Wednesday 3 July 2019

Country Classic Reprints

The new edition

Quiet a few companies are reprinting crime and other fiction from past decades but I recently came across Little Toller Books........just a bit late as it's 10 years since they started.

A book they have recently re-published popped up on my Amazon Recommendations and I knew it was a book that I had a much, much older copy of on my shelves.

My copy came from one of the charity book sales several years ago. I thought then I'd found something quite unusual, something long forgotten.
My old copy







 I discovered it wasn't completely unique when I spotted a copy on the shelves of the B&B place we stayed in when Eldest Daughter got married.










And now it's been brought back for new readers.

The classic account of a young man’s life in rural Sussex, away from his city life – a year in which he rented a derelict cottage and scratched a living from selling dried herbs and wildflowers. Bearing comparison to Thoreau’s Walden, Murray’s intense feeling for his place is evident on every page. For all that it is no simple story of a rural idyll – life at Copsford was difficult and Murray does not shy away from the occasional terrors of a house that had its hauntings.


This was originally published in 1948 and tells the story of his 10 months in the cottage not long after WWI.

This is one of a series called Nature Classics reprinted by Little Toller Books in the last 10 years. 21 are still available from them but there are many more earlier ones no longer in print. Quite a lot I've seen in their original editions  and once owned especially during the years we bought and sold country and farming books at the Suffolk Smallholder show.

 One they no longer have available is something I read many years ago, when it was around for the first time and loved and have never seen since.
A Time from the World (Nature Classics Library)
Picture from Amazon

Just look at how good a collection of their books would look on a shelf!


Picture from Little Toller website


(Just should say this isn't a sponsored post or advertising but if they want to send me a copy of any of their books I would be well pleased!)

Back Tomorrow
Sue

12 comments:

  1. Just a question Sue. Have you always loved and had a keen interest in books or is it something that developed while working in a library?

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    1. I've always liked reading although never owned many books until working in the library opened up a whole world of books. Then buying and selling country and smallholding books at Smallholders shows got me even more interested

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  2. interesting and just my knd of read. Pity that they didn't think to have the top part of the spine make a picture in itself once the whole collection was together on a shelf - that would have been something!
    PS. Hope you get that free copy!

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    1. Very unlikely about getting a copy as they won't know about my post!

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  3. Just had a look, gosh, they are expensive, how do they justify that sort of price, will stick to my 3 for a £1 in C.S. no big deal if they are crap then.

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    1. They are actually quite a good price compared to some popular authors new fiction hardbacks which can be anything up to £25.

      I very rarely buy new anyway so wouldn't buy these from the publishers.

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  4. What a lot of interesting books. I do like the artwork on some of the covers. As you say, the whole collections on a bookshelf would look good indeed. I see that Raynor Winn (The Salt Path) has written the intro to the newer edition of Copsford.

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  5. If you want to splurge, there are plenty of copies of "Time from the World," even 1st edition copies, available on abe.books website. Check it out. Roderick

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  6. I love these kind of books. If we have series like these in Canada I'm not aware of them. We do have smaller companies who publish local authors with local stories but it is quite ad hoc. One more thing to cram in my suitcase next time I'm over.

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  7. Copsford sounded so good.. but it's not available in Apple Books where I buy my reads. Bummer. Thanks for telling about it. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  8. I love it when a publisher brings back out of print books. Copsford sounds very interesting.

    God bless.

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  9. Oh dear, Sue; you've got me started on something now! I got one of the Little Toller Nature writings (On the Marshes) for a Christmas present; but spurred on by your post I've just been on their website and now want to buy some of the books...

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