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1970s Counterculture Newspapers
I have spent today buried deep in the seventies. It's been a fascinating trip - in more ways than one - as I photographed and listed a big collection of 70s underground newspapers. It's particularly...
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Jean Picart le Doux
 Some years ago I had a set of playing cards by the French artist Jean Picart le Doux. The 50s/60s vibe from them was just brilliant and I have kept an eye out since for another deck but to no avail....
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1940s Australia in Black and White
 When I first saw this collection of photographs from the 1940s I thought the one above was a photograph of a painting is it so beautifully composed and the grain and contrast of the image so carefully...
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Callum James Books: A Halloween Sale
Those on my mailing list will already know of the strange enchantment that has befallen me today. I was put in mind of a 'sale' and of creating a list of 'bargains'... just the words are enough to make...
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Richard Burton in Alexander the Great
 A blond Richard Burton playing the greatest gay icon of all time in the 1956 movie Alexander the Great! What's not to like. Found these technicolor lobby card stills today. I think the somewhat faded,...
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Physical by Andrew McMillan
Physical by Andrew McMillan.At the outset, I should say that I don't feel qualified to offer a traditional 'review' of a book of poetry: I don't have the necessary depth of critical apparatus needed...
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The Mysterious Death of Hubert Crackanthorpe
One way or another I have been plunged back into the 1890s this week included being reminded about young Mr Crackanthorpe by the passage across my desk of this wonderful 1893 piece of book production...
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Vintage photos in this morning's post...
This morning's post brought a whole bundle of vintage goodies in the photos of handsome young men line... and obviously, I just had to share...!
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Anna Zinkeisen Zodiac Calendar for Whitbread 1957
Back in may I was waxing lyrical across a number of posts about the 1930s and 40s magazine The Courier, of which I have a number of copies. One of the posts was about the sister artists Doris and Anna...
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Sidney Hunt: Painting and Bookplate
It was a delight on yesterday's edition of The Antiques Roadshow to see this beautiful painting by Sidney Hunt, a painter whose work, as the expert on the program made clear, is very scarce. This maybe...
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Three Ex Libris
A day spent at an "International Antiquarian Bookfair" yesterday resulted in my purchasing not a single book - I'm almost proud of that fact. However, I did find a moment to buy three exlibris...
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A List of Eroticae
In the days before erotic story archives on the internet, the business of getting your hands on some erotic fiction was both difficult and costly. This small catalogue is an amazing survival, printed...
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Rare Ex Libris: Leonard Smithers
I was very lucky the other day to see a very rare bookplate. It is an ex-libris for Leonard Smithers: bookman, publisher to the 1890s decadents including Oscar Wilde, peddler in all manner of erotica...
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Literary Obscurity: Kettleby by Erminois
Kettleby by ErminoisWell here's one for those who are into the byeways of literary obscurity. It is also a perfect case study in why 'rare' doesn't necessarily mean valuable.It's unusual. Very unusual....
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More Vintage Swimwear
Rummaging through boxes of old photos in junk shops is, of course, one way to create and grow a collection of vintage swimwear and hunky chap photos but, on the whole, it's the internet where the best...
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Armstrong Sperry Illustrates his own "The Boy Who Was Afraid"
A beautiful fable of a story for young children, The Boy Who Was Afraid by Armstrong Sperry (published in the US as Call It Courage) is about a young Polynesian lad who, since his mother was killed at...
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New Full Length Catalogue from Callum James Books
It's always a delight to be able to put out a new full-length catalogue. If you don't already know about this one that will be because you are not on my mailing list. You can rectify that by simply...
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For Industry...
Today's bookplate (and yes, we do seem to have had quite a preponderance of ex libris plates on the blog lately) is a charming Edwardian school prize plate showing how the important things about school...
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More Vintage Goodies in the Post
So the new catalogue has been really fun to do and it's been a busy week packing and posting stuff off to new owners so I'm afraid all I have to share at the moment are three photos of scantily clad...
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Yet More Vintage Goodness
Who says you can have too much of a good thing: second post in a row of things that came through the post to Callum James Heights. I promise a return to obscure books and other kinds of artwork soon!
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