When we planned our recent trip to Bath I decided that a visit to Persephone Books would be delightful. I have collected the lovely grey books for many years, since the very early days, and have followed the development of the small publishing house, owned and run by Nicola Beauman.
Nicola Beauman founded Persephone Books to publish "forgotten' novels" by women, many of which she had written about in A Very Great Profession: The Woman's Novel 1914–39, originally published by Virago in 1983 and reissued in 2008 by Persephone Books.
Persephone Books reprints neglected fiction and non-fiction, mostly by women writers and mostly dating from the mid-twentieth century. All of the 152 titles are intelligent, thought-provoking and beautifully written. As well as novels they publish short stories, diaries, memoirs, poetry, gardening books and cookery books; the books all come in a uniform grey cover, which Beauman sees as "a guarantee of a good read", and contain endpapers that use patterns or prints from the year in which the book was first published.
Persephone Books re-discovered and re-published Winifred Watson's novel Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day in 2000, and this was the turning point in their fortunes. The book was made into a film and was phenomenally successful. They have also re-published all of Dorothy Whipple's novels and they are fantastic novels and very enjoyable to read.
It was thoroughly enjoyable to visit the actual shop, and I made a small selection of books.