The Apple Boutique closed this day in 1968. On December 5, 1967 the Fab Four had launched their first Apple venture at 94 Baker Street and a mere seven months later it was no more. All remaining stock was given away to the fans who queued up.

_{{by way of Chained and Perfumed}}

My modest Wodehouse collection expanded ever so slightly this past week. When I first began collecting P.G. Wodehouse first editions it was far easier to find a bargain here and there. Now, no chance and these very early stories are near on impossible to get hold of with the original dust jacket in any condition. I always had a standing rule that I’d never purchase a first edition if it had a facsimile wrapper as it just didn’t feel honest to me. If you’re going to house your edition in a fake you might as well go out and grab a cheap paperback copy. As time has gone on, I’ve remained pretty true to this ethos which in turn has meant I simply haven’t been collecting much of anything in recent years.

These early stories however are a bit different. The wrappers are so rare and many collectors will never see an original version and if they do they’re often in tatters. So I’ve recently given myself permission to make an exception in some cases. The first US edition of A Damsel In Distress is one such example of this. It’s one of the few Wodehouse tales I’ve not read before so when I was able to grab a solid first edition recently, I felt no qualms in also seeking out a facsimile jacket to go with it. The jacket illustration is so beautiful it felt a shame not to and the facsimile isn’t some cheap photocopy but is made from high def photographs of an original.

According to Richard Usborne, this story is ‘almost a Blandings novel’ and as far as I’m concerned you don’t get much better than that. Add to this that Fred Astaire starred alongside George Burns, Gracie Allen & Joan Fontaine in the 1937 film adaptation and you know you’re on to a winner. I look forward to diving into it with more rapturous intensity than a small child looks upon diving into a saucer of ice cream.

"Your suffering polishes you"

The great Toshirô Mifune in Duel at Ganryu Island. The third in the Samurai trilogy directed by Hiroshi Inagaki.

_{by way of Creative Review}