A literary location and books to treasure

    A literary location: snapped at dusk, The Eagle and Child - also known as The Bird and Baby - a public house dating from 1650 in Oxford's St. Giles, extra-mural meeting place of The Inklings, and as such referred to by Edmund Crispin.

    I wish I'd had time to go inside when I was there last week; that will have to wait for the next visit.

 

    Books to treasure: I am fortunate in being invited to many literary events in London, but living up in Scotland means that I can rarely accept these lovely invitations. One such 'do' which I couldn't attend was a recent evening hosted by The Guardian to showcase the beautiful books of The Folio Society.

    All those of us who prize quality of production and design in our books - fine paper and bindings, exquisite illustrations to complement the text - will be familiar with Folio Society books. If you're looking for special Christmas gifts, their site is well worth a visit: take for example their 2013 diary shown above, the favourites in this list, or - to follow on from the Inklings - C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, and don't miss this wonderful short video which brings books alive!