Behind the Bookshelves

Of all the memorable tales to emerge from the Great War, the most remarkable one is untrue. The Angels of Mons is a legend that evolved from a ghost story. In 1914, Arthur Machen published a short story called The Bowmen in a newspaper. It described how phantom archers from the Battle of Agincourt had come to the rescue of British soldiers fighting against the Germans in the Battle of Mons a month earlier. People thought Machen's story was factual and the myth of the Angels of Mons began.

The Savoy Cocktail Book is the coolest book in the world. Firstly, it's a one-off, the author, Harry Craddock, never wrote another book. Secondly, cocktails, in modicum, will never go out of style. And finally, it's beautiful and perfectly captures the mood of the Art Deco era. Discover the magic of this famous cocktail recipe book from 1930.

We’re talking Pulp with Mike Chomko, programming and marketing director of PulpFest. Discover the origins of the early Pulp magazines, how authors churned out story after story, the formula behind the lurid cover artwork, and how “new” pulp is bringing crime, sci-fi and adventure writing to a new audience with modern editions.

Jordan and Andrea Minter are the husband and wife team who run Russell Books, a bookshop in Victoria, British Columbia, that now employees 50 staff and offers thousands of new, used and rare books. We learn how the shop started in the 1960s in Montreal. We learn about the odds things that customers say. We learn about the strange things that are left behind in used books.

Ryan M. Place is the creator and chairman of the Detroit Bookfest. This festival of books is a huge event on July 15, dedicated to everything bookish with a major focus on used and rare books. We ask Ryan about the Motor City's book culture, John King's epic bookstore and how the festival began.

Eleven years ago, author-chef-TV star Anthony Bourdain came to town and took a group of foodies to brunch. This episode features memories of that brief encounter and remembers the impact of his ground-breaking memoir about the New York restaurant trade, Kitchen Confidential.

Although LGBT is now a thriving literary genre, it wasn't always this way. Discover the pioneering authors who paved the way with key books in the 19th century and early decades of the 20th century. From big names like Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf and Patricia Highsmith to long forgotten authors who have faded into obscurity, we take a tour of pen names, court cases and the simple struggle to be accepted.

In an interview with bookseller Jon Gilbert, we learn about the legacy of 007 author Ian Fleming and how his remarkable life shaped these famous spy novels. We discuss Fleming's work in journalism with Reuters and newspapers, and children's literature with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

While at the 2018 ABA Rare Book Fair in London, we interviewed Marysa de Veer of Otter Bookbinding about how she is keeping this traditional craft alive and the skills required to restore, preserve and enhance books. Marysa founded Otter Bookbinding in 1993 and you can find her bindery in Midhurst, West Sussex, in the UK.

Book burning. Two words to strike fear into bibliophiles. From Nazi Germany to Harry Potter, we look at what makes people burn books.