Some #ManuscriptMonday tree law: the 1665 expanded edition of the appropriately named John Manwood's classic treatise on forest laws, with two pages of contemporary annotations to the flyleaves - by a law scholar or someone in forestry hot water? blackwells.co.uk/rarebooks/book…

Summertime addendum: whilst our air-conditioning is broken, this curse has extended to ice creams. (NOT stored in the cupboard.)

Has there ever been a cuter Smaug? Not actually a dustjacket of the day: the scarce 1968 'Pleasure in Reading' edition of The Hobbit, aimed at primary school aged children, with an adorably goggle-eyed version of the dragon, the cover artist sadly unknown blackwells.co.uk/rarebooks/book…

THIS! British Virginia Henry Sotheran Ltd Bernard Quaritch Ltd Maggs Bros. Ltd. Blackwell's Rare Books Sophie Floate Leah Price Sarah Cusk

From the cutest Smaug to the sassiest Frodo! The first American editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (1954-56) feature cover art by Walter Lorraine. As this promo card warns, 'devotees of the hobbits are growing in number. It is fast becoming a cult'. blackwells.co.uk/rarebooks/book…

A miniature for Monday: this adorable little 1778 edition of William Harris' thumb Bible, in a contemporary binding - a smidge over 4.5 cm tall. 50p included for scale, not sale! blackwells.co.uk/rarebooks/book…

Booker blandness, Blackwell’s Modernisms, Ladybird stories the-tls.co.uk/regular-featur…

It's Pyms o'clock! (Sorry.) We're looking forward to welcoming the Barbara Pym Society 30th anniversary AGM, for a little display of our Pym stock blackwells.co.uk/rarebooks/stoc…

An already beautiful book made EVEN MORE beautiful: the Vale Press edition of Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, 1899, in a contemporary binding by R.S.B. Watson - head of the bookbinding firm Watson & Co but an accomplished hobbyist craft binder too blackwells.co.uk/rarebooks/book…

Early repairs were made with needle and thread to this C13th copy of Magna glosatura. The book contains commentaries on passages from the Latin Vulgate Bible by Peter Lombard while he was a teacher. He later became the bishop of Paris in 1159. #VisibleMending MS. Laud Misc. 265

Dustjacket of the day: we're rather partial to the first English edition of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, which features glorious artwork by Joseph Mugnaini - a frequent collaborator with Bradbury, including the jacket for Fahrenheit 451 blackwells.co.uk/rarebooks/book…

Thanks to the good people at Blackwell's Rare Books for the latest Modernisms catalogue. Highlights include a first edition of Chamber Music, ‘With compliments of Mr. James Joyce’, that belonged to Thomas Pugh.

A copy of which now lovingly affixed to the front of our Stock Purchases folder, in the hopes we get a magical visit from the Swan.

It's the York National Book Fair again! Today and tomorrow (13th and 14th Sept) we're at stand 7 with some lovely stuff: Antiquarian highlights: blackwells.co.uk/rarebooks/cata… Modern highlights: blackwells.co.uk/rarebooks/cata… Edward Bawden shortlist: blackwells.co.uk/rarebooks/cata…

Dustjacket of the day, from our recent catalogue of 100 women: inscribed copy of Nymphs and Satires by Rachel Ferguson, 1932, featuring some of the society targets of her 'wit and mischief'. We're confident of Bernard Shaw, Kipling and Margot Asquith... blackwells.co.uk/rarebooks/cata…

thenorthwall.com/whats-on/socie… The SWE 86th Annual Exhibition is in its final week The North Wall. We're rather partial to the Peter Lawrence entry, depicting Oxford's premier bookshop...