A night on the town
Soiree last night at Maggs Bros Ltd, a rare book dealer in Berkeley Square. It was put on by the London Rare Book School. I got to go along as a handbag to one of the participants. Do read the "About Us" page on the website, it's very entertaining. One of the staff assures me that there are no ghosts, it was a story made up in the 1880s when spooks were de rigeur, but the myth lives on and they are regularly approached by ghost hunters.
I held onto my wine glass with both hands, as spilling wine on a rare book will cause social offense and possibly justifiable homicide (depending on the value of the object thus destroyed). Although a group of us wondered whether a wine damaged book would be marked down and whether it might be worth it… Had a chat with the firm's Military History chap, hoping to find a suitable gift for Mr A. A very suitable gift (though above our touch) passed through their hands a fortnight ago. Just as well, really, as we quite like our current house, and would be loath to part with it…
Conversation was easy to achieve by asking the other guests what book they would find irresistible, should they be so foolish as to look closely at any of the shelves. Personally, I'd be as willing to take the shelves themsleves as the books upon them. Georgian town house with Victorian library furniture. Yum. An eclectic crowd of retired professionals, budding collectors, delegates from major libraries, and post-graduate students from across the world. One of the Maggs Bros staff is an Aussie, and a graduate of my companion's and my university, so we had plenty to talk about.
After, we wandered north through Mayfair to Wigmore Street in Marylebone, where we had dinner at Comptoir Libanais. The Time Out review gives this 5 stars, and so do the user reviews. Giles Coren (The Times) gives a slightly less enthusiastic, but hilarious review - don't skip the bit about pork plasma. Giles Coren appeared in Supersizers… series of tv, which I can also recommend for a bit of fun.
We ate very well: tabbouleh, dolma, lamb kofta, samboussek (chicken), and flatbread. We drank the special lemonades: pomegranite & orange blossom, and lemon, lime & rosewater. The rosewater was the bigger hit, although both were good. We squeezed in some baklava for dessert, basic baklava and one with walnut which was particularly good - not too sweet. My dining companion is a notable cook of Lebanese cuisine, and unless I went to the famed Abla's in Melbourne, I had not eaten anything as good elsewhere. Comptoir succeeded in being different without being inferior.
The service was particularly good at Comptoir. The waiting staff scanned the restaurant, and if you caught their eye, they came over. The food arrived promptly, and nothing was too much trouble (such as when we realised we'd failed to order bread with our tabbouleh).
And we got out for under £40. Staggered home past Gordon Ramsay at the Connaught (tried & failed to get a table), and Nobu (owned by Robert de Niro last time I checked, and a celebrity hang out) where people were still iining up to get in. At nearly 11pm, the nightlife in Mayfair was about to kick off, and we were glad to head home to Bloomsbury.
I held onto my wine glass with both hands, as spilling wine on a rare book will cause social offense and possibly justifiable homicide (depending on the value of the object thus destroyed). Although a group of us wondered whether a wine damaged book would be marked down and whether it might be worth it… Had a chat with the firm's Military History chap, hoping to find a suitable gift for Mr A. A very suitable gift (though above our touch) passed through their hands a fortnight ago. Just as well, really, as we quite like our current house, and would be loath to part with it…
Conversation was easy to achieve by asking the other guests what book they would find irresistible, should they be so foolish as to look closely at any of the shelves. Personally, I'd be as willing to take the shelves themsleves as the books upon them. Georgian town house with Victorian library furniture. Yum. An eclectic crowd of retired professionals, budding collectors, delegates from major libraries, and post-graduate students from across the world. One of the Maggs Bros staff is an Aussie, and a graduate of my companion's and my university, so we had plenty to talk about.
After, we wandered north through Mayfair to Wigmore Street in Marylebone, where we had dinner at Comptoir Libanais. The Time Out review gives this 5 stars, and so do the user reviews. Giles Coren (The Times) gives a slightly less enthusiastic, but hilarious review - don't skip the bit about pork plasma. Giles Coren appeared in Supersizers… series of tv, which I can also recommend for a bit of fun.
We ate very well: tabbouleh, dolma, lamb kofta, samboussek (chicken), and flatbread. We drank the special lemonades: pomegranite & orange blossom, and lemon, lime & rosewater. The rosewater was the bigger hit, although both were good. We squeezed in some baklava for dessert, basic baklava and one with walnut which was particularly good - not too sweet. My dining companion is a notable cook of Lebanese cuisine, and unless I went to the famed Abla's in Melbourne, I had not eaten anything as good elsewhere. Comptoir succeeded in being different without being inferior.
The service was particularly good at Comptoir. The waiting staff scanned the restaurant, and if you caught their eye, they came over. The food arrived promptly, and nothing was too much trouble (such as when we realised we'd failed to order bread with our tabbouleh).
And we got out for under £40. Staggered home past Gordon Ramsay at the Connaught (tried & failed to get a table), and Nobu (owned by Robert de Niro last time I checked, and a celebrity hang out) where people were still iining up to get in. At nearly 11pm, the nightlife in Mayfair was about to kick off, and we were glad to head home to Bloomsbury.