Stories behind the books
Every book has a past. Sometimes it leaves a clue.
A signature on a flyleaf, a letter left between the pages, an envelope with a name on it. These are the people and histories we have traced from the things that pass through our hands.
History & ephemera · SussexThe Naval Captain Who Followed Butterflies
The remarkable story of Captain Tristan Dannreuther (1872–1963), revealed by a forgotten piece of correspondence.Read the story →More stories
Inscribed copies · Art & the Second World WarThe Gallery in a BookTwo copies of Kenneth Clark's One Hundred Details from Pictures in the National Gallery (1938), one inscribed in July 1943, when the paintings were hidden in a Welsh slate quarry.
Book litter · OperaA Card From Glyndebourne, 1983Tucked inside an English National Opera guide to Rossini's La Cenerentola: a typed card from Glyndebourne's Information Office, thanking someone for their cheque in the spring of 1983.
Inscribed copies · Sussex & the Black ForestA Chronicle for the Mayor of WorthingA history of a Black Forest valley, written in German and inscribed by the mayor of Simonswald in June 2004 to Worthing's mayor and his wife. It's a small souvenir of the friendship between a Sussex seaside town and four villages in the hills above Freiburg.
Book litter · South AustraliaThe Hills Are Looking Green at LastBetween the pages of an old book, a South Australian postcard dated 4 August 1902: a few lines about letters, a cold, a house move and the weather. Its addressee, we discovered, was a young English priest whose life ran from Borneo to the Scottish Highlands. Its sender we have yet to find.
Book litter · Wales & PortsmouthThe Minister from the ValleyA yellowed cutting from 1950, a press photograph stamped in Portsmouth and a picture of a flint chapel. Together they tell the story of Ivor Thomas, a young man from the Welsh coalfield who followed a revival preacher from his own village to the south coast.
Theatre & lives · IrelandThe Importance of Being MicheálHe was the voice of Irish theatre for fifty years: actor, painter, playwright and Irish-language writer. He was also born Alfred Willmore, in London, and he never once admitted it.
Art & architecture · JapanThe Architect Who Dealt in PrintsFrank Lloyd Wright is remembered for his buildings. For decades he was also one of America's great dealers in Japanese woodblock prints, a second career of fortunes spent, scandal and forced sales.
The Book Chain
16 books, each joined to the next by something they share – from Rupert Brooke to Five on a Treasure Island. A new chain every month.
Follow the chain →Found something tucked inside a book?
We love a mystery. If you have a letter, inscription or bookplate you'd like traced, tell us about it.