My Own Private Book Club (From The Argus)

My Own Private Book Club

7:34pm Thursday 25th February 2010

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By Alice Wright - Reluctant Housewife »

I collect books by an author called Richmal Crompton. She is well known for her Just William stories, but I collect her grown-up fiction. This is a not so well known collection of out-of-print novels and short stories that can be quite hard to track down. But it’s exciting and is now a life-long quest that I really don’t want to end.

I first starting reading these novels as a child, I had two red leather bound books that told tales of old-fashioned families – their love affairs, their children, their servants, their relationships and many foibles. I never forgot these two books and the complex stories contained within, and thankfully I remembered the name of the author as it was an unusual one. I also realised that Richmal was a woman – not because it was mentioned anywhere but because I sort of knew. I was very surprised when I looked further into her career that she also had this sideline of Just William stories that seemed to be rather more popular. Crompton herself quoted that these (still-in-print) children’s stories were a ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’ that had eclipsed her more serious adult work.

As an adult I started thinking about trying to track the books down and after a few months of internet browsing, eBaying and looking round old bookshops I found those and a couple more. I read them again, loving the familiarity of them, the enjoyment of falling back into them and with grown-up eyes realising how relevant and topical they still were. The detailed family relationships and the portraits of personality and emotion were ones that I recognised.

Admittedly they are old-fashioned – 40 or so books written between 1923 and 1960 – but the detail of the clothing, houses, war, staff and society only highlights how universal and timeless the characters and emotions are. I adore them and spend a lot of time searching out elusive missing copies to add to my collection. There are a lot of good second-hand book services now that can find books from all over the world and I make use of them, eBay is also a good source but nothing beats finding a gem in a bookstore – surely everyone agrees that books will endure in this computerised world?

The books are old, some expensive, some battered, some still with dust-jackets, some not, some are ex-libris, some have previous owners names and notes in (a joy!), some smell lovely, but all of them are wonderful and I read every single one of them – sometimes many times over. Especially the first two I ever owned, usually when I am sad or ill and in need of comfort. I would highly recommend these unknown works to you – but obviously don’t start buying them unless you know I have a copy first!

When I find a book that I don’t yet own but need for my collection my heart beats a little bit faster, I bid wildly and will only rest when it’s under my roof and I can cross it off my list. The growing number of lined up spines makes me proud even though sometimes the amount may only swell by one a year. My list of outstanding items is getting shorter and shorter as the years go by, soon there will only be one left - one elusive Richmal Crompton novel – maybe there will only be one of them left in the world but I know that one day my collection will be complete and I will be happy and sad all at the same time.