Adventures in Stationery by James Ward

Adventures in Stationery by James Ward

We are surrounded by stationery: half-chewed Cristal Bics and bent paper clips, rubber bands to fiddle with or ping, blunt pencils, rubbers and Tipp-ex. From making correction fluid at home to the dark secrets of fluorescent ink, via pencil wars and moments of accidental genius, the author takes you on a tour through the stationery cupboard.

Few of us pause over the etymology of "foolscap" or that "symbol of equality and harmony", the HB pencilJames Ward does: "It's only a slight exaggeration to say that the history of stationery is the history of human civilisation." In Adventures in Stationery, he looks at the pioneers - Mr Biro, for example, and the forgotten genius who invented the perfect paper clip. He plots the rise of the Post-it note, ponders the mysteries of "shatterproof" rulers and notes, poignantly: "The sharpener literally gives the pencil its point in life, but kills it at the same time." Ward writes with a blend of wit, unhealthy obsession and pure love. Here is high-class pornography for the stationery enthusiast. -- Alexander Gilmour * FT *
Step into a fantastical Narnia of office and personal materials. James Ward investigates the drama of the desk tidy . . . questions you never thought to ask when chewing your Bic are answered smartly in black ink on white paper in geeky detail -- Iain Finlayson * Times *

James Ward's London-based blog, I Like Boring Things, has featured in the Independent, Observer and on the BBC website. He is co-founder of Stationery Club and the Boring Conference, featured in the Wall Street Journal and on Radio 4. This is his first book.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781846686153
ISBN 10	1846686156
Title	Adventures in Stationery
Author	James Ward
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Profile Books Ltd
Year published	2014-09-11
Number of pages	256
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.