A splendid discovery

The poetically named Lamb's Conduit Street is becoming my favorite local respite from the mid-range hotels and their occupants that circle Russell Square. It has: a charity shop, an off-license which sells individual servings of ice cream (hard to find, here), two uncrowded coffee shops (one's a Starbucks, but what can you do), a record store, a bike shop, several bespoke tailors into whose windows I like to stare, an excellent pub called Perseverance, a wine bar, a handful of Italian restaurants I've not tried yet, and two stores full of soft woolen and jersey garments that I like to imagine I'll be able to afford someday.

It also, as I learned this afternoon, is home to Persephone Books, an amazing small press which reprints out-of-print novels, poetry and, yes, cookbooks, mostly by women, mostly from the first half of the 20th century. All very reasonably priced and all with beautiful, colorful vintage endpapers. Go look at their website and browse the selection: it's esoteric but fascinating.

I refrained, with effort, from whipping out my poor beleaguered debit card, since I've learned that it is a very bad idea for me to impulse buy books (unless they're the odd second hand EETS edition of something important), but I've got their catalogue to peruse this evening and I will most definitely be back. They Can't Ration These looks especially promising.