Another one hits the streets
Yep, I've released another book into the wild today. Left it in the same place as the one and only of my releases to be caught to date. I'm getting very impatient to have another book found!
Eclectic outpourings as books pass through
2005/9/2
Adrian Bell
The Radio Four programme, Things that Endure, carried a wonderful feature article this morning (2nd September 2005) on the author Adrian Bell, famous for his rural writings. I've long been a fan of his country-oriented author and in particular his semi-autobiographical trilogy Corduroy, Silver Ley and The Cherry Tree but I knew nothing about the author.
The BBC programme however revealed that not only was he an author, but also the originator of the Times Crossword and its compiler for over 50 years. His son, the former independent MP, Martin Bell, talked affectionately of Adrian Bell, of his troubled life and of the enormous impact his father's country-loving books on British soldiers and prisoners of war during the second world war. Bell's daughter has, thankfully, kept several of the letters her father recieved from prisoners of war explaining how much his books meant to them during their prisonment.
Bell wrote a total of 24 books, the last of which was published just two weeks before his death on 7th September 1980. He also contributed many articles to various publications including The Eastern Daily Press which featured his Countryman's Notebook for some 35 years. The Eastern Daily Press is currently re-running some of his Notebook columns.
I was also delighted to learn that there is Adrian Bell Society, formed in 1996. That's another one I'll be watching.
Martin Bell has also written on his father and his work for Penguin, published in a collection called Father and Son and published by the Penguin Collector's Society. An extract of that work appears on the Penguin website.
We used to sell a lot of his books in our second hand book shop, but they are increasingly hard to find and when we do get them into stock, they tend to sell very quickly. Click here to see which of Adrian Bell's books we have in stock at present.
If you can't find what you are after at The Virtual Bookshelf, you might like to try Ibooknet.
Those whom enjoy Adrian Bell's writing may also enjoy the novels of
all of who write with affection and insight on English rural life and nature.
