The Aardvark Blog

Beautiful morning, exciting days and weeks ahead
5/03/2016

Driving down here, the sun was smiling and R3 was playing a piece by a follower of Haydn, which would have cheered the greatest of grouches (and Arthur Aardvark is many things, but not that). I have been buying and viewing books at a frantic pace recently, and I am reminded of the Edna St Vincent Millay poem (My candle burns at both ends, It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends - It gives a lovely light). More book buying to come with the prospect of a good stack of childrens and YA books, theology and art books within the next few weeks, and yet more in April. Another interesting possibility is that yesterday I went to view a house which had a super group of DVDs and CDs for sale. It will take a few weeks before I know for certain, but watch this space. Some marvellous BFI and other classic foreign and British films - mostly still in the shrinkwrapping.

I have also been concentrating on the map exhibition, which due to the vagaries of the calendar this year opens on the last day of April (heaping even more pressure on my poor head). To go alongside the maps (and this year I will have my best ever selection of the maps of John Speed in different editions), I have also got some wonderful books and bindings - some recently purchased from an Herefordshire manor. Some of these are true rarities and I am getting the familiar hum of excitement at thinking of how the exhibition will look in the round.

Before then comes Easter and the opening of 'The Garden'. I am really excited about this exhibition and can't wait to see what everything looks like placed together. When writing the copy for the press release I realised just what a complicated topic it is, and how unrealistic and capacious our expectations are for the gardens we create (or in my case that are created for me). When I lived in London I used to enjoy visiting gardens in the National Garden Scheme. Some were attached to expensive merchant houses, but some were in quite small and humble dwellings. All gave such pleasure to their owners. I hope that our exhibition will do likewise for those who visit it.

Lucie has completed her first week here at Aardvark, and I am glad to say that she didn't run away screaming at the end of it. For a week in our quiet season it was surprisingly busy, which gave her the opportunity to see the bookshop at its best. If you are coming in over the next few weeks do introduce yourself to her. We have been very lucky with the people who have worked at Aardvark over the years, and I have been thinking recently about creating our own Aardvark pantheon.

Now the shop is starting to fill up, so it is necessary to stop ruminating and go and do some work. Those lattes don't make themselves!