Who Done It?

There were two used book sales last month and I came back with a big box from each of them. When I started collecting books for re-use they were made into bases for table lamps. That was years before the term “altered book” was thrown around but they were books and definitely altered. Some were painted to match the client’s décor, sometimes the titles on the spines were changed to suit the theme, holes were drilled and the librarians who donated many of them would have been horrified if they knew.


















Several years ago I was searching the libraries and book stores for anything by author Majory Allingham. The only result I ever got was information that they were out of print so I gave up looking. Marjory Allingham wrote during the Golden Age of detective fiction (1920-1939) and was a contemporary of women writers Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Josephine Tey and Ngaio Marsh. Allingham’s fictional Inspector Albert Campion was played by Peter Davidson (also the youngest Dr. Who) in two series of BBC adaptations of her stories, shown in North America on PBS. Great fun to watch.













As I was rummaging through my boxes of books, choosing for my next lamp base, I noticed many had black covers. I’d been looking for something black like a piece of pottery or…..something….. to put on my fireplace mantle. Why not a pile of decorator books? They looked so good and for variety the brass candle holder & snuffer sitting on top would trade places with a few white shells or a fresh red apple. I figured “I should at least leaf through them” as I was dusting one afternoon. No money, no love notes, nothing. I read the titles. The second from the bottom in the pile was: “Tiger in the Smoke” and below that, in small faded letters “by Marjory Allingham”. Well, I’ll be darned! I’d had it all that time & had never known! It’s supposed to be one of her best and it was a pretty good read, although I can’t remember many details about it now.

















I haven’t made any lamps for ages but I teach altered book workshops and use the pages for assemblage and collage. When I cut phrases from novels for collage I have to read from the back of the book to the front & from the bottom of the page up so I can see them without getting involved in the story. Same thing, more or less with certain movies or TV shows. Poirot, the PBS Mystery series with David Suchet must be watched at least twice – once for the story and again, without the distraction of sound, just for the costumes and sets. No matter how many times I watch a mystery I can never remember “who done it” by the next time it’s broadcast! I’m almost certain I’ve slept through a couple of endings but for the most part it’s goldfish memory. A general idea of what happened on a previous occasion, just not sure what, so the next time everything is new again.