More than a book sale
If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed by politics and simply want to sink into a good book, there are worse places to be than St Andrews and St George's West Church in Edinburgh, where the annual Christian Aid book sale gets under way from Saturday.
Since it began in 1974, the sale has raised £1.8m pounds for charity.
With 100,000 books on sale, it's not just one of the biggest, it's also one of the most eclectic.
This year's offerings range from a rare edition of Hans Christian Andersen fairy stories - familiar tales like the Ugly Duckling alongside less familiar ones like The Galoshes of Fortune - to an 18th Century travel book whose description of Edinburgh, penned in 1776, says: "The view of the houses at a distance strikes the traveller with wonder; their own loftiness, improved by their almost aerial situation, gives them a look of magnificence not to be found in any other part of Great Britain."
Mary Davidson, the sale's organiser, was asked by a friend to sell books for Christian Aid week in 1974. she made £800.
Now, people bring books to her all year round and it's not unusual for the British Library and the National Library of Scotland to buy works for their own collections.
Dr Reid Zulager, who has a PHD in Scottish literature and history from Edinburgh University, travels from his home in Washington DC every year to help with the sale.
"This year, we have everything from a 1591 imprint of Pliny the Younger, all the way to signed firsts," he says.
"We even have a collection of much of Alan Sillitoe's work in translation in many foreign languages, perhaps of note given his death last week.
"This really is an event for any bibliophile in the UK - and so much more than simply a book sale."
And it's not just books - this year's sale includes a number of donated paintings and etchings. Among them, three etchings by Dame Elizabeth Blackadder, patron of the 2010 sale.
Although there are works by male artists, it's the women who dominate with works by Jennifer McRae, Lynn McGregor, Joyce Gunn Cairns, Bet Low and Mabel Royds.
The sale, which is closed on Sunday, continues through Christian Aid Week until 14 May.
Not London’s South Bank, but the south bank of the River Clyde in Glasgow - every bit as lively in cultural terms as its namesake. I’m Pauline McLean, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Scotland’s arts correspondent, and I’ll be blogging here about arts events and issues happening across the country.
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