They Might Look Plain,

but what delights lurk inside,

they are a 1882-4 9 vol William Morris The Book Of The Thousand Nights and One Night, translated by J Payne, this copy of John Payne's of the translation is from the library of William Morris at Kelmscott House, with the bookplate of Kelmscott House, Hammersmith. Kelmscott House was the home of the noted artist, writer and socialist William Morris for over twenty years. Following his death, the two bookplates to this set were created by William Morris' executors to demonstrate provenance on the dispersal of his collection. The entire Morris library was then sold to Richard Bennett of Pendleton. Subsequent owners of this work include James Tregaskis and Henry Andrade Harben, the once Mayor of Paddington. It is uncommon to have a work so rich in provenance. This lovely edition of these stories was privately printed for the Villon society, of which the translator was closely associated. A limited edition, this set is numbered 222 of 500 copies printed, normally priced at £4,500.00 but using the discount code WPNAZYR27 the price is dropped to  £2,700, if only we won the lottery! As an aside the discount applies to thousands of books on their website, sale ends Sunday 17th May, I should mention I have used this company many times before and they are first class, the company is Rooke Books.

As A Kid,

my bedroom walls were decorated with many cases of taxidermy fish, animals and birds,

 plus butterflies in cases, and also posters, but none as nice or informative as these, Matt Baker creates helpful visual guides that condense hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of years of history into streamlined flowcharts, the one above, Evolution and Classification of Life Poster, it is a 24x36" wall chart that is unique in that it serves as both a timeline of evolution and a guide to biological classification. Over 250 plant, animal, and microbe species are arranged according to the most up-to-date taxonomy (domain, kingdom, phylum, order, family, and genus) in a beautiful, easy to follow "tree of life" format. The chart focuses on species that are well-known to the average person so that one can discover interesting things such as the fact that green peppers are closely related to petunias or that dolphins are closely related to barnyard animals,

 I picked a few more at random, Timeline of World History, 

Roman Emperors Family Tree, now these I could really do with now,

especially this one, Greek Mythology Family Tree, as so many questions in the quiz shows we watch ask questions about the above! so for any plain walls in your kids bedrooms feed them a few of these visual learning treats, you never know they might be glad you did when they are on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire! all of these and more can be purchased at Matt Baker shop, Useful Charts.

Keeping To A Poster Theme,

here are a few free posters to download,

from artist Jordan Bolton, 

 all of these downloadable coloring sheets are inspired by Wes Anderson Movies,

 and there are quite a few,

if you like this style of poster he also offers more for sale on his site, but what a nice gesture to allow these to be downloaded for free, so coloring pencils out, 1, 2, 3, go!

We Had A Quiet Day Indoors,

outside it was almost nonstop rain and drizzle,

and almost blowing a gale, but it did not stop the squirrels and crows from having a feed on peanuts, we watched a few quiz shows in the afternoon, following our evening meal, it was feet up for a double helping of Poirot, one of the channels is having a Poirot week, which was nice as we both like the series, next one episode of Have I Got News For You, cutting wit and satirical send ups of various politicians and world leaders amongst other gems in this weeks program,

we rounded the evening off with Geostorm, which for some reason was not very well received, or at least I have to say underrated, for us a very enjoyable, a sort of believable story, if you believe space shuttles are dime a dozen! apart from that great special effects, stunning in fact, finishing that and with the midnight hour been and gone, we were then off to bed.

Social Distancing,

seems to be the phrases today, and rightly so,

 but it appears that the term 6 feet, or 2 meters, is difficult for many people to visualize,

so in a few countries helpful poster are appearing to help with the visualization of what the distance should be,

 for instance in Japan a tatami (畳), is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms they are made in standard sizes, twice as long as wide, about 0.9 m by 1.8 m depending on the region,

I would want to keep a lot more that 1 alligator apart if I meet one,

 great for us Brits,

noval,

 and this easy to use,  

as is this,

and an all in one park guide, but one profession has not yet made the obvious, for any poster to strike home in some circumstance it must be brutal, I would have thought an undertaker would have made a poster with a coffin in between the 2 people in the poster, brutal I know, but then it has to be to be effective.

When I First Looked At This Photograph,

I really did not know what to think of it,

actually I first thought it was an architects Photoshop prank, but I was so wrong, photographed by Stefano Perego on Reddit, it is in fact a real hotel, the Inntel Hotels Amsterdam Zaandam, from the hotels web page,

"This visually 4-star hotel has an impressive façade. The structure is a lively stacking of various traditional houses to be found in the Zaan region. The interiors of the modern hotel rooms also reflect the rich history of the Zaan area: the traditional products, the pioneers of the local craft industries and the families which made the area world famous." 

what a totally strange looking hotel and place to stay.

With The Lockdown Still In Place,

I am guessing a number of people are spring cleaning,

their lofts, attics, basements and garages, and discovering treasure they had forgotten that they had, and above is a treasure worth discovering, it looks nothing special, just another Bond book read and put away, but, this is a 1955 Jonathan Cape first edition, first impression with the first state dust wrapper, which has no tears. The third James Bond novel. The first edition can be identified by the word "shoo" instead of "shoot" on page 10. Moonraker the novel is different to Moonraker the film. Fleming's book reflects a couple of topical themes from the 1950s - the villain Drax is a former Nazi and there is a nuclear rocket aimed at London, OK enough already, what is it worth? it just sold for £10,175 which is cheap! start looking in your forgotten places now, there must be others out there! but if you do not want to look but want a copy have a look here as there are a few for sale, but be prepared to pay a lot more for a copy than this one.