Shop! A big day for little me . . .
I have always wanted to have a shop of my own – and now I have!
It’s an online shop and it’s opening today, 6 December, the Feast of Saint Nicholas, the official start of the Christmas season. I am calling it Gyles Brandreth’s Old Curiosity Shop after The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens, both as a respectful nod of admiration to one of my favourite authors (I am playing Scrooge for the first time this Christmas in an animated production of A Christmas Carol for the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield), and because I think the name will suit some of the stuff I’m planning to sell.
Everything in the shop will be personal to me. I will be choosing all the items personally and personally signing all the books.
The books are quite special. Some are new – like The 7 Secrets of Happiness (a Number One best-seller, I am proud to say) and Break a Leg! (the collection of theatre quotes and stories collected by my wife, Michèle, and me). Others are older, but special because they are either first editions or American editions or rare copies of books that are out of print. With some of the books, like my royal biographies, there are only a handful of copies left to sell.
If you want one of my current books at a bargain price, you must go to Amazon. If you want one of my current books and like personal service and want to look at it first, you must go to your nearest independent bookshop. (I love a real bookshop and I love a quirky independent bookshop best of all.) But if you want a book that started life on my bookshelves at home and has been signed by me and probably isn’t available elsewhere, visit Gyles Brandreth’s Old Curiosity Shop right here: https://www.musicglue.com/gyles-brandreths-old-curiosity-shop/
I am opening the shop with some of my favourite books, including Who Is Nick Saint? (it was my first novel: it’s a contemporary romantic mystery with a Christmas theme) and a number of my Victorian murder mysteries – traditional whodunnits that feature Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle as my detectives. The Oscar Wilde murder mysteries have had wonderful reviews and been published in 21 countries around the world. There’s even talk of a TV series. Watch this space!
Seriously, do watch this space. I plan to add new stock to the shop on a regular basis. There’s a newsletter you can sign up to so I can keep you posted on what’s new in store. I have ambitious plans, but I am starting small – with just fourteen BOOKS and fourteen MUGS.
Mugs? Yes, mugs! Whenever I am writing a book – or reading a book – I always have a mug at my side. I love mugs. I collect mugs. I design mugs, and, exclusively for my own Old Curiosity Shop, I am creating my own signature range of mugs with very particular literary and Brandreth connections. I hope you will like them.
WONDERLAND MUGS
I write books and I love mugs and Alice in Wonderland has been part of my life since I was a little boy. I have a written a TV series, two plays and book about Lewis Carroll. I even invented an Alice in Wonderland board game. And now, to mark the 150th anniversary of Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, first published in 1871, I have created my signature edition of Wonderland mugs, featuring the genius drawings of Sir John Tenniel and some of my favourite lines from my favourite books by Lewis Carroll.
MUGFULS OF INSPIRATION
I always start the day with a mug of tea. I know some people prefer a mug of coffee. And I have a mug at my side all day long, until I go to bed with a mug of cocoa. My mugs are my best friends. I also love messing about in quotes – I am the editor of the Oxford Book of Humorous Quotations – so for my signature ‘Mugfuls of Inspiration’ I have chosen wise and amusing words from six remarkable achievers. In the old days earthenware mugs often featured pictures of people – which is why we also call a face a mug. On my mugs, you will see the mugs of six of my heroes. Check them out here: https://www.musicglue.com/gyles-brandreths-old-curiosity-shop/
FUN MUGS FROM GYLES
I was lucky enough to know the great Sir Roger Moore. He was my favourite 007. He also had a great sense of humour. One of my fun mugs features a picture of me and Roger – and a joke he told me. I was lucky enough to have a Number One best-seller with my book about the importance of punctuation, Have You Eaten Grandma? Another of my fun mugs celebrates the book. There will be more fun mugs as time goes by.
This is a big day for me. As Ebenezer Scrooge says when he throws open his window on Christmas morning after those ghostly visitations: ‘No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring… Golden sunlight; heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh glorious! Glorious!’ Yes, I know it’s only an online shop, but I’m excited.