'Christmas was drawing near. Battersby's, the poulterer's, burst into unparalleled display of pendent turkeys' necks; fringe upon fringe of turkeys' necks; with curtains of rabbits over the door, and rows and rows of plucked ducks and geese laid out with yellow fat over them for decoration. Mr. Chadwick thought it very fine. His own ideas for Christmas lay along the same lines. He liked to hang up specially sumptuous eiderdowns and cram his windows with embroidered covers... Jane besought him to depart from his usual procedure. He gave in to her, but not without irritation. He felt he could not cope with her ideas. Youth and enthusiasm can be fatiguing to those who have lost both.'
- PB no. 85 High Wages by Dorothy Whipple (1930)
Whether you agree with Mr. Chadwick that Christmas is a time for tradition or with Jane, his employee at the draper's shop, who thinks innovation is crucial, we are confident our Christmas offer will appeal to our readers.
For £28 including postage, we shall send a Persephone book of your choice wrapped up in a reusable fabric envelope (pictured above) designed especially for this Christmas. It features the endpaper from PB no. 99 Patience, a 1953 design by Wendy Bray called ‘Leaves’ but which could just as easily have been called ‘Christmas Baubles’.
There will be a silk ribbon tied around the fabric envelope and a bookmark tucked inside it, along with a postcard of a new watercolour of the Persephone bookshop at Christmas by artist Kate Mears (pictured below). We can either leave the back of the postcard blank for you to write your own gift message or let us know what you would like to say and we will hand-write it for you.
The fabric envelopes have been made for us by Re-Wrap, a social enterprise in south India that manufactures organic cotton products in a way that impacts positively on its women suppliers and employees. Gift-wrapping our books like this is of course kinder to the environment than using paper, since the fabric envelopes can then be re-purposed – as a sandwich bag, a make-up bag, or just to keep your current read clean rather than covered in ink or crumbs.
Not sure which of our titles to choose? Here are a few suggestions or do get in touch - we are always pleased to chat about our books and there are no robots here, only humans.
Our Christmas offer can be ordered via the website, by telephone, by mail, or in person at our Bath shop.
Overseas customers: our Christmas offer is available to send overseas but the price shown at checkout, whilst it does include postage, will be significantly more than £28, depending on where you are, due to the ever-increasing cost of international shipping.
Wishing our readers a very Merry Christmas from all of us here at Persephone Books.
