How many years.....

[andrewalston]

There are people who buy (and companies who sell) books by the yard.

I understand that sales have soared with thousands partaking in video conference calls and wanting to appear as "learned".

I remember hearing that those with a view only to decor could order books with spines of a particular colour.

[Gillg]

It's certainly very interesting to look at the Zoom bookshelf backgrounds.  Some are very untidy, some so neat that you just know that they never look at their books  I remember IDS sitting in front of a narrow bookcase with carefully matched books which went from larger ones at the edge of the shelf to smaller ones in the middle.  Matt Hancock in his red study and Grant Shapps have their red boxes carelessly open, but they are obviously an important part of their ministerial image.  Some, however, appear to be speaking from a small cupboard.  My favourite was the Archbishop of Canterbury, who last year Zoomed from his kitchen table, with a very homely background.  No showing off there.

[tillypeg]

Why not try the offerings in this link as your background?  Pretend you are in the library at Blickling or the writing room at Sissinghurst Castle.  You don't have to be a member of the Trust to use them.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/virtual-backgrounds-for-zoom

[coombs]

In Caister On Sea, near where I live, there was once a bookshop called Cricket Bookshop which had books all about cricket and cricketers. And one of my ancestors was an Oxford cricketer in the 1860s.

[IgorStrav]

Further update:

am inching forward with the sorting out.

9 boxes delivered to the school up the road my children attended, c 650 books.
1 box (25) of varied literary classics and other books of interest to someone collecting for her daughter who's doing an English degree - she was thrilled.
1 box (50) of various genres, including green detective paperbacks, to absolutely delighted man
I box (25) of various genres being collected Friday
2 boxes of 50 each of various genres being collected Saturday
1 box of Chess books to go to local club - awaiting confirmation of collection/delivery

I have three boxes of cookery books - mainly reference - which doesn't include the whole bookcase of recipe books in the kitchen.  Keeping those.

Already 3 boxes of other volumes I'm keeping, will be many more.

And the rest have been claimed by a Freegler who says they will take all the balance, once I've sorted/boxed them.


One I'm def keeping is a hardback Household Management volume from the 1930's which not only has interesting recipes, but instructions about how to train your maid, respond politely to invitations (when to acknowledge, when to arrive, what thank you notes to write), amongst many amazingly interesting Social History snippets.

Son was reading over breakfast to see what recipes they had which he could use.....he says easier than Mrs Beeton.   

[Bee]

Son was reading over breakfast to see what recipes they had which he could use.....he says easier than Mrs Beeton.   

Nothing beats the original Bero recipe book 

[eadaoin]

One I'm def keeping is a hardback Household Management volume from the 1930's which not only has interesting recipes, but instructions about how to train your maid, respond politely to invitations (when to acknowledge, when to arrive, what thank you notes to write), amongst many amazingly interesting Social History snippets.

Two that I'll have to keep, bought the year i married . .

 . . . "The Awful Housekeepers Book", which I can't quite put my hand on - anyway I've LEARNED how to be an awful housekeeper!

 . . . "The I hate to Housekeep Book", which contains useful tips for everyone "keep the burn ointment at the stove, not in the medicine box"
And ones for those like me that she calls "random housekeepers" - " start a big clean-up-the-whole-house in a different room each time -you know you won't do the whole house"
"have a special cheap saucepan for boiling eggs, then you'll never need to scrub the lime-scale off"

[IgorStrav]

One I'm def keeping is a hardback Household Management volume from the 1930's which not only has interesting recipes, but instructions about how to train your maid, respond politely to invitations (when to acknowledge, when to arrive, what thank you notes to write), amongst many amazingly interesting Social History snippets.

 . . . "The I hate to Housekeep Book", which contains useful tips for everyone "keep the burn ointment at the stove, not in the medicine box"

Got that one.....

is that the one which says that 'casual decoration' means a magazine on the coffee table, not a sock on the mantelpiece?

And I also recall one which discusses the argument as to whether to rinse ahead of putting in the dishwasher or not bother, and says you should "scrape off large residues (like a chicken carcase) but not bother with the rest"

Also a very good one aimed at men (by an extremely good novelist) which is called, I think, "how to get things really flat".

[eadaoin]

Got that one.....

is that the one which says that 'casual decoration' means a magazine on the coffee table, not a sock on the mantelpiece?

And I also recall one which discusses the argument as to whether to rinse ahead of putting in the dishwasher or not bother, and says you should "scrape off large residues (like a chicken carcase) but not bother with the rest"

That's the very one! I had a good giggle this morning glancing through it for a suitable quote or two.