Pages & Proofs

Agatha Christie, the prolific writer of murder mysteries, was far from dull. Aside from her infamous disappearance in 1926 that fascinated a complete nation, there were many interesting aspects to her life. 1) Agatha dictated all her novels to an assistant. She suffered from dysgraphia, a learning disability, which stopped her from writing in a […]

Our latest video salutes the work of Edmund Emshwiller, better known as Ed Emsh or just Emsh, who was a prolific illustrator in the 1950s and 1960s. He contributed to countless sci-fi magazines including Amazing Science Fiction Stories, Astounding Science Fiction and most notably The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction . His work also […]

A complete set of League and Cup programmes from Tottenham’s famous double-winning season of 1960-61 has sold for £3,600 on AbeBooks. In all, there are 64 programmes in the collection, including 42 home and away League games and a full set of seven FA Cup ties (including the 2-0 Wembley victory against Leicester City). There are […]

Gabriel García Márquez has died at the age of 87 in Mexico City. The Nobel Prize-winning author was one of the most influential Latin American authors of recent times. The writer had recently been hospitalised for a lung and urinary problems, but was released last week. Many literary critics have argued that Garcia Marquez was […]

Donna Tartt’s novel, The Goldfinch, reached new heights today after being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction – one of the top gongs in American literature. Last week, Tartt was shortlisted for the Bailey’s Prize for women’s fiction and prompted named as the bookie’s favourite. Signed copies of The Goldfinch are now seriously in demand. […]

Sad news yesterday. The death of author Sue Townsend was announced. Townsend, of course, created Adrian Mole. She was 68 and had been left blind after suffering from diabetes. She suffered a stroke in December 2012. The Guardian describes her success and where the idea for Adrian Mole came from – her own experiences. Mole […]

The shortlist for the UK Women’s Prize for Fiction (once called the Orange Prize but now sponsored by Bailey’s) has been revealed. Eimear McBride, Hannah Kent and Audrey Magee are all contenders with their debut novels. Donna Tartt and Jhumpa Lahiri are the big names, while Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie continues to enhance her […]

Are you thinking of becoming a rare bookseller? Or have you just started to sell collectable books? The first York Antiquarian Book Seminar is an educational event held over three days in York in September, 2014 for booksellers, librarians and collectors that offers expert discussion about rare books. This is your opportunity to enter for […]

Peter Matthiessen, one of America’s top writers in the past 60 years, died on Saturday at the age of 86. The Guardian carries an obituary. He had been suffering from Leukemia. Born in 1927, Matthiessen is remembered for co-founding The Paris Review literary magazine in the 1950s but he also enjoyed a long writing career […]

The BBC writes at length about the cult French novel that inspired George RR Martin to write his Game of Thrones series. Les Rois Maudits (which translated as The Accursed Kings) is a seven-volume series written by Maurice Druon between the 1950s and the 1970s. His novels are set in medieval France and describe the battles […]