The bookshop in Puddletown ...

The bookshop in Puddletown was no artful Waterstones - a narrow door, well hidden, opened upon a labyrinth of foxed volumes - 

Penny and I were happy to explore the dark bookcases - we both devoured books as a pike would minnows - 

I lingered by a bright reef of first edition G A Hentys - I picked up Under Drake's Flag - a boy stood upon the deck of a sailing ship, a rapier in his slender hand - 

A locked glass bookcase contained mysterious folios - 

We lost all sense of time amongst the gentle volumes - 

I thought of all the book shops I'd visited - perhaps, in a dream, I would revisit them - 

I would wear a cloak of fragrant pages, torn from Newgate Calendars - there would be piano music, Gnossiennes - I would walk barefoot upon rich carpets - 

The Antique Map & Bookshop

Puddletown

Dorset

12.30

March 13 2015