Books !

I've been sorting out my books, dusting shelves, and generally spring cleaning a little !   Its interesting to read snippets of many of them as I dust and sort.   Many of my Africa collection I have picked up for next to nothing in charity shops and from the 'books for sale' shelf in the library.    I'm intrigued by several of them, and list here some of the curious things I have found while dusting ....

There's a book called 'A Tear for Somalia' by Douglas Collins; inside is a stamp with previous owners name ... "M.D.Barker, Grinlinton Farm, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly".    I must have bought this book at an island jumble sale when camping on St Agnes with my children more than 25 years ago.   But why was someone on an isolated island reading about Somalia ?   So I googled to try and find out more .... and up came an obituary for Maurice Barker, who was a Derbyshire man, who went to Scilly in his 20's, married a local girl, and farmed there until he died aged 83 in 2009.    You can read about him here .... http://www.cornwalllive.com/proud-family-man-maurice-dies-aged-83/story-11425651-detail/story.html      And here is a picture of his farmhouse, which I now realise is where we used to stop for a cream tea or an ice cream !   http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/822089  
What a small world !

Another book I have is 'East African Explorers' which is a selection of the writings of Burton, Speke, Livingstone, etc. etc.   I expect it was a Monmouth charity shop purchase .... but inside is the stamp of the original book-shop where it was sold:-  'The London Book Co., Rawalpindi'.    Once more I googled .... Rawalpindi I see is in the Pakistani part of the Punjab.   How on earth did a book about Africa come from Pakistan to Monmouth ??    Who in Rawalpindi was reading about African explorers ?   If only books could speak .... 

Finally, I am curious about 'My African Journey' by W.S. Churchill .... I found this in a local charity shop where I paid 20 pence for it; but on the fly-leaf I see it once belonged to my dear departed friend, Kim.   There is his signature, the date he bought it - August 1983 - and he has written  "Monmouth Market - at last !! "   What did he mean by that ?   Had he been looking for a copy of this for a long time?   It's too late to ask him .... and now I realise that one day (I hope in the far distant future) people will be curious about the things I jot down in books, and the odd newspaper cuttings, obituaries, receipts and so on I tuck into the pages.   

Where would I be without books !!