I have been doing quite well recently in controlling the book buying – in fact, since coming back from Leicester with a relatively small haul, I have been doing the rounds of the charity shops and rejecting many books that I *could* take hom with me, simply because of space and time. So I am feeling a little pleased with myself.

However, a few have trickled through the net, including the aforementioned Ragged Trousered peeps – shown here with a sparkly new copy of Nairn’s London which I couldn’t resist picking up new (I’ll be reviewing another of his books on here soon).

I grabbed the Tressell book the minute I saw it in the Oxfam, because I hesitated about buying a copy some months back and it had disappeared the next time I visited the shop. I’m not sure when I’ll read it, but at least I have it hanging about for when the mood takes me!

The final find was an unexpected one in a charity shop I don’t usually visit – it’s by Robert Gibbings, about whom I knew absolutely nothing, and it was the spine that attracted me:

and then the cover design:

(as well, of course, as the title – “Trumpets from Montparnasse”.

The book is full of lovely plates like this:

and also black and white illustrations like this:

Gibbings is obviously an artist and the first few pages sound intriguing – so I’m looking forward to finding out more. It for this kind of random find that I *love* second-hand bookshops of any sort!