This Just In!

Book Ownership STILL Matters!

Ever wondered whether owning books remains relevant in today's world of downloadable digital content? Well, as it turns out, book ownership is still important. From the august pages of The Globe and Mail, 26 May 2010, p.L6, comes this summary of a study reported in the journal Research in Social Stratification and Mobility.

What surprised researchers was "just how strong the correlation is between a child's academic achievement and the number of books his or her parents own. It's even more important than whether the parents went to college or hold white-collar jobs. . . . The study was conducted over 20 years, in 27 countries, and surveyed more than 70,000 people. Researchers found that children who grew up in a home with more than 500 books spent three years longer in school than children whose parents had only a few books. . . . Even a relatively small number of books can make a difference. A child whose family has 25 books will, on average, complete two more years of school than a child whose family is sadly bookless."

The implication is clear: come to Belgravia Books & Treasures, take advantage of our fifth-book-free offer five times, and your child will remain in school two more years than if you had just downloaded all that stuff digitally. 'Nuff said? Good.

The Belgravia Books

"Man Cave"

Of continuing fascination to the men

Hold it a second. This is Lorie interjecting. Some of my best women friends are carpenters.  Why is it a "man" cave?

who visit Belgravia Books is our impressive inventory of some 150 handyman books, to which we've just added a shuhWACK (yes, schwack IS a recognized measure of quantity in the metric system) of Taunton Press's Fine woodworking and Fine homebuilding. (We've even got the printed index to Fine woodworking's first 100 issues!) Of particular interest is Fine woodworking's Biennial design book and Design book two, and three books in the Tage Frid teaches woodworking series: Book 1, Joinery, Book 3 Furnituremaking, and his Shaping, veneering, finishing. Further, we've just added R. Bruce Hoadley's Understanding wood and Michael Dunbar's Make a Windsor chair. (Think of the title as less of an encouragement than an imperative. We acquired this book because the Queen informed us that she's a tad too busy to make all the chairs she needs at Windsor Castle, and she would welcome some help.)

Beyond that most recent addition to our inventory, whatever your workshop dreams you'll find books here that tempt and guide and encourage. We have titles on carpentry, carving (high-relief, carousel animals, chip, ships, found-wood, sculpture), clock-making, design (of barns, colonial homes, log houses, period homes, vacation properties, bathrooms, decks, kitchens, patios, sheds, shelters, storage), and woodworking (cabinets, furniture, playgrounds, scroll-saw, and toys).

Let's not forget home repair and renovations! Books on electricity, floor-laying,  insulation, plumbing, shelving, storage, tiling, tools -- they're all here!

Railroading Books. All Aboard!

Belgravia Books has just received a freight-train full of wonderful coffee-table and reference books on the history and lore of railroading, all in superb condition and all at our usual low prices.

Here's a guide to the collection.

Dick Clover, The wonderful world of railroad timetables (1979).

Cohen, Stan, The White Pass and Yukon route; a pictorial history (1980), paperback.

Hugh A. Dempsey, The CPR west; the iron road and the making of a nation (1984).

Doeksen, Gerry, Railways of the West Kootenay (Railways of Western Canada) (volume two) (1983).

Patrick C. Dorin, The Canadian National Railways' story (first ed., 1975).

Ted Ferguson, Sentimental journey; an oral history of train travel in Canada (1985).

Sandford Fleming (yes, that Sir Sandford Fleming!), The Intercolonial; a historical sketch of the inception, location, construction and completion of the line of railway uniting . . . the Dominion (1876). Our copy has all maps, illus., and foldout plates present and intact.

Greening, W. E., It was never easy, 1908--1958; a history of the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway, Transport and General Workers (1961).

William M. Harris, The steam donkey engine (2005)

E. J. Hart, The selling of Canada; the CPR and the beginnings of Canadian tourism (1983). The flap copy is intriguing: "How did Canada, a land of wilderness, mountains and lakes, come to be identified with the architecture of the Château Frontenac and the Banff Springs Hotel; with the sound of bagpipes and train whistles; and with elegant living amidst rugged Alpine scenery?" The answer lies within!

Hearn, George, and David Wilkie, The Cordwood Limited; a history of the Victoria & Sidney Railway (1966; fifth printing, 1976)

Bill Hayes, Steam trains (1981).

Hollingsworth, Brian, and Arthur Cook, The great book of trains; featuring 300 locomotives shown in over 160 full-color illustrations and more than 500 photographs (1987). (This title is two volumes in one.)

The illustrated directory of trains of the world, by Brian Hollingsworth (does the man never sleep!) (2000), begins with the Northumbrian 0-2-2 of 1830 and takes railway buffs all the way to the super-high-speed commuter trains of Europe and Japan. A must!

Adolf Hungry Wolf, Canadian railway scenes, no. 1 (1983), is both approachable and evocative of our past.

Aaron E. Klein, The men who built the railroads (1986).

David Laurence Jones, Tales of the CPR (2002).

McKee, Bill, Trail of iron; the CPR and the birth of the West, 1880--1930 (1983)

Bryan Morgan, ed., The great trains (1973).

On the move; great transportation photographs from Life (2000).

Murray, Tom, Canadian National Railway (a title in the series MBI Railroad Color History) (2004). Only two copies listed on ABE at time of listing.

O. S. Nock, Railways then and now; a world history (1975).

Martin Page, The lost pleasures of the great trains (1975) evokes the era of luxury train travel and ornately appointed passenger cars.

The railroad encyclopedia (2001), an authoritative and engaging survey of the world of rail.

Barrie Sanford, McCulloch's wonder; the story of the Kettle Valley Railway (1979 printing) and Steel rails & iron men; a pictorial history of the Kettle Valley Railway (1990).

J. B. Snell, Early railways; pleasures and treasures (1964).

For insomniacs, The train-watcher's guide to North American Railroads (2nd. ed., 1992) is the answer! Sheep, get thee from me!

York, Thomas, North America's great railroads (1987).

And two outliers:

Michael Dryhurst, London bus and tram album, second series (1979); signed by the author.

Chas. S. Dunbar, Buses, trolleys & trams (1967).

Yes, not quite railroading, but close enough, guv!