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 who visit Belgravia Books is our impressive inventory of some 150 handyman books. 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.

SOLD Tom Allen, Rolling home; a cross-Canada railroad memoir (2001).

SOLD Christopher Andreae, Lines of country: an atlas of railway and waterway history in Canada (1997) must be the definitive study of rail transport in Canada. No serious student of North American railroading will be without this authoritative work.

SOLD Pierre Berton's The great railway, 1871-1885, 2v., comprising The national dream and The last spike, boxed, and signed by the author!

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

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

SOLD Bill Coo, Scenic rail guide to western Canada, with connecting road routes (1984).

SOLD Clayton D. Cook, Tales of the rails; volume IV: The Newfoundland Railway, 1881-1988 (2005).

SOLD W. Fred Cottrell, The railroader (repr. 1971), a sociological study dating from 1940 of the hierarchy of railroad workers in the Americas.

SOLD David Cruise, Lords of the line; the men who built the CPR (1988).

SOLD Rodney Dale, Early railways (1994).

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).

SOLD The encyclopedia of trains and locomotives (2003), general editor David Ross, is The comprehensive guide to over 900 steam, diesel and electric locomotives from 1825 to the present day -- like the man said: comprehensive!

SOLD Nicholas Faith, The world the railways made (1990), claims that "the modern world began with the arrival of the railway." So that's why we're addicted to studying railroading!

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.

SOLD Susan Goldenberg, Canadian Pacific, a portrait of power (1983).

SOLD Paul Grescoe, Trip of a lifetime; the making of the Rocky Mountaineer (2005).

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

SOLD D. B. Hanna, Trains of recollection drawn from fifty years of railawy service (1924); the author was the first president of the CNR.

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!

SOLD R. G. Harvey, Carving the western path; by river, rail, and road through B.C.'s Southern Mountains (repr. 2006).

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

SOLD The great book of trains (2001), by Brian Hollingsworth and Arthur Cook, has a subtitle that says it all: Featuring 310 locomotives shown in more than 160 full-color illustrations and 500 photographs. Wow!

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).

SOLD J. Parker Lamb, Steel wheels rolling; a personal journey of railroad photography (2001).

SOLD Michael R. Lane, The Rendel connection; a dynasty of engineers (1989), tells the story of a family who personify the engineering marvels of the nineteenth century.

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

SOLD: Omer Lavallée, Van Horne's road; an illustrated account of the construction and first years of operation of the Canadian Pacific transcontinental railway (4th printing, 1990) is spellbinding in its thoroughness and scope.

SOLD Robert F. Legget, Railways of Canada (rev. ed. 1987).

SOLD Jim Lotz, Canadian Pacific (1985).

SOLD Greg McDonnell, Canadian Pacific; stand fast, Craigellachie! (2003)

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

SOLD Roy Minter, The White Pass; gateway to the Klondike, with a foreword by Pierre Berton (paperback, 1988).

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

SOLD David P. Morgan, ed., Canadian steam! (1961).

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).

SOLD Dean Server, The golden age of steam (1996).

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

SOLD Turner, Robert D., and David S. Wilkie, The Skyline Limited; the Kaslo and Slocan Railway; narrow gauge railroading and sternwheelers in the Kootenays (1994).

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

SOLD Alan Vanterpool, The railways of Edmonton, 1891 to 1995 (1995) reveals the capital city's own steel-rail system.

SOLD Whetham, Bob, In Search of the Narrow Guage (1996).

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!