If you had to choose one book currently on the shelves at Shapero to add to your own collection, what would that be?
England is blessed with great architecture and I would get years of pleasure from a set of Tipping and Avery’s English Homes.
Your new catalogue Exploration & Travel has recently been published, what are some personal highlights from the collection?
This has been a really difficult catalogue to put together. Buying opportunities have been as rare as the books themselves. Fortunately I was sitting on a collection of books on Ethiopia, in the hope (abandoned) of doing a specialised list. This formed the backbone of the Africa section. I was also lucky enough to buy a good group of Ottoman books. Items I particularly like are the two manuscript/typed items in the Africa section: the Abyssinia travel diary, 1912 (Item 1), difficult to decipher but very evocative of the time; and Item 44, Press, A banker in Abyssinia (item 44), very readable and really should be published. It really captures the tension between the Italians and the British.
What do you think it is about Travel that makes for such an exciting area of book collecting?
The astonishing bravery of many of the explorers, who were literally going into the unknown as far as they were concerned, often poorly equipped, and a long way from home with no easy means of communication.
Given you’re our resident Travel expert, where have your personal journeys taken you?
My most frequent travels have been to Central America. I have particularly enjoyed Guatemala and Honduras. They are both a bit edgy, I guess, but at least you are not completely overwhelmed by the commercialization you find in the Yucatan. The Mayan ruins at Copan are completely other-worldly, and Copan is pretty safe (or at least it was). My most memorable journey was through the Algerian Sahara. Tamanrasset in the Hoggar left quite an impression.
If you could pick only one book from the catalogue for your personal collection, which one are you taking and why?
Press, A Banker in Abyssinia. For the reasons given above.
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