Beware of the Feast: The History of Robt. Jowitt & Sons is finally out. It has taken me well over 18 months to write and I enjoyed almost every minute of it. It was great to have an excuse to revisit the University of Leeds which I left in 1980 after completing an MA in Bibliography & Textual Criticism. I spent a lot of time in the Special Collections of the Brotherton Library which holds a large collection of Robt. Jowitt & Sons archive material.

My wife bought a copy of the November 2011 issue of Elle the other day. Out dropped a scratch card from Purely Creative Ltd. Now, I’m not saying that this card breaches the law, but the company has a long history of sailing close to the wind and I cannot understand why Hearst Magazines UK would be willing to be associated with it. Perhaps carrying cosmetics advertisements, which are largely built on lies, has blunted their consciences. I have written to Hearst magazines and the OFT, for all the good it will do.