Monday 15 November 2010

A Quiet Place to Read

If you want to surprise a bookish young lady
who is working in Central London

and needs somewhere quiet to go at lunchtime
where she can curl up in a comfortable chair

or maybe the chance to flick through
the newspapers and periodicals

you should purchase a gift subscription
to the London Library in St. James's Square.

It was founded in 1841 by Thomas Carlyle
and the list of illustrious members is impressive.

I like to think of MissM going through the front door
behind George Eliot, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling,
Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard,
E.M. Forster, T.S. Eliot,
Virginia Woolf and Agatha Christie.

all images by Sylvia Lewes (1935)
© The London Library

12 comments:

  1. You are aware of my fondness for twine, aren't you?

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  2. Always love your bookish posts!

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  3. What a brilliant present. (I must now try to think gratefully of all the hundreds of pounds worth of bubble bath that I have received over the years!)

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  4. Oh that is the most wonderful gift ever! K x

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  5. What a fabulous idea. That would be such a lovely treat.

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  6. What a lovely gift that would be. And a great excuse to go to London if one's in the provinces. (Feeling quite a longing to go up to town at the moment).

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  7. This was recommended to me by another friend last week and I am sorely tempted because she has impeccable taste.

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  8. Lucky MissM!

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  9. what a gem of a place....

    Now I'm totally convinced that I live on a different plante... sigh... can I come into your world?

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  10. She is a fortunate young lady.

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  11. how incredibly awesome.

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  12. Agatha Christie... <3 love!

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