First edition, together with the original plate for printing the title-page.

Out now: simonbeattie.co.uk/wp-content/u...

Bookplate of Waldorf and Nancy Astor at Cliveden. One of the books to feature in my new e-list out next week, on #Buckinghamshire. Do sign up on my website if you’re interested in receiving it: www.simonbeattie.co.uk (and scroll right to the bottom)

I do love illustrated wrappers like this (London, 1820).

I presume this to be a theatre ticket, given the imagery, but I’m happy to be corrected. Anyone seen one before?

Some exciting post this morning. Amazing to see my work published by ‘the world’s leading classical music publisher’ and joining the likes of Britten, Finzi, and James MacMillan (not to mention Rachmaninoff, Copland, Stravinsky, etc). More to follow in the coming months!

Memorial to the librarians of Britain who died the First World War.

Given the current temperatures, this 1920s sign seems appropriate to share.

Scorchio! I came across this ‘sun’ recently, which is actually a graphic representation of the dancers in Gluck’s ‘Il Trionfo di Clelia’ in Bologna in 1763. Keep cool, everyone.

A publisher that never existed: this pocket edition of Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago wasn’t printed in Paris, as the book states, but in Washington, DC by the CIA on its own in-house press.

A drawing by Rubens from the collection of Pierre Crozat (1665–1740), etched by Caylus and published in 1735.

The composer William Crotch (of 'Lo! star-led chiefs' fame) was also an accomplished artist. This comes from his first published set of etchings, showing the damage to Christ Church, Oxford after a fire in 1809.

Portrait of the Austrian cartographer and instrument maker, Peter Anich (1723–1766), from a rare biography published the year after his untimely death.

From a suite of plates representing troops from the Allied nations in the First World War by the French artist Georges Taboureau (1879–1960).

Our friends at the Ligatus Summer School would like us to share that this year's Summer School is taking place in Rome, from 21 September to 2 October, hosted by the Biblioteca Alessandrina in La Sapienza University.

Nightmare for a friend of mine in London. Please share.

The first illustrations to 'La nouvelle Héloïse', overseen by Rousseau himself.

Provincial production of ‘Monk’ Lewis’s 'The Castle Spectre' from the late 1820s, testament to its enduring popularity.

A Russian translation of A Clockwork Orange, published in Bishkek, just as the Soviet Union was beginning to collapse, in 1991. A bit late for me, you might think, but what I was interested to see is how the translator dealt with Nadtsat, the Russianised slang which Burgess invented for the novel.

The Battle of Waterloo, as covered in The Times in 1815.

Out now: simonbeattie.co.uk/wp-content/u...

Including Red Register of King’s Lynn, the earliest surviving paper book in England (I'm told), 14th century.

An early production, in Liverpool, of the first of Marianne Chambers’ (fl.1799–1811) two comedies.

Various errands in London this morning and I ended up walking past the old offices of Bernard Quaritch Ltd where I worked 25 years ago.

One of Alfred Roller's wonderful costume designs for the premiere of Der Rosenkavalier in 1911.

I give blood in memory of my sister and have been doing so for over 30 years now. Please do consider signing up to become a donor if you can. After all, how often do you get to save somebody's life (and surely that's a good thing to do)?

I love early 19th-c presentation bindings like this and this is a particularly nice example, from one playwright (Eugène de Planard) to another (Emmanuel Dupaty).

I've just discovered my new favourite historical name: Joseph Sterzinger von Siegmundsried zum Thurn in der Breite.

Ooh. The lovely people at Boosey & Hawkes have created a nice page for my Remembrance Day piece. www.boosey.com/publications...

Young astronomers in 1813.

I gave blood recently and just had a text to say my donation has gone to the Freeman Hospital (a major organ transplant hospital, I've just discovered) in Newcastle. I think that's the furthest yet! I hope whoever received the donation is doing well.

Taking a turn in 18th-century Brighton.

Spotted at the Natural History Museum Library this morning.

There are two things I particularly love about Guillaume Marcel’s wildly popular vade-mecum for the armchair historian. First, the spine is at the bottom, not the side of the book. Second, you go through it in one direction, then turn it over and go back the other way.

I've been exploring the 1920s recently in my leisure reading. Absolutely tore through this one. Brilliant.

Printed programme from the opening run of Lady Windermere’s Fan, 1892. #OscarWilde

(Book-)mad dogs and Englishmen...

A little pilgrimage: 29 rue Cassette, the building where Rilke lived (just round the corner from the book fair).

Also came across Étienne Charavay's (1848-1899) old premises. Nice they've kept the signs.

Always interesting to know who your neighbours were.

New York, London, Paris. Three book fairs in four weeks. #booksellerlife

I rather like this aquatint. Looks so modern, and yet it's in a volume of other prints from 1795.

An enjoyable visit to Chastleton House yesterday. Interesting house and lovely gardens. Added book bonus: Archbishop Juxon’s Bible, reputed to have been used by Charles I before his execution.

In 2014, I wrote a poem for a local poetry competition. A few years later, I decided to set it to music to mark the centenary of the First World War and I’m delighted that that piece has now been published, by Boosey & Hawkes: www.boosey.com/cr/music/Sim...

FINALLY good enough weather for lunch in the park (less than a minute from my office).

And on my desk today: the latest issue of Choir & Organ magazine, with a review of my album. I'd already seen the review online, but I'm a print person (obviously) so it's nice to see it in hard copy.

On my desk today, a playbill for the first ever performance of As You Like It in Stratford-upon-Avon, in 1827.

Although I'm here (Great Missenden Church) for a concert, I couldn't not go and find his grave.

Blood. Now books.

Time to roll the old sleeves up.