I’ve been mulling over where to start and kept thinking of a book that’d require more explanation and then this one popped into my head seemingly out of nowhere. I saw an early photo of London on a friend’s Facebook page and I thought “I really don’t Facebook right—I don’t follow any account with neat photos” and this came to mind. It has nothing to do with London or history or photography. Make of that what you will.
I bought this book sometime in the last three years or so on a family trip to Edmonton at that city’s magnificent Alhambra bookstore. That place is so wonderful—I think I might have got this on my first visit when I wanted to buy something that’d remind me of the place and it’s vibe. It’s got high shelves and the best possible used bookstore stock—a perfect mix of oddball books and wonderfully entertaining books and ones that you feel will definitely make you smarter. I don’t say all this for the sake of sounding chirpy and cheerful on the Internet… this is the depth of my feeling for this place—it’s wonderful.
So anyway, on at least one occasion I bought a mighty, perhaps an unreasonably mighty, stack of books from them, and I think this one felt like Alhambra to me—like a book to remember that bookstore by.
It looks like it was $4 which is pretty darn fair I think, and it’s just gorgeous. I love the late 50s combination of hand painted illustrations and modern typefaces. The interior is just wonderful:
I very clearly remember crouching on the floor agonizing over whether or not to buy this book because it’s not something I needed in any sense, but it made me happy so I eventually settled on bringing it home.
One of the reasons I was so drawn to it, I think, was because as a child, when not wanting to be a writer or a spy, I wanted to be a herpetologist, so this harkens back to those childhood dreams. The illustrations also remind me of this book of prehistoric creatures we had when we were little that I loved and read many times. It also just seemed really unique—like something I could get there at Alhambra but which I might not see the likes of again.
So that’s book #1! I checked online at from their Facebook page it looks like the store is currently, temporarily closed for safety during the pandemic. I hope, as I’m sure many of their grateful patrons do, to be able to visit them again one day when this is over. The memories of that place are really lovely anytime, but especially at a time like this.