still treasure to be found.

Nigel Farage’s campaign manager casually saying he spent 2x the election spend limit.

Santa came early... 'The Sorrows of Satan' by Marie Corelli, published by Methuen & Co. in 1896.

People should note that Voloshyn tried to disguise Gill’s bribes as ‘media payments’ Do we know how much Farage received for his regular appearance on RT/Russia Today around the time of Brexit?

More new Paperbacks from Hell! Sandra Scoppettone's rare 1980 horror/thriller SUCH NICE PEOPLE is returning to print with a new intro by Grady Hendrix! Preorder now on our site: www.valancourtbooks.com/such-nice-pe...

The traitor, farage, would hang around outside Jewish Prayers on a Friday, with his minions, to then victimise those Jewish boys as they left. He did this even as an adult. He is an extremist far right racist, and a fascist at his soulless core. There is no excuse if you ever vote for reform.

The final few photographs from Glow. We'll definitely be visiting again!

A few more from Glow. It really was a magical evening.

Hubs and I spent yesterday evening experiencing an awful lot of magical wondrousness at RHS Rosemoor. It's not really possible to capture the scale and atmosphere of Glow... The trees were magnificent in all their colourful finery.

From the CWS ARCHIVE. 4th June 2024.

The Cold Moon over Lynmouth harbour.

The Cold Moon at Lynmouth.

Lynmouth harbour at sunset... with the Cold Moon in the distance.

Another addition to the library... 'The Wizard's Mantle' by 'Dryasdust', self-published in 1902. I'm particularly happy with this as it has notes written by the author inside (he had very small, neat writing): changes intended for the later edition, I suppose (I've yet to see the later edition).

Book post!... 'The Uncertainty of All Earthly Things' by Mark Valentine, just published by Tartarus Press.

Encountered whilst out rambling... Yellow staghorn (Calocera viscosa).

Paid a visit to Lynmouth on the way home.

Watersmeet is looking festive.

Sherds... The river still provides. 😊

CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1965: 20-1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1990: 75-1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio today: 280-to-1 Trickle-down economics was always a sham. Nothing has ever trickled down.