Vintage Classics Book Crossing

East London Is A Vampire

2007-09-03T02:03:00.001-07:00

East London pubs aren't just famous for their fine ales, good sausage and mash, and the occasional Friday night disco. From Spitalfields to Stepney, and all that lies in between, there is a strong blend of history and tradition. From Jack The Ripper to the Kray Brothers, to tales of epic karaoke and late night lock-ins.

This week, however, there was a literal presence that opened a chain of new doors for the Vintage Classics book crossing. The planting of various Crime, Monsters and Fear titles whipped up some late summer pub reading.

Copies of Ripleys Game, Frankenstein, The Bloody Chamber and Sexing the Cherry were left unattended for potential readers to find, and the texts have flooded in over the weekend with people eager to get the twin to the book they found and get their reading eyes into action.

There is now loads of Vintage book crossing books out there, doing the rounds, being read, passed on, and left again for others to find. Many books are now reaching their third set of hands as they make their merry way about the UK.

Please be sure to keep dropping by the blog and let us know about your book finds and book plantings so we can share the travels of these classic stories with the rest of the world.

Sunshine, pebbles and pages with words

2007-08-28T01:49:00.000-07:00

Judging from the quantity of texts on our Book Crossing phone this morning, it appears that loads of people got involved in some top shelf book planting over the bank holiday weekend.

It was refreshing to hear that these books weren't found in the usual carriages of long distance trains or airport departure lounges. Instead, it was the sun burnt beaches of Brighton, Poole and Seaton that copies of Atonement, Inferno and Oliver Twist were deliberately left unattended. So, as beach dwellers became book finders, book planters became the new pioneers of this project.

Kelly from Brighton, who pitched her towel next to a copy of Dante Alighieri's Inferno dropped by the blog yesterday to tell us about her find.

"I live in the heart of Brighton, but to be honest, I don't usually spend much time on the beach. However, it was so hot here on Sunday that me and my flatmate took a bottle of wine down to a busy spot near the pier to get some rays and enjoy a few hours of sunshine. When the people next to us left just a few minutes after we arrived, I noticed that they had left a book behind. When I saw the little yellow sticker on the cover saying 'please read me' - I couldn't help myself tucking in to the pages of Inferno. What a cool idea! I am only a few chapters into it but will be sure to return the favour when I finish it and leave it somewhere for another Brightonite to discover."

Doors Closing.. Please Stand Clear

2007-08-20T05:15:00.001-07:00

Very early this morning a fleet of Vintage Classics set off on the next leg of the book planting process. This time it was the tubes.

Wimbledon, Uxbridge, Morden, High Barnet, Upminster, Cockfosters and Richmond all bear the title of 'end of the line' and every day thousands of commuters board their carriage for the lengthy journey to work.

Today these trips would've been different for many of those people, because book crossing copies of Atonement, Trainspotting, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Possession and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle were left on seats for commuters to find and read - setting alive a whole new string of these Vintage Classics literature lifetimes.

If you were fortunate enough to find one of these classics sitting next to you this morning we want to hear from you. How many stations do you ride the tube for each morning? What do you usually do to pass the time? Have many pages did you read today?

Also, we now have our very own Flickr page with loads of photos from all our other London-wide themed installations on there. If you're in the mood for bookmarks in high places then trot on over to www.flickr.com/photos/vintageclassics and have a look.

Sydney, Singapore and The Rachel Papers

2007-08-17T03:40:00.000-07:00

The tactical planting of these traveling books has hit new heights this week. A chap by the name of 'Jimmy' from Dalston has dropped by the blog and left us a message about a copy of Tom Jones by Henry Fielding that he has been in his possession for the last 3 days.

"Hi, I was on a flight on my way back from a holiday in Sydney, Australia earlier this week and found a book from your Book Crossing Project sat on the seat next to me on the plane. I didn't notice it until about 2 hours into the flight as I thought that it was someone else's. All of a sudden the painful 27 hour flight was made a bit easier for me. I managed to finish the book by the time we stopped off in Singapore Airport to change planes, so I left it in the rooftop bar they have in the main hall. There were hundreds of people waiting around for flights at the time so I am sure it ended up in safe hands. Oh.. and the twin book, The Rachel Papers arrived in my letterbox today too!"

Looks like it has all gone a bit international now. How did that book make it to Sydney? Was it you? Who found it in Singapore? Where is it now? Tell us your story and let's put these unfinished pieces together...

From The Postroom...

2007-08-10T03:03:00.000-07:00

We have received loads of comments over the last week from book finders and planters all over the UK involved in the Book Crossing Project. Here are what some people have had to say:

Hi, I found a copy of Phillip Roth's Sabbaths Theater on the table in a bar at a Leeds train station before I went on a holiday to Dorset. I am over half way through it already thanks to the really long train journey. I look forward to receiving the twin to this book in the post. When I finish reading this one I am going to leave it in the reception of the office I work in because there is always people sitting there.

Craig, Leeds

Sexing The Cherry is one of the best books I have ever read. I was really suprised when it was sitting opposite me on the train on my commute to London this morning. Now I have begun reading it again and can't wait to get a copy of Frankenstein in the mail to read once I finish this one again. Not sure where I am going to replant it but I will think of somewhere special by the time I finish reading it.

Freya, Birmingham

What a great project! I have already finished reading the copy of Tom Jones I found last week and left it safely on the 205 bus from Mile End to Paddington for someone else to find. I got a new copy of The Rachel Papers in the post today and plan to have a lusty weekend inside reading thanks to you.

Danielle, Aldgate

I found a copy of Oliver Twist in a Cafe in the Trafford Centre in Manchester on Monday. I am going to let my young son read it for the first time before I re-release it into the 'wild'. I think everyone needs to read this book as a child.

Alex, Manchester

Books that change the world..

2007-08-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

As loads of Vintage Classics make their way across the UK via early morning trains and buses, our book crossing hotline has been ringing non stop with sightings and discoveries of nomadic classic literature.

We have had someone find a copy of Crime And Punishment in Leeds and another person find Atomised on a train to Bournemouth. A crisp new copy of Alice in Wonderland turned up on a bus in Surrey Quays, whilst Gullivers Travels unexpectedly accompanied a young gentleman on his train trip to Manchester.

Then this afternoon, we got a call from a young lady in Sheffield who stumbled upon a copy of George Elliot's Middlemarch on a table at her local cafe. It was only minutes before we had it's Vintage Love twin, Possession by A.S Byatt in the post to her so that she had something to read once she had finished her time with Middlemarch and set it free again.

It is now time to raise the stakes in this project. If you have found a book out there then start thinking about its future from the moment you start reading it. Where are you going to plant it so that it will find a good home when you are finished? An international airport departure lounge? A doctors waiting room? Be imaginative and think of the long term experience that these classic novels are destined for.

ALL STATIONS TO EXETER

2007-08-02T07:49:00.000-07:00

Today saw the first batch of the books carefully released into the wild as part of the Vintage Classics book crossing project. Setting off on trains from London heading towards Exeter and Edinburgh, various titles from the twin sets were placed on seats of carriages for unsuspecting passengers to find.

It was Alex Bland from Winchester who first let us know she had come across a book from the series. After boarding the train at Waterloo station, on her way to Newquay, she found herself sitting next to a lonely copy of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting crying out to be read.

After texting the number on the inside cover, we soon had a fresh copy of Oliver Twist in the post for her to read once she finished the Trainspotting. After all, what is one classic novel experience without its modern counterpart?

Before we even contacted Alex, she had already hatched a plan on how to re release Trainspotting back into the real world book crossing cycle. With a holiday to France approaching, she is planning on leaving her copy on the ferry for someone else to stumble upon.

If all goes to plan, then this specific copy of Trainspotting will eventually see the sights of the world and be held by the hands of hundreds. And why shouldn't it? This is an important time for books and their journey.

Books Are Crying Out For More..

2007-07-23T03:05:00.000-07:00

August 2007 will see the relaunch of the prestigious Vintage Classics imprint. Vintage Classics is fortunate to already be the top twentieth-century-classics list in the United Kingdom, publishing writers such as Graham Greene, Harper Lee, Ernest Hemmingway and Virginia Woolf. From August, these illustrious names will be joined by the greatest writers from previous centuries including George Eliot, Charles Dickens and Oscar Wilde.

This move is in keeping with the ambition of Vintage as a whole to publish the best writers of today, tomorrow and yesterday. To celebrate the connection between the writers of the past and the present on the Vintage list, Vintage is pairing up modern books with classics to make Vintage Classic twins. There are ten specially designed Vintage Classic twins to collect and the books have been carefully selected to provide a thought-provoking combination.

To celebrate this launch of the Vintage Classics twin series, we have begun our own special book-crossing project across the UK.

With a big pile of books from this brilliant series, we are going about planting individual novels in public destinations from Edinburgh to Exeter for you to read. On the seats of trains, at local bus stops, departure lounges and innocent cafes - anywhere where a book is safe and someone is likely to find it and give it a temporary home.

On the inside cover of these books is a mobile number that you can text your address to and we will send you the partner book in the series. So if you happen to stumble upon Mary Shelley's Frankenstein then text the number and we will make sure you receive Jeanette Winterson's Sexing The Cherry. Get it?

All we ask is that once you finish reading the book you place it in a safe public spot where the next person can find it and read it to continue the story.

Books are becoming desensitised to a life on shelves gathering dust. They are crying out for more. They want freedom, adventure and to be held by many. Lets give these novels a life to savour.

If you have found one of these books then drop by this blog and let us know where you found it, what page you are up to and where you are going to leave it when you finish reading it.

Keep your eyes peeled for any of these books:

Vintage Crime
Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime And Punishment with
Patricia Highsmith's Ripley's Game

Vintage Fantasy
Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland with
Haruki Marakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Vintage Fear
Brothers Grimm The Complete Fairy Tales with
Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber

Vintage Lies
Henry James' What Maisie Knew with
Ian McEwan's Atonement

Vintage Love
George Eliot's Middlemarch with
A.S Byatt's Possession

Vintage Lust
Henry Fielding's Tom Jones with
Martin Amis' The Rachel Papers

Vintage Monsters
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with
Jeanette Winterson's Sexing The Cherry

Vintage Satire
Jonathan Swift Gulliver's Travels with
Michel Houellebecq's Atomised

Vintage Sin
Dante Alighieri's Inferno with
Philip Roth's Sabbath's Theatre

Vintage Youth
Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist with
Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting