Book Hunting Adventures: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The story of how I found two editions of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll in his hometown, Oxford!

While in England for the first time in the fall of 2015 with my mom, we split up for a day. She stayed in London and I went off to Oxford, home of Lewis Carroll. 150 years earlier Carroll's Alice in Wonderland was published and while I hadn't gone to Oxford with the intent of purchasing not one but two more copies of the novel that is what happened. After seeing where the real Alice and the Mathematician who wrote for her and her sisters lived at Christ Church College, I went to Alice's Shop. It is not only a shop that sells only Alice merchandise, but is in fact the shop that Alice Liddell herself would buy candy in. It is also the model for John Tenniel's drawing of the “Old Sheep Shop” in Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. 

Alice's Shop and St. Philip's Book Shop next door.

He drew it as if it was in a mirror so it was all backwards. Being there felt like being in a strange world where I was in the looking glass myself, but one where Alice was still a book. Every where I looked in the small shop I saw Tenniel's art, everything you can think of was there including a small, blue paperback copy of Alice that was the 150^th Anniversary edition. It was only £5 and it was light so I didn't think twice before buying it with some other souvenirs.

The story of buying Alice in Oxford should have ended there, if I had not followed a sign that said “books” down an arch covered alley and up a flight of small stairs next door to Alice's Shop. Honestly, that's how most of my adventures happen, accidentally following signs. St. Philip's Books was a lovely crowded shop. I noticed that English independent shops are different than ours here. It is hard for me to explain, but the workers seem to be in a constant state of cataloging the shop's collections at small tables overflowing with books. The atmosphere was studious and calm. Upon walking in the one of the first books I saw was a yellow cloth edition of Alice and Through the Looking Glass that had an illustration I did not recognize.

 From the 1930's, it was illustrated by J. Morton Sale. A slightly rare edition that they were only asking £10 for it, so what could I do but buy it? It still intrigues me to this day because of the illustrations because Alice appears more like a scantily clad teen than a seven year old! While paying for Alice I noticed a glass fronted cabinet that contained first edition Inkling books, including many of Tolkien's. The woman who was helping me saw my gaze and said “You're free to look through them, but I'm going to be honest you probably can not afford them. We've priced them properly and thus ridiculously high.” I was sorely tempted, but did not take up her offer. I had plans to see if I could find cheaper Tolkien works at another shop I had on my list!

Until next time,

keep hunting those books,

~Laura!

Book Hunting Adventure: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling

The story of how I found my first edition of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling at Henry Pordes on Charing Cross Road, London!

After successfully finding the third, fifth, and seventh books under Waterloo Bridge (read that adventure here) I only needed a copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to complete my UK Childrens' Edition set. I was determined to find it later that day when we went to Charing Cross Road, even if I had to go into every single book shop, which is exactly what I did. I went into each shop and looked around. If their children's book section was not easily found I'd ask if they had copies of Harry Potter.

A quick photo of me on Cecil Ct!

Most didn't have any and those that did, none of them were HBP. In the third or fourth shop, Henry Pordes, I found a copy fairly quickly at the bottom of a pile. It was a nice shop with multiple rooms and high shelves. However, this shop wanted £20 for the first edition. Normally, I would fork that out no problem, but since I had just hours before bought two first editions and one early edition all for only £5 more I was leery to spend so much. I figured I would check out other shops and if I couldn't find a cheaper one I'd come back. I tried several more after that. I found one in a set of firsts that the owner wanted a few thousand quid for the set which obviously wasn't for me.

The last shop I went to was Marchpane, a shop devoted to children's books, down Cecil Ct. I was excited because I saw a copy in the window. I walked in and was immediately alarmed by the union jack covered Dalek that stood near the door. It set the tone of the room better than anything else could. It consisted of one tiny room packed with books. There was a man behind a desk that was on a risen platform. He was grunting at a couple who were asking the prices of some Alice in Wonderland books that lined his platform thing. He seemed so annoyed with them when he said they ranged from £5 to several thousand that I didn't ask any questions at first. I noticed their Harry Potter books were on the left wall behind a cart of other books. I became a contortionist to carefully extract them from their shelves to look at them. I was alarmed at the prices I saw on those covers. Several hundred pounds and they weren't even firsts!

The Dalek

By this time the couple had left and I asked Mr. Grumpypuss about the book in the window. He said he would gladly sell it to me for £800. My jaw hit the floor. I said back, “Wow, ok. I hope you sell it to some inexperience collector some day!” I planned to leave immediately, but plucked up the courage to ask to take a picture of the Dalek (who knew when I would see another terrifying alien again?).

Needless to say, once I left I told my mom to hang about in Cecil Ct. for a bit because I was going to run back to Henry Pordes and buy that extremely reasonable £20 copy of Half-Blood Prince and thus completed my UK Childrens Collection.

~Laura!

Book Hunting Adventure: Harry Potter PoA, OotP, & DH

The story of how I found my UK Children's Editions of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Order of the Phoenix, and Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling at Southbank Book Market in London!  

 On my first trip to London in 2015 I was determined to finish my collection of UK Children Editions of Harry Potter. Ideally, I wanted to find cheap editions. It didn't matter if they were first editions as long I had them. I knew that the best place to look in multiple places would be Charing Cross Road, but I wanted to try something more unique first. I'm not even sure where I first heard of the used book sale that takes place under the Waterloo Bridge, but once it was in my head I knew that it was exactly the right place to start. I had visions of stumbling across copies of Harry Potter there and would do anything to go.

I was sitting on one of those nice benches when I took this of
the market under the bridge.

Anything is practically what I gave. My mom and I got hopelessly, frustratingly lost. London (well, in my opinion England in general) is horrible with street signs. We were lost for about an hour and were miles away from our target when we finally realized what had gone wrong. I was cranky and I'm pretty sure my mom wanted to throw me in the Thames more than once. I wasn't sure that getting to this book flea market type thing was even worth it but when we finally got there I knew it was. It was such a nice, peaceful place. Right on Southbank, it is a nice place to buy books and then sit there on a bench reading them. If I lived near there I'd have no pay check because I would be there every day reading and people watching.

While searching the tables I found Prisoner of Azkaban, Order of the Phoenix, and Deathly Hallows (the later 2 were first editions)! The market was set up weird. At least weird to me, maybe because I'm not British, I'm not sure. At the first table I found one of them, snatched it up, and moved on to the next table to search. I noticed, however, that this sketchy old man kept looking at me. I was a bit freaked out, but then realized that it was because he thought I was stealing. Each table or so, though very close together, belonged to separate people. Here in the States at least, vendors have clear separations, there it wasn't nearly as clear. I did figure it out and paid the man. I paid closer attention after that and no more sketchy people bore holes into me with their gazes. All in all I bought 2 first editions and 1 early edition for a grand total of £25! It was definitely one of the most unlikely setting for such a find, but my book hunting paid off! 

~Laura!

Thoughts from Places Spotlight: London As Seen Through 13 Little Blue Envelopes

(Please beware: this post contains 13LBE Spoilers)

Standing in front of Harrods

My beloved copy of 13LBE opened to the
Harrods chapter!

As long time readers of my blog will know, Maureen Johnson's 2005 novel 13 Little Blue Envelopes inspired me to travel. One of the most important places that the main character, Ginny goes to is London. There she follows the directions in envelopes 2 and 3. The entire adventure her Aunt Peg leads Ginny on comes to an end in London as well.

When I went to London I knew that I had to try and see some of the places that Ginny went to. First on the list was Harrods. Harrods is where Ginny's uncle Richard works and where Aunt Peg ultimately led Ginny to find her paintings. When Ginny first gets to London Richard takes her to Harrods. So of course I wanted to make sure that one of the first things I did was head to this huge department store. I underestimated it's size. This place is almost too big. I don't think I seen even a quarter of it because it was getting very late and my mom and I were exhausted. Originally, I was planning on finding Mo's Diner, where Richard and Ginny eat in the novel. I didn't though. Honestly, I'm not 100% positive it existed. I could have been searching for a fiction, but I didn't mind.  

Ginny "looked left" but in front of Harrods
you must look right! These were very
helpful in London.

The Egyptian Escalator

I also wanted to find the chocolate counter that Ginny went to so often in the novel to have the woman working there page Richard for her. I found it and was extremely pleased with myself. I didn't buy any chocolate there though because I had already bought a bar from another shop just in case the counter was a fiction too. The chocolate bar I bought even had a picture of Harrods on the wrapper (which I saved and pasted into my copy of 13LBE). I was amazed by the sheer size and weirdness of Harrods, just like Ginny was. They really do have a escalator that looks like it was ripped out of stereotypical ancient Egypt. I was so astounded by this that I stopped dead in my tracks and some guy bumped into me! Harrods was a strange, sort of wonderful place and I could see why Aunt Peg liked it so much!

Envelope #3 instructs Ginny to “become a mysterious benefactor.” Aunt Peg tells her to give an artist she likes £500. I do not have that kinda cash so I settled on a fiver. 

Alex and Jim!

I wasn't kidding about all
the sheep!

Richard tells Ginny she should check out Covent Garden and while Ginny didn't find her artist there I did. Jim and Alex performers who haunt the Garden regularly. They were fantastically entertaining and I wished I had more to give them. They did everything from juggling to unicycles. I really liked how they asked a young boy from the audience to help. I encourage you to go on youtube to look those two up. Covent Garden itself was a strange place though. It is an indoor/outdoor market type place where a lot of artists busk for a living. Among Jim and Alex there was also a man playing this crazy multi-piece instrument, a man who could make a creepily accurate sculpture of you in a half hour, and for some very odd reason a hundred or so Shaun the Sheeps. I could have stayed there for hours just watching all the people perform.

Standing in front of Aunt Peg's favorite painting.

My small tour of Ginny's London also took me to the Courtald Gallery where they have in their collection a very important painting to Aunt Peg, Manet's The Bar at the Folies-Bergere. Aunt Peg loved this painting so much she had a print of it on her wall where ever she lived. She also hid the key to the cupboard that held all her paintings under the left top corner, directly under the famous green slippers. I needed to see this painting for myself and so very early on our last morning in London I made my mom go to the museum when it opened. I was a girl on a mission! I was here to see Peg's favorite painting (also to see Van Gogh's Self Portrait with Bandaged Ear but that is another story). I am so glad that I went to see this painting in person. I never really understood why Peg loved this painting until I went to London. You stand looking at it like you are the artist, facing the bar. It portrays a young woman who looks terribly bored despite all the action that is happening in front of her (we see what is happening behind us through the mirror behind the woman). All of this excitement is happening and yet the girl is not enjoying it. That was sort of me in London at times. I was doing exactly what I had always wanted but I wasn't enjoying it, more like checking it off a list. However, here in this gallery with only my mom, the guard, and this painting I was finally seeing. I was seeing Peg's love of this painting and my own love of London.

My copy opened to the page the painting is first mentioned.
I pasted in a print of the painting ages ago. MJ herself took
a picture of this page when she saw what I did to it.

13 Little Blue Envelopes came alive for me in London. This year I plan to follow more of the envelopes as I backpack across Europe almost like Ginny does in the novel. I encourage you to read this amazing book if you haven't already. You can read my semi-incoherent-because-I-was-too-excited review of the book here, and my post about meeting the book's author, Maureen Johnson here.

More to come soon, 

~Laura

(Frustrated) Thoughts from Places: London in the Beginning

My First Day in London

Have you ever been so excited for something and then when it actually happens it is the exact opposite of how you were hoping it would go? Well, I do and my trip to London is the perfect example. London sucked. A lot of it was just awful. When I tell the story of my trip to others I have to stress the point that while there I considered the trip 30% wonderful and just 70% absolutely horrible. I have never been so frustrated before in my life. A lot of why it sucked and I was so frustrated was because even though I have been studying London for about a decade it actually makes no sense. Don't quote me (or her) but I think Maureen Johnson once said either on twitter or in one of her books that London streets looked like they had been planned by a drunk man following a cat. I thought she was exaggerating. She was not. London is just ridiculously unplanned. I am so used to Buffalo which has been called the “best planned city in America” that London, despite all the preparation, was just stupidly unorganized. At times during our trip I actually believed that the city as a whole was out to get people unfamiliar with it. 

Our hotel room

For example, multiple times we were following signs that were obviously placed there to help tourists find the major landmarks and the signs actually led us in the wrong direction. What the hell is that all about, London?! Basically, a lot of things went wrong. I say wrong because we had to see a lot in only a few days. The wronger things got the less we got to see. Originally, the London Trip was supposed to be 2-3 weeks instead of 5 days, but Mom could only take off so much and I rally wanted her to be the one to come with me.

The frustration of day one especially, we landed a little late and customs took ages. We waited until the rest of the plane emptied out and because of that we were last in line. Then mom couldn’t find her suitcase, it ended up on the floor on the other side of the conveyor belt. When we finally got out of all that nonsense and were trying to find the Gatwick Express we were greeted by shirtless Scots in kilts. Weird, right? We bought a couple postcards and stamps then got on the train. We were supposed to be out of the airport and at Victoria Station by noon. 

The Gunner and I

No. By the time we got to Victoria it was past 3 and we decided to check into our hotel instead of leaving our luggage in lockers at the station. When we got there and checked in I cried. It was horrible because of all the time lost. Mentally, I was already taking out most of the things I wanted to see. I was freaking out. And then I stubbed my toe on the weird bed. There was a desk but no chair. There was a shower but no shampoo. There was soap, sorta, there was a hand soap dispenser in the shower. The toilet was down the hall and up half a flight of stairs. I was pretty sure there was mold on the handle; mom said it was just corrosion. There was another door in the bathroom too that leads outside, not normal! And then to make everything even weirder and worse we had to give our room key to the desk every time we left. Oh and the outlets didn’t work. When we asked at the desk where our fridge was and why our outlets didn’t work they said that we couldn’t have one and that they would check them. While I was in the room I wrote out my postcard to my work saying basically that everything sucked so far. We also decided to take out the Victoria and Albert Museum and that mom would do it Wednesday by herself while I was in Oxford instead (which was actually okay with me because they didn't have anything I really wanted to see).

The Little Duck Whisperer

We left the hotel and made our way to Hyde Park Corner so I could see the Royal Artillery Monument with the Gunner, one of the main characters from Charlie Fletcher's Stoneheart. That was pretty cool, but looking back I barely even looked at him. I felt rushed. I felt like I was just checking him off my list. Next we went into Hyde Park proper and walked along the Serpentine. There were a lot of swans and ducks and a little boy who was feeding them. There were trick skaters and a weird ice cream truck. As we were looking for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens we saw an actual cricket game! We took a wrong turn and found a woman trying to feed birds. Later, after we actually found Peter we saw her again and she had gathered quite a crowd of both birds and humans alike. One green parrot was hanging off a tree eating from a girl’s hand.

Peter Pan Statue in Kensington Gardens

When we found Peter Pan I was really excited about seeing it, but mostly I was pumped we finally found it! I went to scan the QR code to hear Peter talk and it didn’t work. It worked for everyone else but not me and I that’s when I got extremely mad and frustrated. When I get frustrated I am the meanest person in the world. I dont want to be obviously but it's one of my flaws. And so I lashed out at mom. More and more people kept coming and scanning that code and it was working for them and I just said “forget it let’s leave.” Everything was going so wrong and I was so tired. By that time it was going to be dark in an hour or so and we wouldn’t make it to the TARDIS in time if we went to the Elfin tree at the other end of the Gardens and Harrods, so we took out the tree and walked to Harrods. We also ended up taking the TARDIS out. And we got seriously, scary lost in the dark outside of Harrods trying to find a bus stop that we needed to get back to the hotel, but didn't exist. It also didn't help that we were so hungry we couldn't concentrate. So many things had gone wrong already and we hadn’t been in London for more than a few hours.

Mom and I were reminded of the bird lady from Mary Poppins

I cried a lot that first day. But I learned a lot that day. I started to learn how the Tube worked. For the first day the platforms confused me and we ended up going to the wrong side a couple times but once I figured it out the next day everything became a lot easier because we were able to get from the station we were at to the station we needed to be at. However, once we were out of said station there wasn't a clear path on how to get to the place we wanted. So much so that I am pretty positive they give wrong directions so that tourists don’t come back. Frustration should not be a part of any trip but it does happen. From now on when I plan trips that I cannot embrace getting lost (so as to find new things) I’m going to add at least 2 hours a day cushion for when we are frustrated and just need to stop.

More cheerful London posts soon, I promise,

~Laura!

Thoughts from Places: Starting My First Trip Across The Pond

The First Leg of My London Trip

Buffalo to Toronto to London

 

I took this as we waited at the Border. Looks like Canada
is CLOSED. I thought it was hilarious.

        I've wanted to go to London forever, practically. This was problematic seeing as it's 3,000+ miles away across the pond and I've never been on a plane, nor did I actually foresee myself getting on one. However, it turned out that the biggest problem of getting to London wasn't to be the plane ride itself (which I had been dreading) it was getting to the Plane itself! My mom and I had a plan: take the Megabus to Toronto, hang out at the Eaton Centre for a little while, then take public transportation to the Pearson Airport. Sounds simple, right? It probably would have been for anyone but us.

We got to the bus station almost an hour before the bus was to depart only to find out that the bus was going to be late. It came almost 2 hours later. But wait, that’s not all. When we finally got to the border, everything went smoothly until, of course, the bus broke down. We found out later that the battery died. Though, while we were waiting at the US/Canadian Border we did have entertainment. A man was dancing, there was a huge spider, and we discovered a poster claiming a $50,000 reward for information leading up to the capture of a clown’s murderer. We didn’t leave the border until 12:20. We were supposed to be in Toronto at 11:10, we didn’t arrive until around 3pm.

I wasn't kidding about the Clown Murderer...

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:20pm so as per instructions we planned to arrive at 6pm, 4 hours early for an international flight. Originally, we planned to eat lunch at the Eaton Center, explore it for a few hours, eat some dinner there as well and then make our way to the Pearson Airport.  Because of all the Megabus Drama, we were able to eat lunch, explore the Eaton Center only enough to buy a souvenir each as we searched for the correct door to lead us to the proper subway platform. (Let me just say here that a mall is a little too big if it has a subway station, but also ridiculously and unnecessarily large if it has MULTIPLE STATIONS!!)

Actually getting to the airport and to the proper place inside of it was also incredibly hard and frustrating. We couldn’t get on the subway unless we had tokens. Okay, so I bought 4 so that we would already have them when we came home. So, my directions to the airport said: take the subway then take this bus. We got to the bus station and the woman told us it cost $6 each and that the next bus didn’t leave until 5:45pm or something ridiculous like that. In a panic, since this was our only option we quickly bought the tickets, and just as quickly regretted it because we were now going to be late for that 4 hours before International flight thing. I went back to the window and asked how long exactly the bus ride was because if it only took 10 minutes or so we would be fine. The woman then realized that she was wrong and that the next bus would be arriving any minute and that we probably just missed it because we had been talking to her, but to run out and check! Turns out she was still wrong because the bus didn’t come for another 10 minutes but whatever! We got on the bus and to the airport.

Mom snapped this photo of me being really excited
about leaving.

And yet our problems were still not over. The bus dropped us off at Terminal 1 and we, of course, needed Terminal 3. We went in and asked a security guard how to get there. He said and I am quoting directly here: “Go up, and up, and then take the Sky Train.” WHAT?! How is that at all helpful? What is a SKY TRAIN?! UP AND UP WHERE?! So, we just decided to go up the escalators to the next floor and ask someone there. I asked at a rental car desk and they vaguely pointed over my shoulder. As I turned around another woman who had been on that $6 bus was asking a passerby where to go and we followed her since she seemed to be getting better directions than I was. She became something like our angel. She knew exactly where she was going as soon as the man pointed her in the right direction. Better yet, she was traveling on our airline as well, but to Rome. The “sky train” by the way, was just an elevated train that ran between terminals and was located on the third floor. The guard’s directions were okay but they failed to mention all the turns we had to take in between the “up and up.”

That's right, Llama George came to England with me! Here
he is poking out of my backpack.

When we got in line to get our boarding passes a woman asked us if we would be willing to switch our departure date to tomorrow because the flight was overbooked. They would give us $400 and put us up in a hotel. My response was “but we can get on this plane right? This is the plane we want, not your plane tomorrow. Are you saying we can’t get on this plane? Because we booked these in April and we are getting on this plane tonight!” And she relented and let us past her. Despite that scare though, after meeting that woman, whom my mom called our Toronto Angel (I was referring to as nice Rome Lady), things started to get better. I desperately wanted to use my backpack as a carry on. I knew that technically the dimensions were a couple inches off, but I was confident that it was under the weight limit and I was hoping that they would let it slide. They did. There was no problem at all while checking in and getting our boarding passes. I had a few panics in the days preceding the trip because I was having a hard time getting the proper info to get our passes. Finally, I had just printed out the Priceline Itinerary hoping that the ticket numbers on there would be good enough to prove that we did in fact have tickets.  Turns out we didn’t need any of that, just our passports. I was also allowed to take my backpack on board no problem at all. He also gave us a $10 off coupon to their lounge which we didn’t use but it was still an incredibly nice gesture after all the crap we had just gone through. We never saw the Toronto Angel again. She had disappeared into the crowd and we never were able to thank her.

This is the really cozy place we waited for our
plane!

Another thing I was super worried about was Security. I had spent days going over what was and was not okay to bring on a plane. I knew that everything had to be put into a separate bin and that I had to take off my shoes and belt (chose not to even wear a belt just in case). I knew that liquids had to be 3 oz or less and that they had to be in a quart bag (even though I didn’t actually bring liquids). I also had my medicine in their original bottles and in a separate clear bag. I knew absolutely all of this and didn’t need to. The woman had me put my backpack in one thing, my meds still inside, and my shoes on! I went through the metal detector and I BEEPED!! I couldn’t believe it. I DID EVERYTHING RIGHT. WHY WAS I BEEPING!? I panicked and my panicked brain said “OMG DO I HAVE A METAL HIP?!” which makes no sense because I don't, but I checked my hip and there was my phone still in my pocket. I went back put it in my bin and walked back across with no beeps. “That happens all the time, sweetie, don’t worry” said the nice lady, and then she gave me my stuff. Seriously, Canadians are almost too trusting. Mom went off too, by the way, she forgot her rings.

        We found our way to our gate which also had an incredibly over priced café right next to it, but also outlets and comfy seats. We hunkered down for our 3 and a ½ hour wait. A little while later I went to find food and came back to find some pilot in my seat. Mom had told him not to sit there but he ignored her. He was the pilot on the flight to Pakistan. As soon as he stood up I slid into my seat. His response was: “Oh. My seat.” Mine back? “Sorry, it was mine first.” And then I ignored him. He moved to the seat next to me but asked the MAN across if he could sit there. However, the rest of the people surrounding us were little old people going home and they were adorable.

I was fascinated with the current progress of the plane!

By that time I was getting INCREDIBLY ANXIOUS. But not as anxious as I think I should have been if that makes sense. I thought that I would be inconsolably freaking out.  After the rude piloted Pakistan flight left, the flight crew for our plane arrived. I heard this conversation: “Oh I’m glad I found the right gate so quickly!” then “The big bald guy is hard to miss!” He was in fact hard to miss. He was also really nice. He was one of our flight attendants.

       Then it was time to get on board the plane. I am proud of how unfreaked out I was. Apparently, we had a very smooth take off. I have nothing to compare it to so I’m just going to go with it. Before we took off I heard an English woman behind me say, “Jolly Ranchers? *ate one* Oh, these are fruity. They’re lovely, they are, like foxy glacier mints!” I glanced at mom and smiled, if it hadn’t yet sunk in that I was finally on my way to England, it did just then.

The sunset from the plane.

I spent the last few hours of the night watching Inside Out with mom. I slept for a little while, but it was stupidly warm on the plane. I did see the sunrise from the plane though. It was incredible to see what the clouds see. I actually cried from sheer joy when we were landing. I was finally in England.

Sorry to leave you hanging, but I promise to tell you all more later!

~Laura!