Edmund Brumfitt
@ebrumfitt.bsky.social
Dealer in rare books, mainly before 1820, mainly European. Plus other distractions.
Will govern myself accordingly, as ABA security messages used to say.
November 11, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Will govern myself accordingly, as ABA security messages used to say.
I was rather planning on packing light for Philly next week. Bad idea?
November 11, 2025 at 1:42 PM
I was rather planning on packing light for Philly next week. Bad idea?
There is nothing better. I sold someone a book at the NY fair this year who had bought their first rare book from me maybe 15 years earlier. A sale like that is better than any big one.
November 9, 2025 at 11:08 PM
There is nothing better. I sold someone a book at the NY fair this year who had bought their first rare book from me maybe 15 years earlier. A sale like that is better than any big one.
No! But I am now. Should come with a trigger warning.
November 7, 2025 at 11:03 AM
No! But I am now. Should come with a trigger warning.
I get abbreviated to all sorts of things and I just tend to roll with it (or embrace it - booking restaurants is much easier over the phone if I just call myself Ed). But I absolutely draw the line at Eddie, which the father of a school friend used to call me.
November 7, 2025 at 10:37 AM
I get abbreviated to all sorts of things and I just tend to roll with it (or embrace it - booking restaurants is much easier over the phone if I just call myself Ed). But I absolutely draw the line at Eddie, which the father of a school friend used to call me.
Was just looking at the NE regional for the same trip and you basically write off a day, though. Is the Acela that bad?
November 6, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Was just looking at the NE regional for the same trip and you basically write off a day, though. Is the Acela that bad?
It is also one of the very few books I have had to which I can find not a single reference!
November 4, 2025 at 10:58 AM
It is also one of the very few books I have had to which I can find not a single reference!
I did wonder. But even the second (surviving) male was born in 1736. Ercole (if it is about him) did get married in 1741, but I don't know why there would be baptismal ceremonies the previous year (to accompany engagement? But a bit odd, unless I am missing something).
November 4, 2025 at 10:55 AM
I did wonder. But even the second (surviving) male was born in 1736. Ercole (if it is about him) did get married in 1741, but I don't know why there would be baptismal ceremonies the previous year (to accompany engagement? But a bit odd, unless I am missing something).
By way of a lure, these are the endpapers...
November 4, 2025 at 10:42 AM
By way of a lure, these are the endpapers...
As a bookseller? 8 years and counting...
October 28, 2025 at 10:38 PM
As a bookseller? 8 years and counting...
I haven't been since its reopening, but the Museum of the Home certainly does textiles. But I don't know how they are now displayed.
October 28, 2025 at 9:31 PM
I haven't been since its reopening, but the Museum of the Home certainly does textiles. But I don't know how they are now displayed.
And should you be on the King's Road on Friday or Saturday and fancy a browse, you can get free tickets at lists.ebrb.co.uk/chelseatickets. Do come along.
October 27, 2025 at 1:36 PM
And should you be on the King's Road on Friday or Saturday and fancy a browse, you can get free tickets at lists.ebrb.co.uk/chelseatickets. Do come along.
Actually, to my shame, no. Although still working through one from two years ago.
October 18, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Actually, to my shame, no. Although still working through one from two years ago.
Good to get your 2027 cake done early.
October 18, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Good to get your 2027 cake done early.
Oh! for an edit button: Finazzi, not Finanzi.
October 13, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Oh! for an edit button: Finazzi, not Finanzi.
Not included in the usual list, though, is this, with music by the castrato Filippo Finanzi (1705-1776); as far as we can tell, this copy is the only evidence of any performance of Finanzi's opera, which otherwise appears to have sunk without trace. (The wrappers are just the icing on the cake).
October 13, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Not included in the usual list, though, is this, with music by the castrato Filippo Finanzi (1705-1776); as far as we can tell, this copy is the only evidence of any performance of Finanzi's opera, which otherwise appears to have sunk without trace. (The wrappers are just the icing on the cake).
Yes - as a trusting 18-year-old I didn't question it, but a few decades later I have my doubts.
October 10, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Yes - as a trusting 18-year-old I didn't question it, but a few decades later I have my doubts.
I was told the same about Kant - German Kant scholars much preferred the Norman Kemp Smith translation to the original. No idea of course if that was actually true.
October 10, 2025 at 9:22 AM
I was told the same about Kant - German Kant scholars much preferred the Norman Kemp Smith translation to the original. No idea of course if that was actually true.