October 2026
The Book Chain
Sixteen books from our shelves, each joined to the next by something they share. Start in a Black Forest village and see where the thread leads.
From Die Geschichte von Simonswald to Scouting for Boys · 16 books · 15 links · 16 still for sale
- 01
Die Geschichte von Simonswald
Gerhard A. Auer (ed.) · Gemeinde Simonswald, 2003
A Black Forest village history, inscribed by Simonswald’s mayor to the Mayor of Worthing in 2004.
£23.00View the book
WorthingThe inscription takes this book to Worthing, where the next one sets off along the coast.
- 02
South Coast Railways – Worthing to Chichester
Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith · Middleton Press, 1983
The railway along the coast from Worthing, via Littlehampton and Bognor.
£17.00View the book
Middleton PressBoth were published by Middleton Press of Midhurst, West Sussex.
- 03
West Sussex Waterways
P.A.L. Vine · Middleton Press, 1985
The canals and navigations of West Sussex, from their heyday to their revival.
£19.00View the book
Middleton Press againThe same Sussex publisher, this time looking up from the water to the sky.
- 04
Battle Over Sussex
Pat Burgess & Andy Saunders · Middleton Press, 1990
The air war in the skies over Sussex in 1940.
£9.00View the book
1940The Battle of Britain was fought over Sussex in 1940. Churchill tells that summer in Their Finest Hour, the second volume here.
- 05
The Second World War
Winston S. Churchill · The Reprint Society, 1950
Five volumes of Churchill’s war memoirs, from The Gathering Storm to Closing the Ring.
£20.49View the book
ChurchillThe war leader, off duty, at his easel.
- 06
Painting as a Pastime
Winston S. Churchill · Odhams & Ernest Benn, 1948
Churchill on the hobby that got him through hard times. First edition in volume form.
£18.50View the book
PaintingFrom Churchill’s hobby to the masters of Venice.
- 07
Painting in Venice
Edizioni Storti, Venice, 1978
Venetian painting from its beginnings to the eighteenth century, with 154 colour plates.
£20.50View the book
VeniceFrom the city’s paintings to its hidden corners.
- 08
111 Places in Venice That You Must Not Miss
Gerd Wolfgang Sievers · Emons, 2015
A guide to the corners of Venice that most visitors walk straight past.
£35.50View the book
The back streets of VenicePOLPO brings “dishes from the back streets of Venice” to London.
- 09
POLPO
Russell Norman · A&C Black, 2012
“A Venetian cookbook (of sorts)” from the Soho restaurant.
£18.85View the book
WinePOLPO is a bàcaro, a Venetian wine bar. Chesterton’s verses are mostly about drink.
- 10
Wine, Water and Song
G. K. Chesterton · Methuen, 1946
Chesterton’s comic verse, illustrated by Sillince.
£19.00View the book
MethuenBoth from Methuen of London.
- 11
The Wind in the Willows
Kenneth Grahame · Methuen, 1933
Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad, in Methuen’s blue cloth.
£24.50View the book
Methuen and E. H. ShepardSame publisher, and the artist who drew Pooh also drew the best-loved pictures of Ratty and Mole.
- 12
Winnie-the-Pooh
A. A. Milne · Methuen, 1954
Illustrated by E. H. Shepard. A 1954 reprint of the 1926 classic.
£14.49View the book
E. H. ShepardThe man who drew Pooh tells his own story.
- 13
Drawn From Memory
E. H. Shepard · First edition
Shepard’s own Victorian childhood, in his words and drawings.
£32.70View the book
Childhood, drawn by the authorTwo memoirs of growing up, each illustrated by the person who lived it.
- 14
A Chinese Childhood
Chiang Yee · Methuen, 1943
The “Silent Traveller” remembers his boyhood in Kiu-kiang. Illustrated by the author.
£26.50View the book
Authors who drew their own picturesKipling drew the pictures for Just So Stories himself.
- 15
Just So Stories
Rudyard Kipling · Macmillan, 1948
The elephant’s child, the cat that walked by himself, and the rest.
£30.45View the book
KiplingWhen Baden-Powell started the Wolf Cubs in 1916, he built them around Kipling’s The Jungle Book.
- 16
Scouting for Boys
Lord Baden-Powell · C. Arthur Pearson, 1956
The Boys’ Edition of the handbook that started the Scouts.
£15.00View the book
