Hastings has several second hand or used book shops. The first I discovered is the Paperback Reader in the Queens Road. Each book is stamped with the instruction that
If returned in good condition, credit of half the price will be given towards more books.
The Grumpy Vegan bought Basil Street Blues by Michael Holroyd because I wanted to read how a celebrated biographer wrote about his own life; Encounters at Thrush Green by Miss Read (aka Dora Saint), whose novels are to be enjoyed for the safety and comfort of traditional English life where not much happens; and
As I was buying these books I noticed the display of literature produced by various British animal protection groups and most prominently the World Society for the Protection of Animals. It was, according to the bookseller, his wife’s passion but proudly went on to say that they’ve been able to generously support WSPA from proceeds from the sale of some of the books in the shop.
The second store whose name escapes me is in the High Street in Old Town. A truly wonderful used book shop with a well-organized collection. Excitedly I bought Wild Animals on the Films by Joseph Delmont translated from the German by G. Morrison Gilmour and published in 1925. I love books like these for how they describe without any modern pretense of apology our attitudes toward animals.
For example, this is the first paragraph of Chapter One
It is a good thing that animals were denied the gift of speech when the world was made, for, with that power, never would they have been submitted to the lordship of man. With speech the beasts would have taught humans how to behave humanely, and would have weaned man from his bestial instincts. The insulting phrase: “You beast!” could never have been coined. For all our wisdom and culture, what miserable specimens we two-legged beings are, who call ourselves lords of creation! How noble we feel in comparison to the poor creatures we have enslaved in our brutality and cruel power. Let us not strut in our pride; rather in shame should we hang our heads for the brutes. It was a great thinker who once said that “the more he saw of mean, the more he liked beasts.”
Nevertheless, the author goes on to describe his adventures with “Jeffries the Boxing Kangaroo” and “Captain Jack, the Clever Chimpanzee.”
