Ralf Roggeveen
June 15th, 2008, 14:45
We had a nice drive out, about 30 miles, to the historic market town of Stamford today. Visited four or five old churches there, but also saw some good secondhand bookshops, one of which was open on a Sunday. Recently I was thinking that I haven't got many airship books, so pleased to discover:
Deighton, Len and Schwartzman, Arnold : Airshipwreck; Jonathan Cape, 1978
It's only 74 pages, but very well illustrated, mainly with pictures of downed LTAs. Rather macabre! Not quite sure why Deighton did this, though he was interested in aviation as we know from his [I]Fighter and Bomber books. One illustration (below), as a sort of appendix, is by the man himself. If you have ever seen his Action Cookbook, you'll recognise the style.
It's available relatively cheap on the Internet, though often only the 1979 paperback. Mine actually still contains a promotional postcard which says on the back 'A full set of cards, plus a record in which Len Deighton introduces the voices of Graf von Zeppelin, Hugo Eckener and an eye-witness commentary on the Hindenburg disaster may be obtained post free by sending £1...' [!!!!!]
Not bad for a 30 year old book (I paid £8). Perhaps even more valuable to Len Deighton collectors?
Also got Alan Massie's Dreadnought (which I've been after for a while), and Mrs RR bought a biography of the Empress Frederick ('Vicky'), which I'll read too in due course. By a funny coincidence Dreadnought has a picture of her son, Kaiser Wilhelm II, on its cover, so it was a good day for Imperial German royalty in Stamford. It was also a good day for VW Camper vans. They must have been having a show somewhere round Melton Mobray - we saw dozens. Waved at some of the splitties from our '67 Karmann Ghia...Am I going Off Topic, or what?
Deighton, Len and Schwartzman, Arnold : Airshipwreck; Jonathan Cape, 1978
It's only 74 pages, but very well illustrated, mainly with pictures of downed LTAs. Rather macabre! Not quite sure why Deighton did this, though he was interested in aviation as we know from his [I]Fighter and Bomber books. One illustration (below), as a sort of appendix, is by the man himself. If you have ever seen his Action Cookbook, you'll recognise the style.
It's available relatively cheap on the Internet, though often only the 1979 paperback. Mine actually still contains a promotional postcard which says on the back 'A full set of cards, plus a record in which Len Deighton introduces the voices of Graf von Zeppelin, Hugo Eckener and an eye-witness commentary on the Hindenburg disaster may be obtained post free by sending £1...' [!!!!!]
Not bad for a 30 year old book (I paid £8). Perhaps even more valuable to Len Deighton collectors?
Also got Alan Massie's Dreadnought (which I've been after for a while), and Mrs RR bought a biography of the Empress Frederick ('Vicky'), which I'll read too in due course. By a funny coincidence Dreadnought has a picture of her son, Kaiser Wilhelm II, on its cover, so it was a good day for Imperial German royalty in Stamford. It was also a good day for VW Camper vans. They must have been having a show somewhere round Melton Mobray - we saw dozens. Waved at some of the splitties from our '67 Karmann Ghia...Am I going Off Topic, or what?