QOTM: Which is your favourite bookstore and why?

One of my favourites is a local second-hand bookstore which recently, sadly stopped trading.

I love to spot books that have illustrations by well-known artists on the cover such as this one:

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Written by Lewis Carroll
Illustrated by Charles Blackman
Edited by Nadine Amadio

AH & AW Reed, 1982, [First Edition], ISBN 0589503502, full colour and black and white illustrations throughout, decorated endpapers, hardcover, dust jacket

The dust jacket flap reads:

“Alice in Wonderland, that timeless and delightful children’s tale by Lewis Carroll, has here been lavishly illustrated by well-known Australian artist Charles Blackman. Very few fully-illustrated editions of Alice have appeared since the nineteenth-century version illustrated by John Tenniel and this book is believed to be the first full colour illustrated edition by a major artist.”

My best-loved line from the book has to be, “Is this New Zealand or Australia?” This was questioned by the main character Alice whilst free-falling head downwards and pondering over who could commonly walk upside down.

Charles Blackman’s artistic work is associated with dream-time images. I find his artistic expression often focuses on ambiguity and fearful apprehension.

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