Sunday, February 23, 2020

Book Covers: incl. "Goodbye to All That"

A few cool old paperbacks donated to the thrift store...

 Cover by Ben Shahn ^

Who did the cover art to Goodbye to All That? (I read the book ages ago and don't remember it.)
It looks like Stanely Spencer, but I can't find that it is, or who it is otherwise either. Reminds me of the good visuals in the recent movie 1917.

Here's a WWI painting by Spencer: Travoys Arriving with Wounded at a Dressing-Station at Smol, Macedonia, 1916 (1919), based on Spencer’s work in the RAMC’s Field Ambulance 
[See close-ups at London's Imperial War Museum]

I looked up the address inside the copy of  Goodbye to All That and I know it! Or, anyway, I've walked past it:
Gloucester Gate [at London's Parks & Gardens site] is alongside Regents Park. I wonder if it was run-down when M. A. Norman lived in a basement flat there...

When I first (early-1990s) stayed in an old hotel within walking distance of Regents Park (near the British Museum--a long walk, but doable), the area was well-worn, but it's way gentrified now.  The hotel, The Crichton, used to be a cheap dive, now it's a spendy boutique hotel. 

I'd like to, but I'm not sure if I'll ever go to London again, or where I'd stay affordably if I did...