A bookish surprise

I had just started reading Michael Connelly's, The Reversal, yesterday afternoon, after checking it out from our village's Atrium Library, and was enjoying it while a cup of tea cooled within easy reach, when a bookmark fluttered into my lap as I turned a page.  

It was a good one too. (the bookmark, that is)  It was a handsome red color and had, center stage, a drawing, done in black, of an antique book, open to one of it's center pages. It was a promotional bookmark I noticed, from The BookMark, a seller of 'quality secondhand and rare books,' located on Victoria Road in Devonport. It was neither dog-eared, nor had it been folded, and showed no sign whatsoever of sticky fingerprints.  All of these conditions in my opinion render a bookmark useless and fit only for the paper recycling basket. You may gaze upon my acquisition immediately below, if you wish, and confirm my description.   

You may have also noticed the poem that Roald Dahl contributed to it. 

Roald Dahl, in case you don't know, was multi-talented. He wrote some very famous children's books including, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, both of which were made into movies. We was also a British fighter pilot during World War Two. What a range of abilities. This is truly a proper bookmark.

I realized after I had tucked it back into my novel of courtroom drama, that a bookstore that gives away such fine accessories might be worth visiting. I looked up its location on Google Maps, checked to see that the trains were running the next day, and made plans to go to Devonport in the morning. The rest of my post for this week will show you the photos I took during that jaunt.  

Kathie and Dianne, Jeanne and I think that you would love to see Devonport during your upcoming visit.  We'll choose a day though, unlike this one, with a blue sky for our adventure. Let's get started.

I'm getting on the ferry here that will take me across the harbor.  It was not rough, it rarely is, and the trip took only 11 minutes.  

An interesting tile on a wall on Victoria Road. 

I'm in the bookstore now.  I discovered that they had three P. G. Wodehouse books, and although one had been printed in the 1960's, none were 1st editions, so I wasn't tempted to buy any of them.   

I was reclining on a leather couch as I took this shot. 

They also had something else of interest. It was, That First Antarctic Winter, for which they were asking $70.00.  I was pleased by this because I bought another copy of that book from a neighbor's garage sale years ago for $1.00. What a deal I got. It's a favorite of mine.  

What makes this book unique, is that it was written, not by the expedition's leader, but from the journal of one of the expedition's scientists, Louis Bernacchi, and it tells a somewhat different story of the men's experiences than the leader told in his account. It's also unique of course, because this was the first group of men to spend a winter in Antarctica. (Southern Cross Expedition,1898 - 1900)  

I also noted that to combat scurvy, their provisions included chocolates, with lime juice in the centers. Obviously, they knew the importance of vitamin C, even if it had not yet been identified. I also, in other reading, learned that Captain Cook, way back in the 1700's, fed his sailors sauerkraut for the same reason, and he never lost a man to scurvy. In fact, one account said that he had a man flogged who had first refused to eat it. It didn't say if this guy ever grew to like the stuff, but he apparently preferred eating it to being flogged.  

(I know that I'm sidetracking here, but forgive me. This is another interest of mine, and my post is about a bookstore after all.)  

I have read the complete Robert Scott Journal of his expedition to the South Pole (The Terra Nova Expedition) and noted that he and his men suffered from scurvy. I have to ask why?  

After traveling to Devonport and perusing my way slowly through the bookstore, I felt the need of an eleven o'clock pick me up, and so ordered this scone and flat white. The glass of water was the first surprise.  Water isn't usually given out in NZ cafes, unless you ask for it. The second surprise was the free piece of a very tasty bit of chocolate brownie that came with my coffee.  

I show this big fig tree every time I do a post about Devonport, but why not, it's very impressive. Remember, what appear to be smaller trees separated from the main one are in fact air roots that have grown down to the ground years ago and are now becoming thicker each year. This tree is slowly becoming a forest.  (Okay, very slowly, and it'll be a small forest, but it's true) 

Outside the library, not far from the fig tree.  

So, that's it for another week. I hope you enjoyed it.                   

Before you go though, I have one more picture for you. My friend Lee sent me a card featuring a piece of a coaster, or possibly a take-out menu I think, from his favorite coffee cafe that recently stopped doing business. I commiserated with him because I think their name was without equal in the annals of coffee shops.   

I'd also like to toast Lee and Kathleen for celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary recently.  Hearty Congratulations to them!            -djf