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London

Two weeks ago, J and I went on a book shopping expedition to London, a he'd kindly reminded me that he still owed me for a birthday (or possibly Christmas) present. As well as having a good rummage in the bookshops, we also had a look at the newly opened 'Fanatics' store near Piccadilly, as well as having lunch at the (also recently opened) Black Tap close by. Connoisseurs that we are, we determined that it wasn't a patch on the Vegas outlet as, frankly, the burgers would be classified as sliders there. Mind you, we still couldn't finish our shared Oreo milkshake dessert! Also, disappointing not to have the 80s soundtrack that was playing previously.

Back to the books. We had a most enjoyable trip to Peter Harrington's. A very helpful assistant was keen to show us some of the special Bond collection in the locked room within the locked room. Jake was disappointed that I turned down the offer to view the third set of nested rooms. It was all getting a bit much. We all agreed that the original typescript of one of the Bond books, with many hand-written edits and comments, some very possibly by Fleming, was delightful, but a little pricey at £325,000. However, the assistant has very kindly added my details to their database and she will let me know if a good copy of 'From Russia' turns up.

Moving back to reality, we returned to the Charing Cross Road where Jake bought me three books in 'Any Amount of Books'. I'd already picked up a signed, boxed copy of McEwan's 'Saturday' there earlier in the day for the bargain price of £10 as they felt it needed marking down for a little bit of damage to the box. Jake bought me a Benson Bond first plus a lovely pair of Clive James poetry books.

Back in Cecil Court I couldn't resist a signed William Boyd plus an Iain Banks first edition, bringing me to 13 out of his 15 first editions in my library, and the two remaining ones to go are late ones as well (11 and 15).

A splendid day out.



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