“The Bitter Lemon Days” | Another Round at the Pillars (Cargo Press, 1999)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. “The Bitter Lemon Days.” Another Round at the Pillars: Essays, Poems & Reflections on Ian Hamilton. Edited by David Harsent. Cornwall: Cargo Press, 1999. Pp. 151 + [5]. 24 x 15.3 cm. ISBN: 1899980067.

From the jacket: “For his sixtieth birthday friends of the distinguished poet, critic and biographer Ian Hamilton, have gathered to offer an international festschrift to honour his writings and the remarkable influence he has exerted on his generation.”

Julian Barnes’s essay appears on pp. 15-21. It was also published in The Guardian (17 April 1999). Other authors contributing to the collection include:

Blake Morrison
A Alvarez
Andrew Motion
Harold Pinter
Peter Dale
Hugo Williams
Douglas Dunn
Karl Miller
Alan Jenkins
David Harsent
Christopher Reid
Ian McEwan
Craig Raine
Dan Jacobson
Simon Gray
Peter Porter
Michael Hofmann
John Fuller
Charles Osborne
Michael Fried
Clive James
Colin Falck

Lives and Works: Profiles of Leading Novelists, Poets and Playwrights (Atlantic Books, 2002)


Notes on this edition: Lives and Works: Profiles of Leading Novelists, Poets and Playwrights. Edited by Annalena McAfee with portraits by Eamonn McCabe. London: Atlantic Books, 2002. Pp. 246 + [2]. 23.3 x 15.5 cm. ISBN: 1843540797.

The profile of Julian Barnes is written by Nicholas Wroe and is titled “Literature’s Mister Cool” (pp. 21-28). Wroe originally published the profile in The Guardian, 29 July 2000.

Authors included in the book include Seamus Heaney, Harold Pinter, Peter Porter, John Updike, and more.

Paeans for Porter | Lettered Copy (Bridgewater Press, 1999)


Notes on this edition: Paeans for Porter: A Celebration for Peter Porter on His Seventieth Birthday by Twenty of His Friends. Edited by Anthony Thwaite. London: Bridgewater Press, 1999.

Julian Barnes contributes a piece titled “Postcard to Peter Porter” (Pp. 16-19) for this collection in honor of the poet Peter Porter. Other contributors include: Martin Amis, Alan Brownjohn, Geoffrey Burgon, Wendy Cope, Allen Curnow, Ian Duhig, D. J. Enright, U. A. Fanthorpe, Barry Humphries, Clive James, David Malouf, Les Murray, Sean O’Brien, C K. Stead, George Szirtes, Ann Thwaite, Anthony Thwaite, William Trevor, and Kit Wright.

The limitation page indicates Bridgewater Press issued three editions of this book, as follows:

“This book is published in an edition of 113 copies on Archival Parchment paper. Seventy-five copies, numbered 1-75, are bound in Ratchford Atlantic cloth. Twenty-six copies signed by the contributors, lettered A-Z, are bound in quarter cloth and marbled paper boards. Twelve copies signed by the contributors, numbered I-XII, are bound in quarter Library Calf.”

This contributor’s copy is from Julian Barnes’s personal collection. Also signed by Peter Porter.

Paeans for Porter | Numbered Edition (Bridgewater Press, 1999)


Notes on this edition: Paeans for Porter: A Celebration for Peter Porter on His Seventieth Birthday by Twenty of His Friends. Edited by Anthony Thwaite. London: Bridgewater Press, 1999. Pp. 77 + [1]. 22.2 x 14.3 cm.

Julian Barnes contributes a piece titled “Postcard to Peter Porter” (Pp. 16-19) for this collection in honor of the poet Peter Porter. Other contributors include: Martin Amis, Alan Brownjohn, Geoffrey Burgon, Wendy Cope, Allen Curnow, Ian Duhig, D. J. Enright, U. A. Fanthorpe, Barry Humphries, Clive James, David Malouf, Les Murray, Sean O’Brien, C K. Stead, George Szirtes, Ann Thwaite, Anthony Thwaite, William Trevor, and Kit Wright.

The limitation page indicates Bridgewater Press issued three editions of this book, as follows:

“This book is published in an edition of 113 copies on Archival Parchment paper. Seventy-five copies, numbered 1-75, are bound in Ratchford Atlantic cloth. Twenty-six copies signed by the contributors, lettered A-Z, are bound in quarter cloth and marbled paper boards. Twelve copies signed by the contributors, numbered I-XII, are bound in quarter Library Calf.”

Note: The title page and the top of Julian Barnes’s entry, as pictured, have been altered to remove personal inscriptions from the publisher and Barnes to the book’s owner.