My bookstore-hopping in Dublin, Ireland...

[RonClinton]

I've been largely absent the last week-and-a-half or so as I've been off in Dublin on vacation.

While there (and in the two days where I wasn't yet with my wife), I managed to hit more than a dozen bookstores, and I just posted a 10-post Twitter thread featuring photos of all of them:

https://twitter.com/ron_clinton/stat...66239389990912

I thought I'd break this off from my Showcase-Book Tweet thread elsewhere here and give this particular Tweet its own post/thread, as it's more about the trip and experience than the books...and if you're anything like me, touring the bookstores of Ireland is probably pretty high on your bucket list. If you've not had a chance to check it off that list, here's a teaser...hope you enjoy.

[njhorror]

But did you go to Leo Burdock's for fish and chips?

[RonClinton]

But did you go to Leo Burdock's for fish and chips?

No, but I did walk past it one afternoon, so I guess that’s something. All the signage about being Ireland’s oldest fish and chips shop certainly drew my attention and picqued my interest, but had just eaten. So...next time. :-)

[RonClinton]

Ruins of medieval abbey surrounded by a graveyard:

https://twitter.com/ron_clinton/stat...837620226?s=21

[Martin]

Love the Ireland picks, bookstores and graveyards! More Please!

[njhorror]

Yeah, nice pictures, Ron. Burdock's has places in both Howth and Dublin, so maybe next time!
We were thinking of going to Ireland this year. Still might. Nice.

[RonClinton]

Love the Ireland picks, bookstores and graveyards! More Please!

Just posted some more four graveyard shots in a response to Cameron Chaney.

nj, if you end up going, have a great time!

[Sock Monkey]

Thanks for sharing, Ron! My wife and I were this close to pulling the trigger on a trip to this year (I think we were looking at Dublin, Killarney and Galway), but we decided to hold off until next year. I am insanely jealous and am hoping that you are having a magnificent time!

And...oh my god that library. When I die just freaking prop me up there please.

Quick thought as I was looking at the pics of bookstores and the library: my wife and I were doing one of those "how well do you know your spouse" questionnaires and a question came up about your spouse's favorite smell. She knows me well. Went directly to "the smell of old books" (where's that candle scent at Bath and Body Works?!). Truly my favorite smell in the whole world.

[RonClinton]

Thanks for sharing, Ron! My wife and I were this close to pulling the trigger on a trip to this year (I think we were looking at Dublin, Killarney and Galway), but we decided to hold off until next year. I am insanely jealous and am hoping that you are having a magnificent time!

We arrived home a couple days ago, so I'm back stateside. We were there for seven days (nine-day total trip w/ the long flights).

And...oh my god that library. When I die just freaking prop me up there please.

It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. It was the primary thing I was looking forward to seeing, after drooling over pics of it for years and years, and it certainly didn't disappoint.

Quick thought as I was looking at the pics of bookstores and the library: my wife and I were doing one of those "how well do you know your spouse" questionnaires and a question came up about your spouse's favorite smell. She knows me well. Went directly to "the smell of old books" (where's that candle scent at Bath and Body Works?!). Truly my favorite smell in the whole world.

The air in the Long Room library is rife with the smell. You'd think w/ all the tourists and the measures they must take to compensate for temperature and condensation, etc. that the smell would be tempered. And I suppose it is to some extent, but for those of who are intoxicated by that old-book smell you notice it immediately.

Hope you and your wife are able to make the trip...have a great time when it happens.

[Sock Monkey]

We arrived home a couple days ago, so I'm back stateside. We were there for seven days (nine-day total trip w/ the long flights).



It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. It was the primary thing I was looking forward to seeing, after drooling over pics of it for years and years, and it certainly didn't disappoint.



The air in the Long Room library is rife with the smell. You'd think w/ all the tourists and the measures they must take to compensate for temperature and condensation, etc. that the smell would be tempered. And I suppose it is to some extent, but for those of who are intoxicated by that old-book smell you notice it immediately.

Hope you and your wife are able to make the trip...have a great time when it happens.

You are just selling me more and more on this, Ron. Next year is our 15 year anniversary so we want to do something big. Ireland is way up there, but we're batting around going back to Spain (Barcelona was our favorite city, but would like to see Madrid and Seville) or New Zealand. Ireland has always been a dream trip of mine since I was a little kid, so I'm leaning a little more in that direction.

[Dave1442397]

Great trip, Ron! There used to be a lot more bookstores in Dublin. When I was a teenager we had a chain called Banba Books, and they only sold secondhand paperbacks. I remember going there one day just after they got a huge shipment of horror and SF novels, and they were selling them for 10p each. I came home on the bus that day with a big black garbage bag filled with 116 books. I was getting some funny looks as I browsed through them on the ride home

Another great store, long gone now, was The Alchemist's Head, run by an American ex-pat woman. I used to find some great offbeat stuff there that you couldn't find anywhere else in Ireland back in the '80s.

Eason (which I saw you visited) was a decent bookstore back in those days. I remember getting almost all my Robert Heinlein books there back when New English Library reprinted them.

The library at Trinity is amazing. Did you get to see The book of Kells? I'll have to stop in there again for a visit when we go back this year.

[RonClinton]

You are just selling me more and more on this, Ron. Next year is our 15 year anniversary so we want to do something big. Ireland is way up there, but we're batting around going back to Spain (Barcelona was our favorite city, but would like to see Madrid and Seville) or New Zealand. Ireland has always been a dream trip of mine since I was a little kid, so I'm leaning a little more in that direction.

Pics I've seen of New Zealand and those areas in Spain you mention are undeniably beautiful, so I'm sure you'd have a great trip wherever you choose. That said and like you, Ireland had always held a special place on my Wish List as well, and I'm really pleased that I was able to visit there. If you don't make it for your 15th, maybe the 25th...?

We've hit England and France (London and Paris, of course, and some outlying towns/villages)...my wife really wants to see Spain and Italy, and I do as well, so we'll likely hit both spots in the coming years (hopefully). Looks like Germany, though, may come sooner, due to a business trip she may have soon.

[RonClinton]

Great trip, Ron! There used to be a lot more bookstores in Dublin. When I was a teenager we had a chain called Banba Books, and they only sold secondhand paperbacks. I remember going there one day just after they got a huge shipment of horror and SF novels, and they were selling them for 10p each. I came home on the bus that day with a big black garbage bag filled with 116 books. I was getting some funny looks as I browsed through them on the ride home

Another great store, long gone now, was The Alchemist's Head, run by an American ex-pat woman. I used to find some great offbeat stuff there that you couldn't find anywhere else in Ireland back in the '80s.

Those sound wonderful. I do have to say, there wasn't much secondhand genre stuff to be had, as evidenced by the pic I took of my meager buys (and all but one were new). I had envisioned coming across all sorts of old UK horror pbs (Shaun Hutson, Guy Smith, et al), and that kind of stuff just wasn't to be found. The best selection I found was Chapter's, but it was mostly BCA anthos and King and Koontz and Herbert, kind of like what you'd find at a bookstore here and think 'meh.' I did see a beat-up Leisure pb of Brian Keene's THE RISING, of all things, but that was about as good as it got. They had a pretty good crime/mystery section, but, again, little vintage or noir, moslty mainstream titles.

Eason (which I saw you visited) was a decent bookstore back in those days. I remember getting almost all my Robert Heinlein books there back when New English Library reprinted them.

The library at Trinity is amazing. Did you get to see The book of Kells? I'll have to stop in there again for a visit when we go back this year.

I did, and it was great to see, though I have to admit I was kind of anxious to move on and see the library. The Books of Kells exhibit ties right into the Long Room...just up a flight of stairs and through the door and into sheer heaven.

[Dave1442397]

Those sound wonderful. I do have to say, there wasn't much secondhand genre stuff to be had, as evidenced by the pic I took of my meager buys (and all but one were new). I had envisioned coming across all sorts of old UK horror pbs (Shaun Hutson, Guy Smith, et al), and that kind of stuff just wasn't to be found. The best selection I found was Chapter's, but it was mostly BCA anthos and King and Koontz and Herbert, kind of like what you'd find at a bookstore here and think 'meh.' I did see a beat-up Leisure pb of Brian Keene's THE RISING, of all things, but that was about as good as it got. They had a pretty good crime/mystery section, but, again, little vintage or noir, moslty mainstream titles.

It was never easy to find the genre books. I was lucky to have Banba, where you would find all the '70s and '80s horror novels, and then there was a store in Dundalk (also gone now) run by Victor Whitmarsh, who worked at the Harp brewery as his full-time job and ran a bookstore as a hobby. He used to get crates of remainders from the US, and I used to haunt the place waiting for them to come in so I could get first dibs. I got a lot of good genre book that way.

One author I found all over the place there was Richard Laymon. His books always sold well in the UK market.

[RonClinton]

Funny, I expected to see Laymon all over the place, and never did, sadly.

The only used horror I picked up was that old Sphere pb of Hodgson’s CARNACKI from the early ‘70s that I showed in the pic...nothing more contemporary. But I was pleased to find it...did so at the Secret Book and Record Store.