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Writers are magpies stealing the shiny bits of other people’s lives to line the nest of our imaginations. My magpie instincts are always on the alert at car boot sales. A small brown object on the edge of a blanket caught my eye. I was drawn to the object and as soon as I held it in my hands I did not want to part with it. It was a Booklover’s Diary. It cost me 50p
The diary was from 1931 and it cost one shilling. It belonged to Olive. Her full name and address is printed inside. She did not have a telephone but she had a Library number – W.D. 4839. There is an entry for most days.
Each week an author was asked to say at the time of writing which book would they most like to be judged on. Somerset Maugham chose ‘Of Human Bondage.’ Francis Brett Young said ‘the best book is invariably the one I am writing.’ Bernard Shaw said ‘all of them’. By contrast Edgar Wallace said. ’There is no work of mine by which I should wish to be judged.’ Olive highlighted John Erskine who said, ‘my favourite among my published works is Adam and Eve largely because I have a weakness for the character of Lilith.’
Phillip Gibbs chose his book ‘Realities of War,’ because it is a record of four tragic years during which I was an eye witness of unforgettable things, written down in this book as a memorial of dead youth and as a warning to a future generation.’
In 1931 the 26th May fell on a Tuesday and was the day after a Bank Holiday. It was also the day that another diarist, Samuel Pepys died. The featured living author that week was Radclyffe Hall.
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What a beautiful find!
What a cheering post to start the day with, Lynda, including the very nice comparison to the ABBA blog. The diary is certainly an item to treasure.
What treasure you have found! Olive now has a whole new chapter to her story.
What book would I like to be judged by? Heavens - that takes more thinking than I can manage this early on a Saturday!
Lucky and fantastic find. You know, Olive might still be alive...she'd be pretty old now but, you never know. I don't mind being judged by either of my novels LOL. Great post.
I agree - what a find!
She would have to be about what, a hundred or more now? Wow!