Astrology library progress report
– No. 27: 27th February, 2016
This has been a quiet week. I have begun writing a series of history articles for an astrological magazine title, but will not disclose further details until publication is confirmed, and then only when it is in press.
A week ago today, I ordered a small number of residual mid-20th century documents held by a bookseller in France these past five years as part of a large collection most of which has previously sold, and much of which I previously bought. These residual items, of a nature that would generally be regarded as ephemera, were in my opinion clearly overpriced, but since I have dealt with the bookseller several times before, and since plenty of time has passed since they were first listed, I felt it would be reasonable to make an approach with a more moderate offer, so I did. The bookseller responded with a slightly higher counter-offer of 103 Euros including delivery to Sweden for a total of ten documents (seven of which between them total just 44 pages), which I accepted. Details will be provided once they get here – possibly in the next update, more probably the one after that.
Because of the dramatic fall in the pound sterling against both the Euro and the dollar amid fears of the economic impact of a referendum vote in June for the UK to leave the EU, it is unlikely that I’ll be doing much further buying for the time being, especially of new books. The ‘leave’ campaign is currently ahead, but if, as I hope will be the case, it ultimately loses out, the pound should regain strength, allowing me to resume catching up with the academic publications of recent years from June onwards. On the other hand, if the people of the UK vote to leave the EU, the pound could become so weak (HSBC predicts it may fall to as low as 1 Euro and US $1.20 in that circumstance) that I have to put all purchasing of new books on hold until investor confidence returns.
The weaker pound is of course an advantage to buyers of Astrolearn DVD products stationed outside the UK, since they are priced in pounds. I did put the prices up somewhat at the end of January because the pound had already fallen a long way over the previous months, but I don’t plan to increase them again any time soon.
Best wishes to all,
Philip
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