This blog was started by Eleanor and Imogen, two sisters from Kent. We wanted to share a considerable collection of poems we found individually tucked inside books our mother Marianne had bought in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when she was in her twenties. The books were all bought from Jon Ash bookshop in Cullum Street, London. She worked for an insurance brokers in the City, and it seems would often spend her lunchtimes looking for new (or rather - old) books to add to her collection. The poems were all written on a typewriter, sometimes on shop letterhead, and other times just plain paper. Sometimes dated, sometimes not. The poet was Cyril Nash, who owned the shop with his business partner Hugh Jones - their surnames Jones and Nash being shortened to name the shop 'Jon Ash'. It seems she caught his eye - and a little bit of his affection - hence the poems.
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| Cyril Nash (l) & Hugh Jones (r) |
Having flicked through the pages of well over a thousand rare and collectable books she amassed over the years, we found nearly 100 poems, and one or two notes/letters. They tell a tale of her visits to the shop, her interest in books, Cyril's admiration of her, which seemed to have given way to adoration before being 'bade' to stop, as well as his general observations of the shop and life in general. We'd like to share them with a wider audience, as it seems was Cyril Nash's wish according to one note we found in the collection where he'd marked a number of poems as ones that he'd like to publish with her approval. We'd also like to share a few blog posts about Marianne, her life, love of books, and highlights from the books themselves as appropriate along the way. We're also hoping it will be possible to get a better insight into Cyril Nash, Jon Ash and their customers of the time.
Marianne continued to collect books throughout her life, focusing particularly on children's illustrators such as Kate Greenaway and Arthur Rackham, and books on London - she was born in Wansted, and also lived in Herne Hill and Belgravia among others before marrying and moving to Kent in the early 1970s). She died of cancer in 1989 aged 52, when we were 16 and 14. The books still remain in the family home, taking up a fair bit of room but we couldn't have it any other way...
If you have any information that would be relevant to our blog, or would like to get in touch for any reason, please email
poemsfrommrnash@gmail.com.
Eleanor & Imogen, daughters of Marianne M.
This blog was started by Eleanor and Imogen, two sisters from Kent. We wanted to share a considerable collection of poems we found individually tucked inside books our mother Marianne had bought in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when she was in her twenties. The books were all bought from Jon Ash bookshop in Cullum Street, London. She worked for an insurance brokers in the City, and it seems would often spend her lunchtimes looking for new (or rather - old) books to add to her collection. The poems were all written on a typewriter, sometimes on shop letterhead, and other times just plain paper. Sometimes dated, sometimes not. The poet was Cyril Nash, who owned the shop with his business partner Hugh Jones - their surnames Jones and Nash being shortened to name the shop 'Jon Ash'. It seems she caught his eye - and a little bit of his affection - hence the poems.
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