A guide to the guides

IN HIS introduction to this book, the Antiques Trade Gazette’s urbane diarist, David Moss, now surely something of a speciality area himself, comments that “in the past many antique shops could... serve the same families for generations. Period brown furniture, blue and white china... and some choice Oriental vases, one knew what to expect. Now all that has changed dramatically.”

One had one’s standards. But now that we are all so free-spirited in our views on antiques and collectables, everything else is collectable too – from bits of Dolly Parton’s carpet, and barbed wire to Bakelite, sound equipment and architectural salvage, a big growth area, this. In the nine-page index of specialists, there are seven entries under pictures but nearly 70 for architectural, including cast-iron radiators and stained glass. There are, of course, plenty of speciality bookshops, with not just Irish interest but Derry and Donegal, and the History of Ideas, plus our well-beloveds; ceramics, clocks, furniture, silver and textiles, plus a few interesting entries – from M&M Baldwin, of Cleobury Mortimer, Kidderminster comes WWI Intelligence; codebreaking a speciality.

First published last year, the 2001 edition offers more or less the same content and format; on 7000 antiques shops, fairs and auctions listed under dealers, antiques centres and auction houses, associated services and fairs.

Dealers etc are listed geographically and all lumped together under, say, the South East so you won’t find auction houses in the index. As they say, this is a handy reference to the dealing scene, but a better buy is the Guide to the Antique Shops of Britain, now in its 29th edition and published in August.