Hay-on-Wye, Powys Wales - Book capital of the World

[Ian Grant]

Or so it claims. . . .

Unfortunatly the dedicated photography bookshop "Blinking Images" is long gone but some great photography books on offer today.

For those non UK Apuger's Hay a small Welsh town on the English border has an extremely high number of secondhand bookshops, and this makes the twown a mecca for book lovers the world over. The model is actually being copied elsewhere.

However it's always luck finding a run of good books, my last was at Blinking Images about 8 yrs ago when I found & bought a whole load of signed books, later to discover they had been sold by the widow of the late & great Raymond Moore.

Today's treat was a number of american books I've never seen here before in the UK, essays by Nancy Newhall - From Adams to Stieglitz, Centennial Essays in Honor of Edward Weston, The Family of Man, and finally "British Photography - Towards a Bigger Picture". I know that most must have come from the same seller . . . . .

Nearly every shop I went in sells online, it might be worth a Google search.

There was one shop that had some superb photograpy books in the window, including Brassai - Paris by Night, Bob Carlos Clarke - Obsessions, and although only a small shelf of photography books inside all excellent and no rubbish or remaindered books. I can tell you how to get there, post an exact map of where but I didn't notice the shop name !

Kept the best and cheapes book until last:
Hints, Tips & Gadgets - for the Amateur Photographer. First published in 1941 in war torn Britain it's amazing, drawings and articles on how to make all sorts of essential photographic & darkroom equipment yourself.

An truly incredible book everything is so simple, make your own scales, 35mm adaptor for roll film camera, amazingly nothings Mickey Mouse and so much has been forgotten.

We can always keep learning

Ian

 

[leeturner]

I managed to pick up a copy of "Essays" about 4 years ago. It really is worth reading. If it's the same edition there is a great rant from Adams about gear lust.

 

[BarryWilkinson]

Hi Ian,

You brought back some pleasant memories of visits to Hay-on-Wye. I went on a few 'alt process' workshops at Hay some years ago. They were run jointly by a guy called Dennis Fielding and the owner of Blinking Images. Friendly little workshops and bookshop, shame their gone.

Somewhat bizarrely I was flying on an Air France flight from Beirut a few years ago and gettitng quite bored I picked up the inflight magazine, inside was an article on the 'Blinking Images' bookshop!

Barry

 

[wilsonneal]

Memories of Hay On Wye

Me too, regarding memories of HOW. They have a festival in the Spring that I attended and lots of sellers had their books outside. Memory is a little fuzzy, but I remember wandering amo
ng outdoor tables of books with great prices. Also recall great pubs in the area and the locals were very, very nice once they'd determined that we weren't from London. Not really sure why that was, but once they knew we were from the US they were very charming, and almost all of the folks that I spent time chatting with made a point of telling me that they'd feared I was a Londoner and was relieved I was American. Not sure I undestand that.

The LIGHT was the thing I enjoyed most about Wales. It's a very different quality of light than in New York.

Neal

 

[BarryWilkinson]

... they'd feared I was a Londoner and was relieved I was American. Not sure I undestand that.

Neal

Ah now I understand!



Barry
London UK

 

[markbb]

Given the size of Hay (never called Hay on Wye, by the way by us locals), it's amazing who attends their annual literary festival (which they claim is the largest in the World). Recent attendees include: Paul McCartney, Bob Geldoff, Bill Clinton etc.

In 1977, the owner of the Castle and a few others declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence, I seem to remember this threw local government into a bit of a frenzy for a while, having to go to the UN for guidance.

 

[mikeg]

The LIGHT was the thing I enjoyed most about Wales. It's a very different quality of light than in New York.

I find that it's a kind of light that normally gets you very wet!

The Hay literary festival is good fun though and we normally go to a few of the talks. It's a bit surreal wandering around the small tented village and spotting all those famous people.

I've never had much luck with the bookshops. They always seem very well picked over, and what I do find is usually very expensive. My best purchases have been overstock items, remainders and slightly damaged new books.

Mike