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Gilbert Holliday

I paid a visit to my favourite little Mencap charity bookshop today.  Almost invariably when I go there I come back with something old and interesting (at a bargain price!) so I’m always filled with anticipation when I go.  I’m like a child in a sweet shop when it comes to old books!

Today was no exception…. My best find was a lovely old book called Hunter’s Moon which is full of poems and with pictures by Gilbert Holliday (1879-1937).  There seems to be a variation in the spelling of his surname by the way – it has two ‘l’s in Holliday on my book but internet searches show it with just one.

The book isn’t dated although one of my internet searches gives it a date of 1930 although I would have said it’s earlier than that but who knows!  It’s on a hunting theme – not necessarily politically correct but I only look at the pictures!

This one’s called ‘Ware wire’ which perhaps means beware of the wire?  Not quite sure, but again the horses are beautifully captured.

This book has 8 colour prints all together and cost me the brilliant price of just £2…. I love that shop!  I also managed to buy a 1950s book ‘British Romantic Artists’ for the princely sum of 50p and a re-print of the Life and Works of Birket Foster, someone who I’ve been researching in the last couple of weeks so that was a real bonus.

Those books made me happy and I also made my daughter happy by getting her ‘Gone Girl’ for £1 – something she’s been saying she wanted over the last couple of weeks so I’ve done good today!

Shame I didn’t find this book before I published our Horses public domain DVD, but this one’s already jam-packed anyway!