Something Wholesale

Something Wholesale
Eric Newby

Veteran travel writer Eric Newby has a massive following and is cherished as the forefather of the modern comic travel book. However, less known are his adventures during the years he spent as an apprentice and commercial buyer in the improbable trade of women's fashion.From his repatriation as a prisoner of war in 1945 to his writing of the bestselling ‘A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush’ in 1956, Eric Newby’s years as a commercial traveller in the world of haute couture were as full of adventure and oddity as any during his time as travel editor for the Observer.‘Something Wholesale’ is Newby's hilarious and wonderfully chaotic tale of the disorder that was his life as an apprentice to the family garment firm of Lane and Newby, including hilariously recounted escapades with sudden-onset wool allergies, waist-deep predicaments in tissue paper and the soul-destroying task of matching buttons. In addition to the charming chaos of his work in the family business, it is also a warm and loving portrait of his father, a delightfully eccentric gentleman who managed to spend more energy avoiding and actively participating in disasters than he did in preserving his business.With its quick wit, self-deprecating charm and splendidly fascinating detail, this is vintage Newby - only with a garment bag in place of a well-worn suitcase.

ERIC NEWBY

Something Wholesale

My Life and Times in the Rag Trade

Dedication (#ulink_a8ade80b-3d6a-5e0d-8796-c61a8c3fb3b9)

To My Father

Splendid in Defeat

Contents

Cover (#ub9a83f7a-29f4-5d03-bbef-9049772a2737)

Title Page (#u3388e6b2-bb1f-5320-8977-f7c7d116cf2b)

Dedication (#u6831ae12-97f5-57fd-94eb-48c3a6456038)

Preface (#ud34d4db3-5904-5412-9c55-a7e20c53ae72)

1. A Short History of the Second World War (#u08128959-b335-5493-bd3e-81c6017e2b9f)

2. An Afternoon at Throttle and Fumble (#uf1367932-e27d-5b28-b57b-eec30764bf14)

3. Life with Father and Mother (#u0b3ee31c-ed11-5634-9280-70174652d15c)

4. Old Mr Newby (#u597142f9-3bf7-5578-b652-e5fa98cf0acd)

5. Back to Normal (#u0c19f996-57c6-5c4a-a6c2-8748a154c9c1)

6. In the Mantles (#ud91c0f85-f585-52b6-9ef1-dd9788dd9206)

7. All Bruised (#litres_trial_promo)

8. Sir No More (#litres_trial_promo)

9. George’s Boy (#litres_trial_promo)

10. A Day in the Showroom (#litres_trial_promo)

11. Export or Die (#litres_trial_promo)

12. Something Wholesale (#litres_trial_promo)

13. Hi! Taxi! (#litres_trial_promo)

14. A Nice Bit of Crêpe (#litres_trial_promo)

15. North with Mr Wilkins (#litres_trial_promo)

16. Caledonia Stern and Wild (#litres_trial_promo)

17. On the Beach (#litres_trial_promo)

18. A Night at Queen Charlotte’s (#litres_trial_promo)

19. A Man Called Christian (#litres_trial_promo)

20. Birth of an Explorer (#litres_trial_promo)

21. Lunch with Mr Eyre (#litres_trial_promo)

22. The End of Lane and Newby (#litres_trial_promo)

23. Model Buyer (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue – The Last Time I Saw Paris (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Preface (#ulink_843c9e1c-e205-5f19-8f0c-6ccaf5dd316e)

The hero of this book, if it has one, is the man who, during the years it describes, was head of the dressmaking firm of Lane and Newby – in other words my father. But this was my father in old age. We were separated by a great gulf of years, and when I was old enough to appreciate him the world which he knew and of which he was a part had passed away.

What do I know of my father as a young man? Practically nothing. His father came from the East Riding of Yorkshire and he acquired a stepmother at an early age. I know that with her his life was not very happy. It was one of the few things that when he spoke of it moved him to tears.

I look at photographs of him in our family albums taken when he was twenty or so – great group photographs of men and girls upriver, perhaps, after an outing or a regatta – and wonder what he and his companions were really like. He was very handsome, this is obvious – with a fine, well-tended moustache – and he was elegant, either in a negligent manner with a silk handkerchief knotted round his neck and a panama hat with the brim turned up in the front or else more formally in a dark suit with a watch chain and a straw hat with a black band.

The girls are dressed to the nines with fichus of lace and hats like great presentation baskets of fruit from Fortnums.

They must be upriver. In the background of the particular picture of which I am thinking there is a white clap-boarded house. It is probably a club-house or it might be a mill and beyond it the woods are thick and green, like the Quarry Woods at Marlow, only the house is not at Marlow.

Where is it? I wish I knew. There is no one left to ask. Perhaps, somewhere, one or two of those young men and women are left alive, but they would be very old now.