The Bedside Guardian 1978-1979

I will be the first to admit that The Bedside Guardian may not be for everyone. Since 1952, the national British daily newspaper, The Guardian, has published a yearly collection of its best writing and cartoons. I happened to have stumbled upon, in The Booklady Bookstore in Savannah, four of its volumes: numbers 28 (1978-79), 30 (1980-81), 33 (1983-84), and 35 (1985-86).

The newspaper was founded in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian which it was known as until 1959. 

Each volume that I bought has an introduction written by (respectively) John Cleese, William Golding, Peter Ustinov, and Salman Rushdie. Each edition runs about 250 pages.

And what glorious pages they are. I have finished Volume 28 and have been treated to stories on the Dryfly trout fishing season; a profile on actress Cathleen Nesbitt on her ninetieth birthday; novelist Angela Carter and her thoughts on cats and the Marquis de Sade; a trip through the major cities of India with Peter Jenkins; an afternoon spent with Lady Rothermere musing on what makes for a perfect party; and a long weekend spent in Outer Mongolia.

This sentence, from the article on the trip to Outer Mongolia, stopped me cold:

All that said, the journey has the most extraordinary rewards; the landscape has an arid, unfamiliar beauty bathed in a light sparkling air so pure it tastes as though it has never even been snuffed by a yak.

I find it fascinating to read of world events from 30 years afar. There are mentions of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and other world leaders of the time. There are tales of British politicians who are strangers to me. And, any story about cricket or football pretty much had me totally, but delightfully, confused.

It doesn't really matter what person or topic is being covered, the writing is so crisp and conversational that I look forward to bouts of insomnia just so I can make these bedside books my companions in the night.

Savannah, Georgia - October 24, 2013

We struck pay dirt today in Savannah. Two bookstores and eight books. I had to restrain myself! But I did find some gems.

E. Shaver, bookseller 
OK, I broke down and bought a new, autographed hardcover edition of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. I was prompted to buy because we had just toured the Mercer-Williams house which was the home of Jim Williams, the fellow featured in the book and the movie. I also purchased a new hardcover edition of Charlotte's Web by E.B. White to replace my paperback copy. And I bought a box of notecards featuring pen and ink drawings of Savannah landmarks.

Turns out the owner, Esther Shaver, used to own a bookstore in Louisville, my hometown. Small world.

Books stacked on a staircase in The Book Lady

The Book Lady
This is just the type of place that one wants a used bookstore to be: a bit crowded and a bit comfortable. Worn leather sofa, plenty of chairs to pull up to shelves, and helpful assistants. I bought two books by Bill Bryson (The Lost Continent to replace the copy I gave to my brother and a hardcover edition of A Short History of Nearly Everything) and four volumes of The Bedside Guardian - 1978/79; 1980/81; 1983/84; and 1985/86. These contain columns, reviews, and cartoons from this London newspaper. I don't know where I heard of these anthologies, but I have never seen them in a bookstore. I could barely contain myself and instead of trying to pick one volume I just went ahead and bought all of the four on the shelf. The introductions are by John Cleese, William Golding, Peter Ustinov, and Salman Rushdie. I am excited to see what treasures I will discover in these volumes!

Shelves of vintage books decorate Gryphon restaurant

Gryphon
This was the place we wandered into for lunch. I looked about me and there were books all over the place. The building used to be a pharmacy, then a college bookstore, and now is a restaurant and is somehow connected with Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Our bill came stuck between the pages of a book! A perfect complement to the Grand Southern Literary Tour.