STEERFORTH BOOKS

I can't remember when I started to read the marvellous The Age of Uncertainty, but I rather think it cant have been long after I began writing Mrs Trefusis.
The Age of Uncertainty is the work of a fellow book obsessive, so it's hardly surprising that it's one of my favourites. 

The Age of Uncertainty is the work of a fellow book obsessive, so it's hardly surprising that it's one of my favourites. Formerly of Ottakars and Waterstone's, Steerforth now has his own antiquarian and secondhand book business, and has entertained and beguiled me over the last six or so years with beautiful posts about photographs and postcards tucked inside books, long forgotten by their owners, of offbeat, bonkers, mass-market paperbacks from the fifties, and his wonderful pastiche of Ladybird books. Steerforth is eloquent and erudite, with a dry, ironical wit which I'm sure you'll find as appealing as I do.

Anyway. Steerforth and I have an occasional correspondence - the last time we were in touch was as I was planning Sam Ellis' Books That Built Me, and I had mentioned the central role Wuthering Heights plays in How To Be A Heroine. Imagine how wonderful it was to return home and discover he had sent me a very lovely edition of Wuthering Heights (and Agnes Gray) from the early thirties (see picture at top of page)  - how amazing and how very thoughtful. 

Thank you. Steerforth, I hope to see you and Mrs Steerforth at the Andrew O'Hagan Books That Built me in March.