book·​ery | ˈbu̇k(ə)rē | noun

1. (countable) a collection of books
2. (uncountable) study of or passion for books

As much as my design practice encourages me to constantly search for *NEW* publications on design research and projects, I often find myself returning to piles of secondhand books on my shelves, the corners worn, the spines cracked, and pages foxed. There is a thrill in finding the perfect used book, knowing it has been long out of print, been handled by countless hands—and that if you don’t take it home at that moment you may never see it again. 

I began collecting cookbooks from the 1960s-80s when studying my MA and researching visual design for commensality—investigating how the visual and written language of recipes, table setting, and hosting had evolved from the post-war years to the COVID pandemic, and along with them our attitudes towards communal activities. My collection morphed as my research area did, from recipe books and guides on dinner parties and hosting, to storage and preservation methods, and then food growing and farming. Now, my bookshelves in my studio and at home are piled with books covering food preparation and serving, herbal medicine, and community/home/school gardening—providing a look into the growing, cooking, and eating practices of the past, to consider those of the future. I use these as not only visual material for my design practice, but also a starting point for many of my essays for my column in MOLD Magazine on food history. 

This syllabus provides a manifesto for book-collecting—from local spots in Manchester, to my own criteria for choosing books, and a shortlist of current favourites in my collection—as an invitation to consider your own places and processes for collecting.

Sourcing

✸ Oxfam Books, Chorlton M21 9AN
You can also source books from Oxfam’s online bookshop, but this book-dedicated charity shop in Chorlton always needs a good slot of time to explore.

✸ Didsbury Village Bookshop, M20 6TW
Hidden in the back of The Art of Tea, this cupboard of a bookshop is a local favourite. The owner sadly passed away several years ago, but the shop is still operational and crammed floor-to-ceiling.

✸ Bopcap Books, Levenshulme M19 3NP
Situated in the old police station next to the Antiques Village, Bopcap Books sells new releases as well as secondhand books and collectibles. It’s only open Thursday to Sunday so is the perfect location for weekend browsing. 

✸ Paramount Books, Shudehill, M4 2AF
Only open at weekends (but you’ll know it’s open from the music blaring from the speakers outside), Paramount Books has been around since 1965 and is piled high with secondhand and rare books, magazines, and comics. It’s cash only and you will probably be asked to leave if you get your phone out.

✸ Alexandria Library, Wilmslow Road M14 5LW
Alexandria Library is an independent charity bookshop found near the Fallowfield-end of the Curry Mile, and sells both new and secondhand books in English, Arabic, Farsi, and Kurdish. Shopping there will help fund their work supporting refugees, asylum seekers, and international students, and they run free English classes and conversation cafes. 

✸ Kernaghan Books, Liverpool L1 3BX
A trip to the Bluecoat Gallery in Liverpool is never complete without going next door to this bookshop, which shares its courtyard. Specialising in antiquarian books as well as pamphlets, photographs, and maps spanning 400 years of publishing. 

✸ The Print Arkive
I’ve broken my own self-imposed rules here as The Print Arkive isn’t local to me but based in Cornwall where my family live. David collects and sells rare and out-of-print design books, prints, and ephemera, and you can buy online here. Every time I intend to have a quick browse I’ll lose hours of my life on this website. David also buys your secondhand design books, is open to swaps for those that can’t afford something that’s caught their eye, and can help you source something in particular you’re looking for.

Seeking

When considering what to include in this syllabus, I realized you cannot outline a process or criteria for book collecting—it is a personal practice, built by your own interests and what you want to discover. Below are a few things I look out for in my own finds:

✸ The Cover – yes, always judge a book by its cover. I’ve bought plenty of books purely for their cover design, typography, color palette and layout, and used these as inspiration in design projects.

✸ Handwriting – the charm of finding handwritten additions in the margins of books, or notes to a loved one on the front page, reminds me of the past lives of these books. Especially for self-published or handmade books I’ve found without publishing details, these notes can offer a little information about the when, who, and why.

✸ Surprise Inserts – I’ve found this quite common in recipe books and gardening manuals—pages bookmarked with torn-out pages from plant brochures or other recipes, or folded up hand-written notes or lists. 

✸ Images – obviously, a lot of my book choices are driven by the photographs and illustrations inside, which then appear in my collage pieces, risograph prints, or drive further research. 

✸ Production – how has the book been produced, printed, and bound? On the rare occasion I come across a book that has been handmade or homemade, it feels even more pertinent for me to take it home and preserve the author or publisher’s work, and find out more about the publication, people, and story behind it.

Reading 

To follow these criteria, below I’ve described a few of my current favourites that have been occupying space on my bedside or transported place to place with me lately. 

✸ The Relation of Art to Nature, John W. Beatty (1922)
I found this in the aforementioned Kernaghan Books in Liverpool, just as I was beginning a project researching fleurons (typographic flowers)—which this book is full of in the form of ornamental plates, by typographer and book designer Bruce Rogers. It’s a handmade, small cloth-covered book, with raw-edged pages (the back page even features the Fabriano watermark). The adjacent page states “Nine hundred and fifty copies printed at the press of William Edwin Rudge, Mount Vernon, New York • Typography by Bruce Rogers”

✸ Quick & Easy Cook Cards • Salads & Snacks, Paul Hamlyn (c.1960s)
I bought a set of these recipe cards at a vintage fair in Manchester—part of a series, but the salads and snack cards were too good to leave behind (Chicken aspic towers, Fried sardine sandwiches et al.) Aside from the food styling and recipes themselves being a source of great joy, the design of the sleeve is wonderful.

✸ The A.B.C. of Gardening, W.E. Shewell-Cooper (6th edition, 1960)
Inscribed with ‘To Grandad with love from Paul, Christmas 1961’, this book is a haven of diagrams and how-tos for home garden practices that I still refer back to. It also features several plates of weirdly colourised photographs, which I love. (AND the inside of the dust jacket is a Miscellaneous Weights and Measures chart.)

✸ The Book of the School Garden, Charles F. Lawrance (c.1920s)
I bought a job lot of old gardening books on eBay for a workshop a couple of years ago (for participants to cut up and collage with) but didn’t have the heart to give any of them up—so they have been added to the collection. In the box was this kind of tatty book on school gardening. I haven’t been able to find out much about this book, the author, or the series but the publishing house, Evans Brothers, mainly published material for teachers. The book serves as a start-to-finish guide for planning and maintaining a school garden, along with a suggested scheme of work for teaching (1920s-style). My favourite section is titled ‘Garden Friends and Foes’. The last page of the book advertises more teacher guides from the series—they must have seen me coming, because I recently went in search of, and bought a copy of, The Teacher’s Book of Nature Study Volume 3.