et’s move on to....DURHAM!
City of students, a magnificent cathedral, more tearooms than
you can shake a stick at and only one Llydien-approved Secondhand
bookshop which, alas, no longer exists. Yet she will include it in
her list, for what is
past or present or the concept of time anyway? Mankind’s prime
and rather tragi-comic tool on the unending quest to understanding
reality and the world we live in (although Llydien, for her part,
sometimes thinks
she must have come from Mars or something, the ways of beasts and
men are really too strange at times).
nce upon a time there was a
shop, or better: a branch of the same, called
Thomas Rare Books,
located in the Indoor Market
(on the left hand side) in Durham City.
Opening times: Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Thomas Rare
Books has antiquarian and collector’s books, maps and prints. Here
Llydien bought one of her most interesting books, publication date
1705: A Compleat History of Europe: or, a View of the Affairs
thereof, Civil and Military: From the beginning of the Treaty of
Nimeguen, 1676. To the End of the Year, 1700. Written by a
Gentleman, who kept an Exact Journal of all Transactions, for
above these Twenty Years. (bona fide spelling and
punctuation).
he owner is friendly and knowledgeable and also sells old
postcards at
a much lower price than you will find at most places. At the
market stall he keeps most of his odds and ends and damaged books,
as he once told Llydien. This make them exceedingly affordable,
even for a
permanently overdrawn student. So, this was the best place in
Durham City to buy books, but sadly Thomas Rare Books closed its
Indoor Market branch because even after a big refurbishment of the
Indoor Market the town would
still not put in indoor heating (and believe Llydien - Gentle
Readers -
it can get very cold in County Durham). So, in 1996 the story ends.
In 1998 another little bookstore opened in Durham which, however,
deals only in recent second-hand books.
Emphasis
is on literature (get your textbooks HERE!!), the entrance is next
to Fat Face Clothing and opposite Vennel’s Tearoom near the Market
Place.
nd while we are in the neighbourhood,
let us spend a few minutes in quiet contemplation of
Vennel’s Tearoom, Llydien’s favourite haunt for the whole
of her stay in Durham City. Most of her essays were written here
and below the interested reader can find the very secret recipe of
Vennel’s Famous Sultana Loaf which a friendly waitress gave
Llydien in March of 1998.
oak 8 oz of Sultanas in ½ pint black tea.
dd 8 oz Demerara Sugar, 12 oz selfraising flour,
1 TSP mixed spice and two eggs to sultana/tea mixture.
our into a tin and bake.
urham