We recently went to Ventnor on the south coast of the Isle
of Wight. It’s a small seaside town with one main street. We spent some time
wandering down it and into the charity shops. I went to have a look in the old
bookshop at the bottom of the street, but when I got there I discovered it had
been shut down. There was a note on the door saying they couldn’t afford to
keep it open anymore, thank you for all your support, and so on, we still
collect old books and if you are interested in trading, phone us on this
number. They said they had been open for fifty years or something.
Last summer we went to the Isle of Wight and I bought two
books from that shop: a pocket guide to wildflowers and a worn copy of Alfred
Lord Tennyson’s poems printed in the twenties or thirties, I think. (Tennyson
lived on the Isle of Wight and hung out with the grieving Queen Victoria as her
poet laureate). It was a singular outpost of history and information in that
town, but nobody wanted it: Ventnor Rare Books.
