Opening the Door
Welcome to the first ever Trasho Biblio Library Substack post.
Up until now, we have only ever used our Instagram page to try and capture the finer details of the Trasho Biblio Library - who we are, describing the books on our shelves and the connections between them. It’s been fine so far, but a move over to Substack will allow us to offer more detail as well as allowing us to platform the things and people we love. For all of you who have joined the library or who have followed us here - Thank You!
If you are new to the library, we are an independent lending library based in Edinburgh. With a focus on subculture, counter-culture and forgotten modern classics, we build niche collections to help folks build a reading journey away from the mainstream. Our collections include: John Waters Recommends, History of Times Square, all books released by legendary Edinburgh publisher Rebel Inc and much more. Those of you who are based in the UK can loan any of the books in our collection by joining the yearly membership to this Substack. For a more detailed look at the books currently on loan, you can see the main library page here. The collection changes regularly, with new books arriving weekly.
From our shelves
Phillip Hoare first came on our library’s radar when we read that John Waters had recommended his book ‘Serious Pleasures: The Life of Stephen Tennant’ , a biography of the eccentric and outlandish aristocrat who led a life of exuberance while keeping some impressive company such as Capote, Edith Sitwell, Cecil Beaton and more. However, it is one of Hoare’s other books we want to highlight today - ‘The Leviathan or, The Whale’
This incredible book offers a human history of the whale through several layers, such as Hoare’s love of the whale; a deep insight into these beautiful mammals; an interspersed short biography of Herman Melville; and, acting as the glue, is the importance of the whale to human advancement. This advancement isn’t without consequence. Hoare explains the disastrous impact of the human desire to hunt whales, from fuelling war to the huge depilation of numbers of these beautiful creatures from our seas. Despite the grim accounts of human-led destruction, there are many beautiful moments within this book, as you follow Hoare’s globe trotting to bond with whales - and you’ll never be without a whale fact for your next house party (the most leftfield being that questionable music maker Moby is called that because he is Herman Melville’s great-great-great nephew). The Leviathan is available to borrow from our library now.
We also have several other titles from Hoare in the library - including Serious Pleasures, Albert & The Whale and The Sea Inside.
Talented People
A few events and people we recommend:
Edinburgh - Argonaut Books’ Wildcard Book Club is currently reading the aforementioned The Leviathan by Phillip Hoare.
London - Repeater Books are having their Holiday Revue event on the 27th November at The Social. One of our favourites Liara Roux will be presenting.
Waverly Press - Have a limited edition pre-order for their new release, Gerard Malanga’s Secret Cinema. A collection of the Warhol superstars’ mostly unseen work.
The writing of this update was soundtracked by the incredible Rahill NTS Radio Show. Her new album, Flowers at Your Feet, is well worth a listen.
Outro
Thank for reading our first update. We’re beginning with a light touch approach and we will have exciting content for this page coming soon, including some guest take overs. Remember that as part of our 5th Birthday celebrations we are offering someone the opportunity to set up their own library. We’ll pay for a year long subscription to library service Libib and offer our advice on how to manage your library. For a chance to tap into this, just complete this simple form.
Next update will be sent out Sunday 2nd of Dec.
Trasho Biblio xxx